Texas Republican County Chairs Accuse George Soros of Paying “Professional Anarchists”

In May of 2020, Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller and twelve GOP county chairs posted antisemitic and racist content on Facebook, including the conspiracy theory that George Soros orchestrated nationwide Black-led protests against police violence.

Among his many racist and antisemitic Soros-related posts, Miller shared an image of Soros with the words, “Climate change didn’t work. Impeachment didn’t work. The virus didn’t work. Start the race war,” presenting these phrases as Soros’ thought process.

Miller was not the only Texas Republican politician promoting antisemitic and racist conspiracy theories about the Black Lives Matter protests sweeping the nation: Several days later, Doug Sanford, the chairperson of Freestone County; Russell Hayter, the chairperson of Hays County; and Jaime Durham, the chairperson of Foard County, shared a fake advertisement, offering $200 from Soros for “professional anarchists.” Another county chair posted an absurd claim that Soros pays “white cops to murder Black people” and pays “Black people to riot because race wars keep the sheep in line.”

These conspiracies are classic antisemitism, full of claims about shadowy Jewish figures exerting puppet-master-like power over the masses in order to bring about "the destruction of “Western Civilization.” For years, George Soros has been treated as a stand-in for Jews, and for years, Republican Party leaders — including Donald Trump — have promoted antisemitic conspiracies about Soros. They have not stopped, not even after a Trump supporter attempted to assassinate the Jewish philanthropist

George Soros conspiracies are not new to this moment either: 72,000 Facebook posts referenced Soros in the week leading up to Miller’s post, and 34,000 Twitter posts mentioned Soros specifically in connection to the murder of George Floyd and ensuing resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement.

In addition to being antisemitic, these posts were racist and anti-Black: They sought to minimize public support for the Movement for Black Lives, denying the Black brilliance that led to this moment, and the autonomy of protestors marching today.