Kevin McCarthy Says ‘There Is No Place For QAnon In The Republican Party’
In an interview with Fox News broadcast on Thursday night, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy denounced the QAnon conspiracy theory, saying that it does not belong in the Republican Party.
“Let me be very clear. There is no place for QAnon in the Republican Party,” McCarthy told anchor Shannon Bream.
“I do not support it and the candidate you talked about has denounced it,” McCarthy said, referring to Marjorie Taylor Greene, who recently won a primary election in the state of Georgia.
Followers of the QAnon conspiracy theory believe that President Donald Trump is waging a war on a cabal of satanic cannibals who traffic children.
Other Republicans, such as Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, have also spoken out against the QAnon element of Trump’s base, urging their colleagues to denounce it.
Greene, who beat neurosurgeon John Cowan with 57 percent of the vote in the primary, is all but certain to win a seat in the House of Representatives, since she is competing in a very conservative district.
Green has been endorsed by Trump, who described her as a “star.”
She has endorsed a number of similar conspiracy theories, expressing bigoted views about Muslims. Green has also attacked the Black Lives Matter movement and accused billionaire philanthropist George Soros of trying to ruin her reputation.
McCarthy drew a parallel between QAnon supporters in the Republican Party and allegedly anti-Semitic Democrats, calling on his political opponents to push back against xenophobia and racism within their own ranks.
The Republican leader slammed Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, both of whom are Muslim, stating that Republicans removed Iowa Rep. Steve King from his committee for making a racist comment.
“When a member of the Republican Party said something that we believe is not about the party of Lincoln, we removed them from committee, but in the Democratic party, not only can you be anti-Semitic, you can spend your campaign money giving it to your husband,” McCarthy said.
“I think the Democrats should take a lesson from the Republicans and stand up to those things that are unAmerican and are wrong.”
Trump has not fully embraced the QAnon component of the Republican Party, but he has not explicitly denounced it either.
As reported by The New York Times, during a press conference earlier this week, Trump appeared to offer encouragement to followers of the mysterious “Q,” suggesting that they are patriots who support him and mean well.
The president did not question the validity of the QAnon movement.
