Right-wing influencer Pedro Gonzalez, whose private chats leaked last month, once claimed that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) couldn’t be criticized because she is Jewish.
Pelosi describes herself as a “devout Catholic” and has met with Pope Francis.
In years-old text messages obtained and published by the Washington Free Beacon, Gonzalez wrote that Reps. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Pelosi “can’t be criticized because they are Jewish.”
“That is insane,” he added.
Someone pointed out that Pelosi is not Jewish, to which Gonzalez replied, “But she has Jewish family.”
The Free Beacon also revealed text messages sent by Gonzalez in the wake of the 2019 El Paso mass shooting by a white supremacist.
A screenshot showed that Gonzalez sent an article about Trump condemning white supremacy following the shooting and wrote, “He didn’t actually cuck after Charlottesville, or not nearly as bad,” referencing Trump’s controversial “very fine people” on both sides’ response to clashes between white nationalist demonstrators and counter-protesters in 2017.
“Fuck this president,” Gonzalez added in response to Trump’s condemnation of white supremacy and bigotry.
The Free Beacon‘s reporting followed an extensive exclusive from Breitbart last month detailing Gonzalez’s past antisemitic and racist text messages, including his belief that “not every Jew is problematic, but the sad fact is that most are.”
Gonzalez told Breitbart at the time that those messages were “from a different, dumb season of my life,” and similarly told the Free Beacon that his past comments “were wrong” and “don’t reflect who I am.”
Gonzalez, a vocal supporter of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), also called the Breitbart article “a smear campaign” by supporters of former President Donald Trump.
Gonzalez’s pro-DeSantis social media posts have been amplified by prominent DeSantis campaign staffers, as well as by an adviser to the pro-DeSantis political action committee Never Back Down.
Gonzalez has said he has no official connection to DeSantis’ campaign and Never Back Down has denounced his past comments as well as denied any affiliation with him.
The conservative internet personality also has underscored that those messages were sent back when he was aligned with Trump and were sent to Trump supporters.
Breitbart’s takedown came amid a heightening feud between Trump and DeSantis, as the duo vies for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.
The relationship between the two has deteriorated into Trump dishing out “juvenile insults,” which DeSantis said Sunday helps his campaign. Recent polling, however, shows Trump with a massive lead of more than 30 points over DeSantis.
Gonzalez attributed his comments in an interview with the Free Beacon to his involvement in an “online Trump world” that embraced “absurd rhetorical extremism.”
“What starts off as joking can very quickly become unironically internalized as an actual belief,” he told the Free Beacon, adding that “I said those things, and I take responsibility for them, and I apologize for them, and, ultimately, it’s on me.”
