*Similar Releases Sent To Targeted Districts Across the Country*
When Donald Trump named Breitbart head, Steve Bannon, his campaign CEO, he solidified his connection with the anti-immigrant, white nationalist “alt-right” movement – a movement that would likely look kindly on Congressman John Mica’s own history of racially-charged rhetoric and Trump-style dog whistles.
This “alt-right” movement has been described by the Washington Post as “…[believing] in a creed-free, race-based nationalism, insisting, among other things, that birth on American soil confers superiority. The alt-right sees limited-government constitutionalism as passé; it holds that only nationalist populism on the basis of shared tribal identity can save the country. It’s a movement shot through with racism and anti-Semitism.”
Congressman Mica enthusiastically endorsed Trump and continues to embrace his campaign, even as Trump insults immigrants, people of color, women, people with disabilities, and a Gold Star family. And for his part, Mica has likened providing food to families on welfare to feeding alligators, and continues to this day to rely on dog-whistle terms and derogatory language like “young thugs” and “illegal aliens.” It follows that Mica continues to support Trump’s dangerous campaign as it veers toward the “alt-right.”
“The fact that the Republican Party’s nominee for president has embraced an anti-immigrant, anti-Semitic, white nationalist movement is shocking, but here we are,” said Christie Stephenson of the DCCC. “John Mica bears responsibility not only for endorsing Donald Trump’s dangerous campaign, but for helping enable the insidious influence of the alt-right movement within his Republican Party by using hateful, derogatory language himself.”
Background:
In Response To President Obama Holding A Nationally-Televised Town Hall On Gun Violence, Mica Released An Open Letter To The President Stating He Should Conduct Town Halls With “Young Thugs In Homicide Prone Cities.” “Tonight, President Barack Obama is slated to hold a nationally televised town hall on gun violence. But Winter Park Republican Congressman John Mica penned a letter to the president, telling him he would be better off holding a town hall “with young thugs in homicide prone cities like Chicago, Baltimore, Detroit, and New Orleans.” [Orlando Sentinel, 1/07/16]
Mica: Rather Than Doing Townhall, Obama Should Sit Down With “Thugs” That “Don’t Have Hope” To Talk About “Black On Black” Crime. In an interview following his letter to President Obama, John Mica said, “Look at the statistics, and they’re alarming about these young people that are committing these violent acts with stolen weapons or with drugs involved. So, I said, rather than host this big thing on CNN, how about going to Detroit, or Baltimore, or cities where they have the violence? Sit down with the thugs. Now, I picked thugs, because when I was doing the research, the president called them thugs. Remember in Baltimore? That was his term. But it wasn’t meant in a disparaging way. … Sit down with some of these people. Bring them in. Let’s talk with them. They probably don’t have an education. They don’t have a job. They don’t have hope. They come from a dysfunctional family. So let’s look at those things — and then, what we can do to improve the situation. So it was well thought out. There are other things. Lack of prosecution. A 23 percent drop in prosecution of people who are getting involved with stolen weapons, and I think it’s a 40-some percent [drop] over the last administration. … I’m not trying to embarrass him. But what can we do positively to make a difference? We’re killing 8,000 to 11,000 people in these incidents. Most of them are young. The large majority of them are African Americans. Eighty-three percent of the crimes are black on black. We’re celebrating Martin Luther King week. We can and we must do better. So this was meant in a positive vein to the president. Let’s look at things we can do together and he can do, with his authority, that would make a difference.” [Orlando Sentinel, 2/01/16]
AP In 1995: Compared Providing Food To Families On Welfare To Feeding Alligators. “Debate on the bill continued in emotionally charged language Friday, when Rep. John L. Mica, R-Fla., took to the House floor to compare providing food to families on welfare with feeding alligators. ‘Now people are not alligators, but I submit that with our current handout, nonwork welfare system, we’ve upset the natural order. We’ve failed to understand simple warning signs. We’ve created a system of dependency,’ he said.” [Associated Press, 3/25/95; C-SPAN, Video, 3/24/95]