What to know about the withdrawn Trump nominee who reportedly said he has a ‘Nazi streak’

Geoff Bennett:

President Trump's nominee to lead the Office of Special Counsel is under fire just days before he is set to testify on his nomination to a Senate committee.

In a text chain obtained by Politico, Paul Ingrassia reportedly made racist remarks, including saying the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday should be ended and, in his words, tossed into the seventh circle of hell. He also admits to what he called a — quote — "Nazi streak in me from time to time."

At least four Republican senators now say they oppose his nomination, including Senate Majority Leader John Thune.

We're joined now by Jeff Sharlet, a professor at Dartmouth College who studies rising extremism.

Thanks for being with us.

Jeff Sharlet, Dartmouth College:

Hi, Geoff. Good to be with you.

Geoff Bennett:

So, as we speak a little after 5:00 p.m. Eastern, the White House has not pulled this nomination, even though the Senate majority leader, John Thune, says he doesn't expect it to move forward.

For people who've not followed this story closely, who is Paul Ingrassia and how do these leaked messages fit within what is known about his world view?

Jeff Sharlet:

Paul Ingrassia is a 30-year-old Cornell Law School graduate, longtime, no other word for it, extremist activists and has held a couple other positions. He was White House liaison to Department of Justice.

And in that capacity, he was advocating for what he called only hiring people with exceptional loyalty to Trump. He — both of having represented Andrew Tate, the sort of extreme, misogynist, antisemite influencer. He has advocated for Nick Fuentes, the antisemitic activist.

He's even advocated for a man named Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, a January 6 rioter convicted sentenced to four years. Viewers might remember him as he liked to style himself as Hitler. He dressed up as Hitler with a Hitler mustache and a Hitler haircut.

And so when we hear now Paul Ingrassia saying, I have got a Nazi streak, this isn't news. He's been talking about the importance of America as a place founded by whites. I mean, it's even in the language that we see in the text chain, he talks about rejecting — the only part he wants to reject the founders is where they said all people are created equal, because he has long been arguing that they're not.

Geoff Bennett:

And these text messages are especially striking when you consider he's being nominated to lead an agency that investigates whistle-blower claims and claims of discrimination across the federal government.

In your view, what kind of moral or political culture allows someone who talks this way in private to be considered for a Senate-confirmed role in 2025?

Jeff Sharlet:

Well, let's remember he talks this way in private. He talks this way in public.

But why is this hitting now? Why are some of these Republican senators saying this, versus all the other times he said variations of these comments, too much? And I think it has to do with the idea that maybe what he was doing in public before was performance, but what happens in a chat group where he makes these points and then he backs them up, if there's any doubt that maybe he's just joking or what kind of joke is that, he doubles down and he says, no, I'm serious. This really matters.

It's almost a kind of private intimate racism. It removes any veneer of denial that this is some kind of satire or performance. But is there qualitatively a difference in what he's been saying in this chat and publicly for years now? Is there qualitatively a difference from news we see reported today in The Washington Post that we're going to be cutting back refugees from what was 125,000 a year under Biden to 7500, 7,000 of whom may be white Afrikaners?

How is this qualitatively different from the attempt to purge the Naval Academy's library of Black history, of Holocaust history, even as it left on the shelves books like "Mein Kampf"? This isn't qualitatively different. It's stylistically different.

He's using the N-word, the other N-word. He's calling himself a Nazi. But he's talking about white supremacy and he's not the only one in this administration.

Geoff Bennett:

So I hear you say this is not a fringe incident, but talk more about how you see this as part of a larger pattern where white nationalist ideas are being normalized within mainstream conservative politics.

Jeff Sharlet:

Yes, I thin, I mean, now is it not only a fringe incident. This is the — if he gets this position — and now it does seem in doubt — but this will be the third position he's held in the Trump administration.

And, again, all these ideas have been on the public — out in public for a long time. He got this job because of these ideas, not despite them. And so I think, when we're talking about normalizing, again, we have to ask ourselves, is this sort of something that's out there on the fringe or it's right there in the center?

It's the language. Again, this is not qualitatively different than President Trump calling Black elected official after Black elected official a low-I.Q. individual. And then when we see Paul Ingrassia saying all Black people are — play victim because that's what — they like this, they're from S-hole countries, he's just repeating the president's words.

And you led with him calling for getting rid of MLK Day, which he's not alone, by the way. A lot of very conservative politicians for years have advocated for that. He actually goes a step further on that score. He says getting rid of all holidays associated with Black people. Only, he doesn't say Black. He uses an ethnic slur.

Geoff Bennett:

Jeff Sharlet, thanks again for joining us this evening. We appreciate it.

Jeff Sharlet:

Thanks, Geoff.