Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick probably hoped that making a strong statement against antisemitism and calling on Republicans to roust hatemongers from their ranks would put an end to weeks of controversy that began with the revelation of a meeting between a hard-right GOP strategist and a notorious white supremacist.
Give Patrick credit for mincing no words: “If you are anti-Semitic, if you admire Hitler and don’t believe the Holocaust happened in Europe, if you hate Jews, you are NOT a Republican and you are not welcome in our party,” he said. “Every Republican group in the state, no matter how small or how large, including our state party, needs to root out this cancer.”
But the reality is that there are too many connections and much work to do. Patrick and other Republican leaders must follow through, especially by teaching some young activists a better way.
