By Davis Carlton

Pedro Gonzalez is a right-wing pundit who has recently been “doxxed” on Breitbart as a “racist” and “anti-Semite.” Screenshots of private conversations that Gonzalez had with others years ago were posted in order to reveal that Gonzalez should be “canceled” given that his opinions of non-whites and Jews are to be considered beyond the pale of acceptable opinion. Gonzalez has become a vocal critic of former President Donald Trump and alleges that the leaks were made by former friends that are upset about Gonzalez leaving the “Trump Train” for good. Gonzalez is now a supporter of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

Gonzalez has responded to this doxxing by saying “The golden rule for surviving controversy is: don’t apologize.” Gonzalez doesn’t exactly apologize, but during his explanation he concedes, “I said nasty things about race and Jews that do not reflect who I am today.” I guess I’ll take his word for it. I have appreciated Gonzalez’s political commentary for a while since he was recommended by someone I know on social media. Gonzalez was and still is very interesting because his views on issues like immigration and national identity are so well-articulated and would seem counter-intuitive coming from someone of a Mexican background. Gonzalez’s criticisms of Donald Trump are spot on. I understood Gonzalez’s initial support of Trump, and I also agree with his reasoning for abandoning the Trump cause.

Breitbart’s readership is mostly made up of members of the mainstream Right who support the candidacy of Donald Trump because of their legitimate frustrations with the Republican Party establishment. The unintended consequence of this Breitbart doxx may inadvertently cause their readers to “notice” the same things that Gonzalez “notices” about demographics, white replacement, and those who seem most enthusiastic about defiling Western civilization. The Breitbart hit piece doesn’t do much to try to actually rebut what Gonzalez is saying. The site’s editors expect most readers to be safely enough within the mainstream that the mere presentation of such “racist” and “anti-Semitic” views will evoke little more than “Wow, just wow!” in response. As an aside, Kevin Swanson’s assertion in 2016 that Steve Bannon wanted Breitbart to be a platform for the Alt Right was stupid then, and has aged terribly since that time! Breitbart is taking a page out of left-wing shaming tactics in order to discredit the DeSantis campaign by associating him with unacceptable right-wing “radicals.” This is the same tactic that others on the left used with Trump after his meeting with Nick Fuentes.

The comments on the Breitbart hit piece are also revealing. The responses of mainstream conservatives who denounced Gonzalez and said that his sentiments weren’t genuinely “conservative” were sadly predictable. Many were also concerned that Gonzalez’s comments would confirm to those on the Left that “conservatives” really were “racist,” “xenophobic,” and “anti-Semitic.” To my pleasant surprise many people are supportive of Gonzalez’s comments and pointed out that Gonzalez had simply committed the “sin of noticing” and that Breitbart was engaging in the silencing tactics of the Left. These commentators asked in vain to be shown where something that Gonzalez said was wrong, with many people also providing additional evidence that Gonzalez’s “anti-Semitic” claims were grounded in fact and that Jews do significantly punch above their weight in academia, the media, entertainment, finance, the “intelligence community,” and the government in general. These facts cannot simply be shouted down as “anti-Semitic.”

I understand right-wing activists endorsing DeSantis over Trump in the upcoming Presidential election. Trump’s shortcomings have long been documented, and Trump also picked terrible candidates to endorse for the 2022 midterms. DeSantis has had moderate success in combating some of the more extreme elements of the “woke” left in Florida. Ultimately, I think that men like Pedro Gonzalez will find themselves disappointed by Governor Ron DeSantis just as they were with Donald Trump. Recently Gov. DeSantis travelled to Israel to sign legislation to “combat anti-Semitism.” If nothing else this demonstrates that DeSantis is safe to the establishment and won’t rock the boat too much. Any promises to “drain the swamp” in Washington for real this time will be as equally useless as when Trump promised to do this in 2016. It might be true that the memes Gonzalez shared about the Jewish question years ago “do not reflect who” he is “today,” but give it a few more years and we’ll see.