The White House coughed up its latest white nationalist sympathizer this weekend, as the administration was forced to terminate the employment of a Trump speechwriter in light of recent revelations that he attended a white nationalist conference just two years ago.
CNN reports that Darren Beattie, who served as both a policy aide and speechwriter under Trump, has left the administration. A White House spokesperson confirmed that Beattie had left but refused to comment further.
Last week, it was revealed that Beattie gave a speech at the H.L. Mencken Club Conference. The event is named after the late writer H.L. Mencken, a satirist who is known not only for his writing but for his racist and anti-semitic views.
Infamous white nationalist Richard Spencer has attended the conference numerous times in the past. In 2016, the year Beattie gave his speech, the conference also hosted outspoken white nationalist Peter Brimelow.
Two conservative writers who were specifically fired from National Review over their racist comments were also there. CNN notes that numerous writers for the white nationalist website VDare also gave speeches at the conference. Clearly, the slant of the entire event was firmly radical and racist.
While Beattie confirmed to CNN that he attended the Mencken Club Conference, he insisted that there was nothing wrong with him doing so. He also made the laughable claim that Trump, a man who has sold out his country’s national interests in pursuit of personal advancement and wealth, is an “American hero.”
“In 2016 I attended the Mencken conference in question and delivered a stand-alone, academic talk titled ‘The Intelligentsia and the Right.’ I said nothing objectionable and stand by my remarks completely. It was the honor of my life to serve in the Trump Administration. I love President Trump, who is a fearless American hero, and continue to support him one hundred percent. I have no further comment,” Beattie said to CNN’s KFile.
While it’s unclear what exactly Beattie said during his speech, the mere fact that he appeared at an event celebrating the thoughts and words of white nationalists is inexcusable.
It’s appropriate that he was fired from the White House, but the fact that he ever worked there in the first place just shows how deeply entrenched white supremacy is in the Trump administration. Beattie may be gone, but people who hold the same odious beliefs as him continue to stalk the hallways of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Patriotic Americans must not rest until every last one is booted to the curb for good.
