Idaho GOPers Endorse Full Blown Proud Bigot Dave Reilly for Office October 19, 2021
Many federal and state GOP far-right “legislators” don’t come out of nowhere. Lots of right-wing groups often encourage their candidates to run “stealth” campaigns at the local level. They pretend to be your “average” garden-variety Democrats, Republicans, or even non-partisan individuals. They emphasize running for city council and school board races. Very few people usually vote in these elections, and those who do often skip such down ballot contests thinking them trivial. They are not. Once in office, many of these “winners” show their true beliefs-- extremist GOPers. They run all over the country, in very “Blue” areas, as well as dripping “Red” ones. Sometimes, however, these candidates can’t wait to openly brag about their extremist connections even before an election, especially in “blood Red” areas. Exhibit A—Idaho. Anyone following national politics knows that ID is one strong “Red” State. The last time Idaho voted for a Democratic President was in 1964, when LBJ barely beat Barry Goldwater there by two points, 51%-49% (Cohen & Cook 2022 Political Almanac). In 2016, Donald beat Hillary in ID by 31 percentage points and clobbered Biden in 2020 by the same margin (Cohen & Cook 2022). The U.S. House delegation and both Senators are Republicans, as well as the Governor and the majority of members in both state legislative chambers (Cohen & Cook 2022). In the Gem State, GOPers are the only political “game in town.”
Meet David Reilly, a candidate for Zone 5 of the School Board in Post Falls, ID. He is running in an election that will be held on 11/02/2021 (pfsd.com, /News/333). Reilly is one overt anti-Semitic, anti-Muslim, misogynistic, homophobic white supremacist who has tweeted and written such views for years. Instead of condemning him non-stop and pushing him to quit his candidacy, the Kootenai County GOP, home of Post Falls, endorsed Reilly. When confronted in 9/2021 with the news that they had endorsed a flagrant bigot for office, the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee (KCRCC) did not rescind their endorsement. No, this GOP outfit “doubled down” on supporting Reilly. KRCC Chair Brent Regan, instead, complained about “cancel culture.” Chair Regan falsely claimed that Reilly’s statements were “fabricated (“Angry White Men, Tracking White Supremacy,” 10/11/21).” Kootenai GOP Chair Regan wrote that he was “appalled” by “registered GOPer, retired college professor, and current ID school member Michelle Lippert. Why? Because, after reading his tweets and views, Lippert formed the opinion that Reilly was an “anti-Semitic, misogynistic, homophobic white supremacist.” Regan dismissed Reilly’s anti-Semitic comments as either “fabricated or taken out of context,” but gave no proof. Instead, GOP Chair Regan compared Reilly to Trump “hero” (NOT) MyPillow founder Mike Lindell. Lindell is being sued for millions by Dominion, the voting machine company, for saying it tampered with the 2020 election. Regan stated that like Lindell, Reilly had overcome an opiate addiction and “found faith (angrywhitemen.org, Perez, V., kxly.com, 10/12/21).” Does all this sound familiar? ID Kootenai GOP Chair Regan calls any attacks on fellow GOPers “cancel culture,” or “fabrication.” Translation: If you dare to attack the most blatant GOP bigots, you, like all of Trump’s “enemies,” are guilty of creating “fake news.” Chairman Regan and the ID GOP group he heads have, like the overwhelming majority of GOPers today, been taken over by the Trumpist cult of personality. Nothing Trump or his followers say, whether sick bigoted statements, or his attempts to overthrow democracy count. They have been “made up” by the rational intelligent opposition whose views must be ignored. Dave Paul, another critic of Reilly, dropped out of the school board race and is supporting another candidate for Zone 5. Jacob Dawson, a school board opponent of Reilly, running in this race, argued that Zone 5 and its members must be kept “non-partisan and must avoid political and social agendas within our schools (Perez, kxly.com, 10/12/21, Hardy, Coeur d’Alene /Post Falls, 10/02/21).”
Reilly has only lived in ID for one year. He has no children in the Post Falls School District and no other ties to education in ID (See Perez, 10/12/21, kxly.com). Reilly previously lived in PA. In 6/2012, Reilly pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge in Columbia County, PA. Under PA law, disorderly conduct is defined, in part, as “engaging in fighting, threatening, or violent behavior in public.” He was placed on probation for 12 months. The Coeur d’Alene/Post Falls Press checked all the other Post Falls school board candidates and found that short of a few citations for speeding, vehicle registration, and failure to give notice for change of address, no other school board candidate had a criminal record (Hardy, 10/02/21). Before coming to N. Idaho, Reilly worked for his PA family-owned radio station WHLM. While at WHLM, Reilly reported in 2017 on the “Unite the Right Rally” of neo-Nazi, Klan, and other white supremacists in Charlottesville, VA where tiki-torch marchers, yelled “Jews will not replace us.” Anti-racist protestor Heather Heyer was killed by a neo-Nazi who ran a car over her in Charlottesville. Reilly interviewed event organizer white supremacist David Kessler. According to PA media accounts, Reilly faced much backlash from the community for his reporting, because listeners considered him supportive of the white supremacists. Reilly eventually resigned because he claimed he was “libeled viciously” over Charlottesville. After leaving WHLM, Reilly worked for “Culture War Magazine,” a right-wing Indiana publication full of anti-Semitic pieces. This magazine was run by E. Michael Jones, a leader of an antisemitic “traditionalist Catholic group (splcenter.org/fighting -hate).” In a 2019 article for that magazine, Reilly, a hard-right Catholic wrote, “The Catholic Church has been infiltrated by homosexuals, Jews, and bad leadership (Coeur d’ Alene/Post Falls, Hardy, 10/02/21, kos.com, Neiwert10/14/21 ).”
Reilly’s anti-Semitism never let up. He tweeted that “Judaism is the religion of the anti-Christ,” that “all Jews are dangerous,” and “that more Americans should believe anti-Semitic stereotypes (Weill, the dailybeast.com, angrywhitemen.org).” He praised Poland’s right-wing government for backing out of a Holocaust remembrance event in Israel. He tweeted that Iran “should have bombed Israel (angrywhitemen.org, 10/11/21).” In 1/2021, Reilly tweeted that “white privilege is a thing because Jews pretend to be white when it’s expedient for them. Everyone else in European heritage is left footing the bill, and taking blame for their bad behavior (Perez, kxly.com, 10/12/21). “
Reilly is a sick hater of just about everyone. In a YouTube account from 3/2021, Reilly talked about “cancel culture.” At one point in that video, Reilly discussed a radio segment he produced called “The Ramadan-Bomb-a thon (Hardy, Coeur d’Alene/Post Falls Press, 10/02/21).” Reilly stated that women “shouldn’t have the right to vote (angrywhitemen.org. 10/11/21).” Misogynism 101. And let’s add LGBTQ’s to Reilly’s long hate list. In a 9/2021 tweet, Reilly accused gay Sec. of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and his husband Chastain of child trafficking (Perez, kxly.com, 10/12/21, CQ 117th Cong. At Your Fingertips). Get it? Reilly is trying to tie a devoted gay couple who now have two children into “Pizzagate” and QAnon conspiracy nonsense.
Reilly says that he has been “subjected to incredible financial, social, and personal hardships because he was a public supporter of Donald Trump (Coeur d’Alene /Post Falls Press, Hardy, 10/02/21). Give me a break! Reilly is just a wacko right-wing extremist who puts out cries of fake indignation over his alleged “victimhood.” He has no one to blame but himself for falling down this bigoted rabbit hole.
Why give these bigots any attention by quoting what they say? Unfortunately, we must to show just how loony far too many GOP candidates and their supporters are when worshipping blindly before the altar of Trump. Several years ago, many GOPers would have denounced the likes of Reilly and run him out of town. Unfortunately, not now. The only way to stop these anti-democracy Trump sympathizers and keep them from winning again is for Democrats and moderates in every state to stop them at the local as well as the national level in every election. This area in ID was once the headquarters of the violent white Supremacist Aryan Nations (Perez, kxly.com, 10/12/21). Their descendants must not get a toehold on the school board or anywhere else. And the rest of us must vote in droves in VA in 11/2021 and in the 2022 midterms to keep the likes of Reilly and their Trumpist aiders and abettors out of office. The GOP’s cult of Trump must take a real drubbing. Democracy is at stake.