Royce White, a former NBA player and current devotee of ex-President Donald Trump, won the Minnesota Republican Party’s Senate primary on Tuesday.
White had secured an eyebrow-raising endorsement from the Minnesota GOP back in May, although he was certain to face formidable odds if he managed to challenge Democratic incumbent Sen. Amy Klobuchar on Nov. 5.
The basketball player, once hailed for progressive mental health activism, led Black Lives Matter protests in Minneapolis after the death of George Floyd. But more recently, White has made a name for himself with inflammatory comments about women, Jewish people and the LGBTQ community, leaning into conspiracy theories popular in far-right corners of the internet.
White now counts among his allies Steve Bannon, the Trump adviser-turned-felon, and Alex Jones, the far-right showman who spread lies about victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting and now owes their families $1.5 billion.
As recently as Saturday, White guest-hosted Bannon’s “War Room” show since he’s in jail. Bannon had asked White to be with him when he surrendered to authorities in July for defying a congressional subpoena — an act that prompted White to praise Bannon as “an American hero,” according to The Associated Press.
Last year, White said on Bannon’s show that “women have become too mouthy.”
“As the Black man in the room, I’ll say that,” White added.
In June, he doubled down on the “mouthy” label with multiple social media posts.
His name-calling seemingly knows no bounds. White also labeled several women — CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley — along with Dr. Anthony Fauci, whose pro-vaccination messaging White rejects, a “cunt.”
He has also attacked individual women on the basis of their appearance and once said the LGBTQ+ movement is “the brainchild of radical feminists and their cucked men.”
Since securing his party’s endorsement, White has had to fight back against accusations of antisemitism, as news outlets pointed out that he complained about “the Jewish lobby” last year and wrote in 2022 about “a group of Jewish elite that tends to be secular in belief and corrupt in political practice.”
Calling White antisemitic, the Republican Jewish Coalition endorsed his opponent, Joe Fraser, in the Minnesota Senate primary.
“You can’t be antisemitic when you pray to a Jewish carpenter every morning for salvation. Jesus Is King!” White claimed.
White’s grandfather, Frank White, spoke about his grandson’s turn toward extremist politics in a story by Mother Jones’ Eamon Whalen in 2022.
“I’m proud of my grandson, but do I agree with his politics? No,” he told the outlet. “He told me, ‘Hey grandpa, I’m going to be on Steve Bannon’s podcast.’ I said, ‘Do you know who Steve Bannon is, man?’”
“There’s no way I can support my grandson supporting the GOP, and in essence, Trump,” he continued. “This is a guy who wants to be a dictator. Think about what that means. You’re a person of color. Do you think you fit in his plans?”