Patrick Little wants to deport Jewish people from the U.S., says Adolf Hitler is the “second coming of Christ,” and has called for the “Balkanization” of America.
He’s also, according a recent poll from SurveyUSA, the leading contender challenging Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) for her seat this fall. As the April poll found, nearly 20 percent of respondents said they would vote for Little. His supporters included nearly a quarter of Californians over the age of 50, and nearly half of the state’s Republicans.
Out of nowhere, and with almost no name recognition before this year, Little became the latest extremist to attach his name to the Republican Party — and swiftly became the likeliest candidate to take his rank anti-Semitism, genocide denial, and white supremacy to Congress.
To be sure, there’s no guarantee Little — who has expressed support for U.S. President Donald Trump in the past — will come anywhere near those SurveyUSA numbers when California holds its open primary on June 5, sending the top two respondents to the state’s November Senate election. Not only did another late April poll place him outside the top three contenders, but over the weekend the state Republican party booted Little wholesale from its convention.
“There’s no room for that kind of hate speech that that man uses,” said Cynthia Bryant, executive director of the California GOP. According to the Los Angeles Times, one witness saw Little “dragging and kicking an Israeli flag while being escorted out.”
In a video later posted on BitChute, Little, a former Marine and IT specialist, confirmed his ejection from the GOP convention. Standing and spitting on an Israeli flag, Little railed against the decision, peppering his rant with a number of conspiracy theories he has embraced.
“The Republican Party of California is nothing but Zionist stooges,” Little said. “We know there are Israeli fingerprints all over the 9/11 attacks.”
Little didn’t respond to ThinkProgress’ request for comment, but in the immediate aftermath of his ejection he appeared on the radio show of former KKK member David Duke — a man who endorsed Little’s candidacy.
White States of America
Unlike candidates dabbling in dog-whistles and innuendo, Little — who describes himself as a “civil rights advocate” — doesn’t do anything to hide his hatred. Among the racist beliefs and outlandish conspiracy theories in his campaign platform:
- A platform to implement a quota for Jewish representation in the U.S. government
- A call to make it illegal to “raise funds for any foundation related to the perpetuating of propaganda related to a ‘holocaust,’ formally making US’s stance on the [H]olocaust to be that it is a Jewish war atrocity propaganda hoax that never happened.”
- A proposal to introduce “legislation restoring the original intent of the Constitution, explicitly stating that the United States is a ethnically European nation.”
In an interview with Newsweek last month, Little added to the litany of idiocies he’d already espoused. Calling for the deportation of Jewish Americans, Little said that if “he were a man of greater faith he would view Adolf Hitler as ‘the second coming of Christ.'”
Little also revealed that he attended last year’s “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where a fellow white supremacist killed one protester and injured nearly two dozen others. Like Richard Spencer, who also attended the rally — and is currently facing a lawsuit for his own actions in Charlottesville — Little also called for the “Balkanization” of the U.S., shattering the country into separate racial enclaves.
With only one month until Californians go to the polls — and with mail-in ballots already going out — it’s unclear how much of a dent the state GOP’s decision to boot Little will make in his chances.
Even if Little doesn’t make the cutoff to face Feinstein this fall, his stock has already risen considerably among fellow white supremacists. Little’s account on Gab, a white supremacist chat site, is peppered with support from anonymous white supremacists and memes of him stomping on the Israeli flag.
“All you California guys need to vote in the primary and get him in there!” one said. “[Little] will wake up so many people. If you live in California, it’s time to tell the truth to the conservatives you know,” another added.