This article contains too many or overly lengthy quotations .(August 2015) |
Jack Hunter | |
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Born | Jack William Hunter Jr. June 1, 1974 Hanahan, South Carolina, U.S. |
Pen name | Southern Avenger, Big Baby |
Occupation | Radio host, writer, blogger |
Jack William Hunter Jr. (born June 1, 1974) is an American radio host, political commentator and Politics Editor for Rare.us, a Washington, D.C.-based news website. He began his career in the late 1990s on alternative rock station WAVF 96.1 FM using the moniker "Southern Avenger", an anonymous pro wrestler/superhero-style character. In 2007, Hunter began appearing every Tuesday and Friday morning on WTMA News-Talk 1250 AM, and contributed to a weekly column to the Charleston City Paper . [1] Hunter was also an aide to U.S. Senator Rand Paul, whom Hunter helped write the book The Tea Party Goes to Washington . [2] He is perhaps best known for racist writings that caused a major media controversy for his boss, Senator Paul.
Hunter resigned from Rand Paul's staff in what the Senator called a "mutual decision." In a November 2013 article for Politico , Hunter repudiated his former views, writing "I'm not a racist; I just played one on the radio." [3]
Hunter is known for often providing commentary from libertarian and conservative viewpoints, with a particular focus on Ron Paul's 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns as well as Senator Rand Paul's influence within the Republican Party. Hunter has said he sees the liberal internationalism that is found in the Democratic Party and the neoconservatism prominent in the Republican Party to be ultimately indistinguishable from one another, which has led to criticism from both the mainstream left and the mainstream right.[ citation needed ]
Hunter supports a non-interventionist foreign policy and considers the current U.S. foreign policy a disaster. [4] He is also critical of neoconservatism. [5] As a columnist for the Charleston City Paper, Hunter praised "paleolibertarian" Taki's Magazine, quoting and linking to the writing of Richard Spencer advocating for nationalism and isolationism in the GOP. [6]
Critics on both the political left [7] and the political right [8] condemned Hunter for the past remarks, and some political analysts said that Senator Rand Paul's continuing association with Hunter would imperil Paul's prospects as a contender in the 2016 United States presidential election.
On July 18, Hunter's former longtime editor at the Charleston City Paper, Chris Haire, wrote an article sharply critical of both Hunter and Paul, denouncing Hunter for having asked Haire, long before the current controversy had erupted, to remove from the internet dozens of past columns that Hunter said no longer reflected his views. [9] Haire called the request cowardly and said that Hunter had made it solely for appearances—to help Paul in the 2016 presidential campaign. [9] Noting controversial writings by Hunter "in support of racially profiling Hispanics, praising white supremacist Sam Francis, blast[ing] the House of Representative's apology for slavery" and calling upon black Americans to "apologize to white people for their high crime rates", Haire characterized Hunter as "the most common kind of racist, the one that doesn't realize that he is one". [9]
By July 21, less than two weeks after the original Washington Free Beacon article had been published, Hunter had resigned from his position on Paul's staff. Paul called the resignation "a mutual decision," agreeing that Hunter's past views had become a distraction. [10]
In a statement written in response to the controversy, Hunter wrote that he was "embarrassed by some of the comments I made precisely because they do not represent me today." [11] He also expressed abhorrence of racism and criticized the Free Beacon article as "not accurately reflect[ing]" his character or views. [11] In June 2015, Hunter wrote a piece in The Daily Beast condemning his past promotion of Confederate iconography in light of the Charleston church shooting. [12]
The Washington Times is an American conservative daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It covers general interest topics with a particular emphasis on national politics. Its broadsheet daily edition is distributed throughout Washington, D.C., and in parts of suburban Maryland and Northern Virginia. A weekly tabloid edition aimed at a national audience is also published. The Washington Times was one of the first American broadsheets to publish its front page in full color.
Neoconservatism is a political movement that began in the United States and the United Kingdom during the 1960s during the Vietnam War among foreign policy hawks who became disenchanted with the increasingly pacifist Democratic Party and with the growing New Left and counterculture of the 1960s. Neoconservatives typically advocate the unilateral promotion of democracy and interventionism in international affairs, grounded in a militaristic and realist philosophy of "peace through strength." They are known for espousing opposition to communism and political radicalism.
Paleoconservatism is a political philosophy and strain of conservatism in the United States stressing American nationalism, Christian ethics, regionalism, traditionalist conservatism, and opposition to Israel. Paleoconservatism's concerns overlap with those of the Old Right that opposed the New Deal in the 1930s and 1940s as well as with paleolibertarianism and right-wing populism.
Samuel Todd Francis, known as Sam Francis, was an American columnist and writer known for his paleoconservative and white nationalist views. He was a columnist and editor for the conservative Washington Times until he was dismissed after making racist remarks at the 1995 American Renaissance conference. Francis would later become a "dominant force" on the Council of Conservative Citizens, a white supremacist organization identified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Francis was chief editor of the council's newsletter, Citizens Informer, until his death in 2005.
The Council of Conservative Citizens is an American white supremacist organization. Founded in 1985, it advocates white nationalism, and supports some paleoconservative causes. In the organization's statement of principles, it states that they "oppose all efforts to mix the races of mankind".
The American Conservative (TAC) is a magazine published by the American Ideas Institute which was founded in 2002. Originally published twice a month, it was reduced to monthly publication in August 2009, and since February 2013, it has been published once every two months.
In American politics, a Libertarian Republican is a politician or Republican Party member who has advocated Libertarian policies while typically voting for and being involved with the Republican Party.
Brian Darling is the president and founder of the firm Liberty Government Affairs. He was Senior Communications Director and Counsel for Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) and a former senior fellow in government studies at The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank based in Washington, D.C. Darling has been involved in U.S. politics since the early 1990s, in roles as a congressional aide, lobbyist and legal counsel. Darling resigned as legal counsel to Republican Senator Mel Martinez of Florida after admitting he was the author of the Schiavo memo.
Randal Howard Paul is an American politician serving as the junior United States senator from Kentucky since 2011. A member of the Republican Party, he is a son of former three-time presidential candidate and 12-term U.S. representative from Texas, Ron Paul. Paul describes himself as a constitutional conservative and supporter of the Tea Party movement.
Taki's Magazine, called Takimag for short, is an online magazine of politics and culture published by the Greek paleoconservative commentator and socialite Taki Theodoracopulos and edited by his daughter Mandolyna Theodoracopulos. It has published articles by far-right figures such as Gavin McInnes and the white supremacist Jared Taylor; the white supremacist Richard Spencer was an early Taki's editor.
In American politics, a libertarian Democrat is a member of the Democratic Party with political views that are relatively libertarian compared to the views of the national party.
Clementa Carlos Pinckney was an American politician and pastor who served as a Democratic member of the South Carolina Senate, representing the 45th District from 2000 until his death in 2015. He was previously a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1997 through 2000.
The Political Cesspool is a weekly far-right talk radio show founded by Tennessean political activist James Edwards and syndicated by the organizations Liberty News Radio Network and Accent Radio Network in the United States. First broadcast in October 2004 twice a week from radio station WMQM, per Edwards it has been simulcast on Stormfront Radio, a service of the white nationalist Stormfront website and as of 2011 is broadcast on Saturday nights on WLRM, a blues and southern soul radio station in Millington, Tennessee. Its sponsors include the white separatist Council of Conservative Citizens and the Institute for Historical Review, a Holocaust denial group.
During the American Civil War, the state of Illinois was a major source of troops for the Union Army, and of military supplies, food, and clothing. Situated near major rivers and railroads, Illinois became a major jumping off place early in the war for Ulysses S. Grant's efforts to seize control of the Mississippi and Tennessee rivers. Statewide, public support for the Union was high despite Copperhead sentiment.
The 2016 presidential campaign of Rand Paul, the junior United States senator from Kentucky, was announced on April 7, 2015, at an event at the Galt House in Louisville, Kentucky. First elected to the U.S. Senate in the 2010 election, Paul's candidacy for the Republican nomination for President of the United States in 2016 had been widely speculated since early 2013.
The Charleston church shooting, also known as the Charleston church massacre, was an anti-black mass shooting and hate crime that occurred on June 17, 2015, in Charleston, South Carolina. Nine people were killed, and a tenth was injured, during a Bible study at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, the oldest black church in the southern United States. Among the fatalities was the senior pastor, state senator Clementa C. Pinckney. All ten victims were African Americans. At the time, it was the deadliest mass shooting at a place of worship in U.S. history and is the deadliest mass shooting in South Carolina history.
Although the Confederate States of America dissolved at the end of the American Civil War (1861–1865), its battle flag continues to be displayed as a symbol. The modern display began during the 1948 United States presidential election when it was used by the Dixiecrats, a political party that opposed civil rights for African Americans. Further display of the flag was a response to the civil rights movement and the passage of federal civil rights laws in the 1950s and 1960s.
The 2016 South Carolina Republican presidential primary took place on February 20 in the U.S. state of South Carolina, marking the Republican Party's third nominating contest in their series of presidential primaries ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
The Nathan Bedford Forrest Statue is a 25 feet (7.6 m) equestrian statue of Confederate Lt. General Nathan Bedford Forrest. Now removed, the statue was formerly located on a narrow strip of private land near Nashville, Tennessee, and was visible from Interstate 65 at 701D Hogan Road. The work, by attorney and amateur sculptor Jack Kershaw, was unveiled in 1998. Widely mocked by national media, it drew decades of controversy and vandalism, and was removed on December 7, 2021. Critics said the work's distorted facial features bore little resemblance to Forrest himself. Forrest was depicted with a sword held high in his right hand, while mounted on a rearing horse flanked by Confederate battle flags.