We hear more about claims that the Libertarian Party of Florida is a refuge for white supremacists and anti-Semites; later in the show we talk about solutions to the gun violence epidemic.
The man who was the Libertarian Party of Florida’s nominee for U.S. Senate last year resigned from the party last month, making the claim that the LPF is a refuge for white supremacists and anti-Semites. Paul Stanton was the 2016 Libertarian Party of Florida nominee for the U.S. Senate after winning the party’s primary election over a man who went on to be a featured speaker at this year’s deadly white nationalist gathering in Charlottesville, Virginia.
WMNF News spoke with Stanton a couple of weeks ago and aired parts of the interview then. Here we play the full interview and then we’ll hear a response from Ryan Ramsey, who Stanton refers to in this interview.
Listen to the full show here:
“I withdrew from the Libertarian Party of Florida, quite frankly, because of white supremacists using tactics of violent threats and intimidation and people just not caring.”
Can you give us an example of specifics that have happened when there was white supremacy and there was violent threats?
“Yes. So, as you probably know, there was a libertarian primary last year with Agustus Sol Invictus. He was one of the speakers in Charlottesville, for example. He brought in quite the crowd, although perhaps there was a bit of a crowd there already. And you know, he was on tape threatening me and threatening other people. Other people like one of his lieutenants from the campaign, Ryan Ramsey, who’s now running for Florida House, I believe, as well as being an officer within the Libertarian Party of Florida, has issued threats both vague and direct. One such example is, I believe about a month ago, he was saying that I should be thrown out of a helicopter. He’s threatened to have people show up at my place of work. He’s threatened to have people show up to other people’s places of work. He’s suggested to the current Florida Libertarian Senate candidate, Joseph Wendt, that he should have a good dental plan.
“This is ridiculous. I mean, normal people should not have to deal with violent white supremacists in their political party and if they do, the leadership should have the courage to actually step up and say something about it.”
Ryan Ramsey was interviewed by floridapolitics.com and he said, ‘Yeah, he used to be a member of white supremacist groups, but, now he’s not.’ ‘He hasn’t made any threats to you.’ ‘He’s with this group now called American Guard Florida, but, even though the Southern Poverty Law Center considers it having roots in the white supremacist movement, that it is not a white supremacist group.’ Yet, you still say that there’s white supremacists, there’s anti-semites in the Libertarian Party of Florida?
“Just a week ago, Saturday, Ryan Ramsey posted an image on his Facebook page: Libertarian Heathen, that was straight from a 1930s German propaganda textbook insinuating that Jewish men are predators against white German girls. It’s disgusting. This is nothing new. He participates in things like Operation Werewolf. ‘Werewolf’ of course being a reference to a 1940s German plan for insurgency and allied occupied territory. This is nothing new, it’s constant from this guy and everyone’s pretending that it’s not an issue or explicitly supporting it.”
And you feel that the Libertarian Party of Florida in not cracking down, I guess, on this type of behavior, you think that maybe it’s endorsing it and that’s why you’re leaving? Are you going to a different party?
“I’m not planning on going to a different party. No. I introduced a motion with the Libertarian Party of Florida Executive Committee to remove Ryan Ramsey for this. About half of the people who voted on the call, voted for it, just under half excuse me, which was under the two-thirds threshold required. Now you have the Chairman, Marcos Miralles, who used to also say that, for example: Agustus Sol Invictus was not a white supremacist. Now he’s saying the same thing about Ryan Ramsey, whom he’s appointed to committee positions, despite being covered in racist tattoos, despite the constant anti-semitic and violent rhetoric from him.
“I’m not going to another party. No. Not at this time. There have been members of the Constitution, Green, and Republican parties who have all approached me since I’ve resigned, but, I really don’t have any interest in joining any of those parties.”
Well, I think those were all of my questions. Is there anything else that our listeners should know about this issue?
“It’s bizarre and it’s disgusting that– Libertarians in Florida deserve better than [the] Libertarian Party of Florida and just, quite frankly, if the Libertarian Party of Florida ever wants to be taken seriously, they need to start acting seriously and one of those things is not to support violent white supremacy.”
But Stanton’s claims are being rebuffed by Libertarian Party of Florida member Ryan Ramsey. We heard a WMNF News interview with Ramsey.
Libertarian Party of Florida chair Marcos Miralles called in to the show for a live interview; he also took questions from listeners.
Later in the show we talked about Sunday’s mass shooting in a Texas church. Freeman Martin with the Texas Department of Public Safety said in a press conference Monday there are 26 dead and 20 injured; 10 people remain in critical condition at the hand of the shooter, Devon Patrick Kelley.
Later in the press conference it came out that there had been a domestic situation in family and the shooter’s mother-in-law had attended the church.
ATF special agent in charge Fred Milanowski said the shooter had three firarms: a Ruger 556 riffle plus 2 handguns (a Glock 9mm and a Ruger 22).
On Twitter, U.S. Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) wrote: “Regardless of motive or mental state – enough is enough! We have to find a way to put an end to this senseless violence.”
We talked about whether the U.S. Congress ban possession of firearms by anyone who has been convicted of a violent crime? Would that be a violation of the Second Amendment or would it be a sensible regulation that would save hundreds or thousands of lives?
Two years ago in Tampa the University of South Florida hosted a forum asking s there a connection between gun violence and mental illness? There, WMNF News interviewed one panelist who analyzes data on gun violence. Jeffrey Swanson, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University School of Medicine, says previous violent behavior, like domestic abuse, is a better predictor of whether someone will commit violence using a gun. We heard that interview on MidPoint Monday.
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