Conservative commentators appear to be pushing back against the notion that the accused shooter, Payton S. Gendron, who is now in custody, was acting on his belief in the “great replacement,” an unsubstantiated theory – now widely shared amongst the far-right, including Fox News host Tucker Carlson – that Democrats are deliberately loosening border restrictions in order to offset the electoral power of white Americans. Gendron’s apparent belief in the theory was first reported after outlets obtained the shooter’s 180-page manifesto, written before the shooting took place, that contains explicit references to the “great replacement” in addition to a medley of hateful and racist rants.
Since the shooting, many on the right have either doubled down on their promotion of such paranoia, downplayed the massacre by pointing to other crimes or misleadingly suggested that the shooter, whose gun was reportedly emblazoned with the word “N***er,” was actually motivated by left-wing ideology.
Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., who recently came under fire for promoting the theory in a number of campaign ads, first put out a statement decrying the link to her past support before doubling down on her claim that Democrats are plotting to bring immigrants into the country in an effort to politically harm the Republican Party.
The Democrats want open borders so they can bring in and amnesty **tens of millions** of illegal aliens — that’s their electoral strategy. Not on my watch. pic.twitter.com/t9NQmEmdzG
— Blake Masters (@bgmasters) May 14, 2022