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Jonathan Stickland, a former Texas House member turned conservative power broker, reportedly met with white supremacist Nick Fuentes for hours at a Fort Worth office.
Jonathan Stickland — leader of the Defend Texas Liberty PAC and owner of Pale Horse Strategies, a political consulting group — hosted prominent white supremacist Nick Fuentes and other extreme-right activists for much of the day Friday at the consultancy's Fort Worth office, according to the Tribune. Stickland served as a GOP member of the Texas House from 2013 until 2021.
A Tribune reporter and photographer reportedly staked out Pale Horse's office on a tip and observed Fuentes and others enter the building. That group also included Kyle Rittenhouse, the man acquitted of homicide after slaying two Black Lives Matter protesters in Wisconsin, according to the news organization. Fuentes remained inside from 11 a.m. until after 5:30 p.m.
The Tribune staffers also saw Texas Republican Party Chair Matt Rinaldi enter the building while Fuentes was inside, according to the report.
Contacted two days later, Rinaldi denied he knew Fuentes was on the premises, the Tribune reports. The GOP chair reportedly offered screenshots of text messages from Friday morning in which he rescheduled a meeting for 1:45 p.m. at the Pale Horse office with Texas GOP Executive Director Jen Hall. According to the Tribune, Rinaldi arrived shortly before 1:45 p.m. and left 45 minutes later.
“We were just borrowing a conference room,” Rinaldi told the Tribune. Although Rinaldi condemned Fuentes "and everything he stands for" during that conversation, he declined to do the same to Stickland, saying "I’m not going to make assumptions” based solely on the Tribune's report, he told the outlet.
Fuentes, who attended the Jan. 6 pro-Trump march as a VIP, has used his social media accounts and public appearances to call for a "holy war" against Jews, whom he claims serve a "satanic master." He's also referred to Hitler as “really fucking cool” and been banned from online platforms for invoking violent rhetoric about immigrants, people of color and members of the LGBTQ+ community.
Although Stickland was widely written off as a gadfly during his time in the House —Texas Monthly once dubbed him the state's "loudest and least effective legislator" — he's managed to wield power as a political operative.
West Texas oil billionaires Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks have pumped considerable funding into Defend Texas Liberty, which ponied up $3 million in donations and loans to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick prior to him presiding over Attorney General Ken Paxton's impeachment trial in the state Senate. The PAC has spent some $15 million championing far-right candidates, the Tribune also reports.
The reported meeting between Stickland and Fuentes has drawn condemnation from at least two Texas Republicans, who said elected officials should return any donations they've received from Defend Texas Liberty.
"This not just a casual misstep,” House Speaker Dade Phelan said in a statement to the Tribune. “It’s indicative of the moral, political rot that has been festering in a certain segment of our party for far too long. Anti-Semitism, bigotry and Hitler apologists should find no sanctuary in the Republican party. Period. We cannot — and must not — tolerate the tacit endorsement of such vile ideologies.”
In a public statement, Patrick said Fuentes spewed "vile, loathsome, abominations" but made no mention of returning the donations from Stickland's PAC. Instead, the lieutenant governor demanded that Phelan resign and accused the fellow Republican of using the current conflict in Israel for his "own political purposes."
“I didn’t think even Dade Phelan would stoop this low," Patrick said. "He has now absolutely hit rock bottom. His latest political stunt is disgusting, despicable, and disingenuous."
Frisco Republican Texas Rep. Jared Patterson also urged conservatives donate funds received from Defend Texas Liberty in comments reported on by the Tribune.
“Unfortunately, this isn’t unbelievable,” Patterson said in reference to the Tribune's report.
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