The Claremont Institute, a Trump-backing right-wing think tank, rushed this week to shut down its Listserv created for communications with hundreds of high-profile conservatives after one of its members started spouting off support for white supremacy.
Politico's Eliana Johnson reports that the trouble for the Claremont Institute's Listserv started when ousted Trump speechwriter Darren Beattie asked conservatives in the organization to publicly vouch for him after it was revealed that he had spoken at a conference alongside white nationalist Peter Brimelow.
The first person to respond to Beattie's plea for help was Chuck C. Johnson, a notorious Trump-loving white nationalist who said Beattie should be proud to have spoken alongside avowed racists.
"Beattie’s offense is that he spoke at an event where — gasp! — there were white nationalists afoot!" Johnson wrote. "Heaven forbid that some thinkers — like the American founders who favored our country be majority white — think that the U.S. of A should stay majority white! Perish the thought. Can’t have that."
Johnson's pro-racism comments set off a firestorm, and the Claremont Institute decided to shut down the entire Listserv less than two hours after they were first posted.
"I’ll save everyone the trouble of responding in kind and I’ll shutter the group entirely," Claremont president Ryan Williams said in the last message in the group's Listserv.
