When she began her political career, Elise Stefanik painted herself as a moderate Republican. Like many other Republicans, though, she became much more extreme in the age of Trump.
When Liz Cheney fought back against Donald Trump, the New York Rep. took advantage of the moment, becoming the Chair of the House Republican Congress. With her extremism paying off handsomely, Stefanik doesn’t plan on stopping now. According to the Daily Beast, she is partnering on an event with QAnon conspiracy theorist Scott Presler.
The congresswoman tweeted, “American Patriot @ScottPresler will be joining #TeamElise” and the Saratoga County Republican Committee of New York “for a rally & voter registration drive.”
Presler has long been known as an extremist against Muslims. He served as a Chief Strategist for ACT for America, an organization the SPLC describes as the largest anti-Muslim Group in America.
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In addition to backing the campaigns of Greg Abbott and Judge Roy Moore, Presler also organized Stop the Steal rallies. He was in Washington DC on January 6th.
And then there is the QAnon factor. According to Media Matters, “Presler used the hashtag “QAnon†in at least 54 Instagram posts, according to a Media Matters search of the data analytics tool Crowdtangle.”
The site continues, “Presler also promoted the QAnon hashtag “wwg1wga†in at least 29 Instagram posts, according to a Media Matters search of Crowdtangle.”
Stefanik has since deleted the tweet promoting the event. She was also not expected to appear.
Todd Neikirk is a New Jersey based politics and technology writer. His work has been featured in psfk.com, foxsports.com and hillreporter.com. He enjoys sports, politics, comic books and spending time at the shore with his family.
