Rogues gallery of N.H. Trump supporters on CNN
When CNN looked to assemble a panel of Donald Trump supporters, they turned to the Granite State for seven members of the nine-member panel. The network producers could not have chosen a more outspoken and uncompromising rogues gallery of unapologetic birthers and Islamophobes. Here’s a look at five members of the group we’ve been writing about over the last few years.
Josh Youssef
Josh Youssef, a former state Senate candidate who serves as Trump’s Belknap County chair, has a long history of provocative remarks and controversial conduct.
“Islam is a Satan-inspired and FALSE religion,” he once wrote on Facebook. “‘Tolerance’ is what got America into this most precarious situation. It’s time for a little bit of intolerance, and a whole lot of political incorrectness. … They can feel free to believe in Allah, the fake God, the ‘god’ of death, destruction, polygamy, and all things anti-christ…and I’ll be tolerant of that,” Youssef added. “But I demand they be tolerant of my right to ridicule it!”
Court documents from Youssef’s divorce revealed that he failed to file federal income tax returns between 2004 and 2008 and owed $60,000 to the IRS. The Concord Monitor reported the divorce judge ruled Youssef had under-reported his income in order to reduce his child support obligation and ordered him to pay additional support to make up for the under-reported income.
In 2013, the state Attorney General’s Office ruled Youssef violated the state’s election law when he published a deceptive and misleading website during his unsuccessful senate campaign. That campaign featured a candidate debate in which Yousef was quoted saying that while he believes domestic abusers should be held accountable, the victims “need to be educated so they stop returning to a violent ‘lifestyle.’”
William Baer
William Baer earned his 15 minutes of fame when he was arrested for disrupting a school board meeting in Gilford. (The charges were eventually dropped.) Baer attened the meeting, accompanied by videographer Joshua Youssef, to confront the board members over his daughter’s English class reading assignment that he believed was pornographic.
(The book, “Nineteen Minutes” by New Hampshire author Jodi Picoult, tells the story of a bullied teenager’s high school shooting rampage. It has been on the school’s class reading list since it debuted on the New York Times Best Seller list in 2007.)
Before Baer moved to New Hampshire, he was videotaped in a congressional town hall meeting confronting New Jersey Congressman Scott Garrett over Pres. Obama’s birth certificate. “I’m concerned that the rule of law and the Constitution is basically going to be irrelevant if this issue is not resolved,” he told Garrett.
John Hikel
John Hikel, a three-term former state representative from Goffstown, ended an exploratory campaign for the state senate in 2012 after a controversy in which he accused former state GOP Vice Chair Pam Manney of being an ex-stripper and “pole dancer.”
The next year, Hikel filed formal criminal complaints against 189 lawmakers who voted for legislation that would have repealed the state’s “stand your ground” law. The complaint, filed with Hillsborough County Sheriff James Hardy, claimed the lawmakers violated their oaths of office and conspired to deprive Hikel of his constitutional rights. A separate House petition sought to have the lawmakers removed from the legislature.
And then there was Hikel’s jarring 2014 speech, delivered on the floor of the House, in which he drew on the bizarre ideology of the sovereign citizens movement to support fetal homicide legislation. “I don’t think this is about abortion. I don’t think this is about fetal homicide…” he said. “I think this is a nine month free card for those fetuses, where they don’t have a lien put upon their Social Security number at that time.”
Jerry DeLemus
Jerry DeLemus, co-chair of the NH Veterans for Trump coalition, describes the president as a “Muslim radical” intent on destroying the country. “Obama is leading a revolution in our country without a shot being fired. This is what the communists promised us,” DeLemus wrote on Facebook. “I do however feel Obama is a Muslim radical bent on collapsing our country. We are nearly finished with the help of the Republicans.”
Earlier this year, DeLemus announced plans to hold a “Draw Muhammad” contest in New Hampshire, emulating a similar event promoted by anti-Muslim activist Pamela Geller in Texas that ended in the shooting deaths of two gunmen. (Even Trump thought that was a bad idea. “It really looks like she’s just taunting everybody,” he said on Fox and Friends. “What is she doing drawing Muhammad?”)
“I am planning this to push back against those that are trying to impose Sharia and or believe that it is justified to kill those that don’t accept their beliefs,” DeLemus explained. “I love Pamela Geller,” he added, “she is honest and courageous.”
Before that, DeLemus grabbed his Gadsden flag and raced to Bunkerville, Nevada to support cattle rancher Cliven Bundy in his confrontation with federal officials. When he arrived, the former Marine sergeant was appointed commander of the armed militia.
Susan DeLemus
State Rep. Susan DeLemus made national headlines when she disrupted a meeting of the state Ballot Law Commission, which had ruled against an attempt by Orly Taitz to keep Pres. Obama off the ballot in the 2012 New Hampshire presidential primary.
The Union Leader reported DeLemus and former Rep. Henry Accornero were so aggressive that Assistant Attorney General Matt Mavrogeorge feared for his safety and retreated to a locked office where he called security.
Delemus recently accused the president of committing treason for authorizing a prisoner exchange to free Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. “Our entire federal government is completely lawless!!!” she wrote on Facebook. “None of them can be trusted and should be considered FEDERAL TERRORISTS!!! The fact that Impeachment and recalls are not on the table right now screams and reeks of corruption.”
The clip from CNN, in which Delemus’ gushes over Trump (”He says what I’m thinking!”), received extensive coverage on media sites around the web today. ”This Is the Face of Trump’s Insane Supporters,” Jezebel reported.