On Tuesday, August 26, speaker Mary Ann Mendoza was removed from the speaking lineup of the Republican National Convention.
Why?
Mendoza retweeted a thread which contained numerous anti-semitic conspiracy theories.
Mendoza, an "Angel Mom" whose son was killed in a car crash with an illegal immigrant, was set to support President Trump's heightened immigration restrictions.
Hours before speaking, however, she retweeted a lengthy thread from WarNurse, a prominent QAnon conspiracy theorist. The thread contained claims that there are secret Jewish conspiracies to take over the world.
Mendoza wrote in her tweet:
"Do yourself a favor and read this thread."
Calls for Mendoza's removal from the RNC immediately began circulating.
Mendoza took down her tweets, writing:
"My apologies for not paying attention to the intent of the whole message. That does not reflect my feelings or personal thoughts whatsoever."
It was too late, however—the Trump campaign announced before the RNC began that Mendoza would not be speaking.
Mendoza was also on the board of directors for "We Build The Wall," the fundraising campaign whose fraudulent and corrupt practices recently resulted in the indictment of former Trump aide Steve Bannon.
Many online wondered whether Republicans would have a problem with Mendoza's speech getting cancelled on the same night Nick Sandmann decried cancel culture.
Others felt bigoted conspiracy theories would only help Mendoza fit in better with the President and his supporters.
Mendoza has used a platform provided by the President to spread misinformation in the past.
It seems Mary Mendoza pushed the envelope too far for even the RNC, who have already welcomed a speaker who claimed public schools are "grooming" children for predators like Jeffrey Epstein, others who defended their right to point guns at unarmed protestors, and one woman who said police would be right to racially profile her Black son rather than her White sons because of "statistics."
