Patrick Buchanan: Unrepentant Bigot

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In his role as a political commentator for the mainstream media, former Presidential candidate Pat Buchanan has increasingly advanced an anti-Semitic, racist, and anti-immigrant ideology. Many of the views he holds are identical to those of self-declared "white nationalists." Buchanan repeatedly demonizes Jews and minorities and openly affiliates with white supremacists. Among his frequent claims is that the sovereignty of the United States is being undermined by Israeli control and Mexican incursion, a belief which he disseminates on mainstream cable and network television and in his prolific writings. Buchanan has released a book nearly every two years, many of which take the view that non-white immigrants destroy Western culture.

In February 2012, MSNBC dropped Buchanan as a commentator after 10 years with the network. The parting of ways between Buchanan and MSNBC occurred four months after the network suspended him following the publication of his most recent controversial book, Suicide of a Superpower.

In Suicide of a Superpower, released in October 2011, Buchanan laments that the United States is becoming an increasingly diverse country, that minorities will soon outnumber white Americans and that the country "is disintegrating, ethnically, culturally, morally, politically." Buchanan is particularly concerned with the increase in the Hispanic population in the United States, which he equates with the demise of America's white European heritage.

In October 2011, Buchanan appeared on The Political Cesspool, a radio show run by white supremacist James Edwards to discuss his new book. On the show, Buchanan claimed that when whites become a minority in the United States, they will face havoc and turmoil that Californians are allegedly experiencing now due to the growing Hispanic and minority population in that state.

In addition to his book, Buchanan's columns from 2010 and 2011 paint a picture of an America where whites have lost their privilege and will suffer due to "a multiracial, multicultural, multiethnic, multilingual stew of a nation that has never before existed, or survived."

In earlier years, Buchanan voiced similar ideas. In 2009, he exploited the H1N1 outbreak, which he referred to as the "Mexican swine flu," to demonize undocumented immigrants as disease carriers. He suggested that the very survival of the nation is in jeopardy with the rising presence of "Hispanics" in the United States, an argument he made on national television.

That same year, Buchanan's American Cause group co-funded a reception by Youth for Western Civilization, an anti-immigrant, student group whose leadership has ties to racists. He also used American Cause to convene a panel of speakers at the National Press Club which featured racist and anti-immigrant figures. In addition, Buchanan predicted, on national television, that President Obama will appoint "a minority, a woman and/or a Hispanic" rather than someone who has "real stature [and] impresses people," to fill an impending vacant Supreme Court seat. In July 2009, after President Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, Buchanan referred to her on a national news show as an "affirmative action candidate," and claimed that Sotomayor was "a tremendous advocate of racial and ethnic preferences."

Buchanan's ideological leanings are not new—ADL has previously reported on his hateful views and statements: in 2004, about his book entitled Where the Right Went Wrong; in 1993, with a report exposing his "unrelenting defense" of accused Nazi war criminals and in 1991, with a report entitled, "Anger on the Right: Pat Buchanan's Venomous Crusade."

Buchanan, however, has been given license by some in the mainstream media to escalate his hateful campaign. He has recently intensified his anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant, and racist rhetoric, and his activities demonstrate an increasing embrace of extremist causes. In fact, Buchanan's Online forum was home to several statements promoting Holocaust denial before it was taken down due to media exposure. The growing anti-Semitism and bigotry behind Buchanan's mainstream façade is cause for renewed concern.

Anti-Semitic and Anti-Israel Statements

Buchanan makes no attempt to hide his anti-Semitic and anti-Israel views, which have become more virulent in recent years.

In his 2011 book, Suicide of a Superpower, Buchanan makes offensive statements regarding Jews. He claims that the Jewish population in the United States is shrinking because of the "collective decision of Jews themselves" to promote and have abortions.

In a May 2010 column, when President Obama nominated Elena Kagan, who is Jewish, to the Supreme Court, Buchanan wrote, "If Kagan is confirmed, Jews, who represent less than 2 percent of the U.S. population, will have 33 percent of the Supreme Court seats. Is this Democrats' idea of diversity?"

Buchanan also turned his attention to Israel in his columns in 2010. In a June 2010 article, "Lift the Siege of Gaza," about the Israeli offensive in Gaza, Buchanan wrote that it "was the inevitable result of Israel doing what it always seems to do: going beyond what is essential to her security, to impose collective punishment upon any and all it regards as hostile to Israel." In a May 2010 column, "Poodle Biden Gets Kicked," about Vice President Joe Biden's visit to Israel, Buchanan cited Biden's comment that "there is no space between the United States and Israel when it comes to Israel's security." Buchanan then claimed that Biden "was played for a fool" when Israel decided it would build new homes in disputed areas. Buchanan called Americans "grovelers" when it comes to dealing with Israel and claimed that the U.S. responded like a "battered spouse" to Israel's "public slap across the face."

Another of Buchanan's assertions is that Israel controls the United States government. Specifically, he has expressed his anti-Semitism via anti-war statements; he has argued that Israel/Jews (or the "neo-Cons," a term he associates with Jews) have the power to dictate U.S. foreign policy. He paints a conspiracy of a U.S.-Israel alliance not only readying to attack Iran, but to shield its decisions from an American public kept in the dark, as Israel allegedly masterminds "our next war." Buchanan often voices these anti-Semitic views in weekly columns, posted to the Internet.

In a February 27, 2009 article, Buchanan reiterated his previous claims that Israel and the neoconservatives are pushing for an unnecessary war with Iran. He asserted that America is not under enough of a threat from Iran to declare war, and the only reason for "the hype, the hysteria, the clamor for ‘Action This Day!'... is to divert America from her true national interests and stampede her into embracing as her own the alien agenda of a renascent War Party."

In a July 2008 column entitled "A Phony Crisis – and a Real One," Buchanan argued that "Israel and its Fifth Column in this city [Washington, DC] seek to stampede us into war with Iran." In "Who's Planning Our Next War?" a June 2008 column, Buchanan asserted that the decision to attack Iran is not one that Bush can "outsource to Ehud Olmert." Alluding to meetings between Bush and Israeli officials, Buchanan rhetorically asked, "Is it not time the American people were consulted on the next war that is being planned for us?"

“Israel and its Fifth Column…seek to stampede us into war with Iran.”

From a July 2008 column

In a January 2007 column, Buchanan advanced anti-Israeli rhetoric, couched in anti-war sentiment, in his comments concerning the 2007 Herzliya Conference, a yearly forum in Israel comprised of academics and politicians to discuss strategic and political issues. Buchanan stated that "Israel's war is to be sold as America's war." He went on to argue that "there is no need for war [with Iran]. Yet, Israelis, neocons, and their agents of influence are trying to whip us into one."

Reaching to blame the Iraq war and an anticipated conflict in Iran on Israel, Buchanan argued in "Who Is Planning Our Next War?" another January 2007 column, that the Israeli government and those loyal to it will deceive the public to enter another war. He wrote, "A propaganda campaign, using Israeli agents and their neocon auxiliaries and sympathizers, who stampeded us into war in Iraq, is being prepared to stampede us into war on Iran."

In 2005, Buchanan authored a chapter for neo-Conned! Just War Principles: A Condemnation of War in Iraq, a book co-edited and published by anti-Semite John Sharpe. (In March 2007, the Navy released Lieutenant Commander Sharpe from his duties as Public Affairs Officer due to his leadership of two anti-Semitic groups.) Buchanan titled his chapter "Whose war?" and answered that question by arguing that America's involvement in Iraq is due mainly to its alliance with Israel. He writes, "Neocons say we attack them because they are Jewish. We do not. We attack them because their warmongering threatens our country, even as it finds a reliable echo in Ariel Sharon."

“Neocons say we attack them because they are Jewish. We do not. We attack them because their warmongering threatens our country, even as it finds a reliable echo in Ariel Sharon.”

From Buchanan's chapter in a 2005 book published by John Sharpe, another anti-Semite

Buchanan went on to criticize those who believe his views are anti-Semitic. He also advanced the anti-Semitic charge that Jews in the United States harbor a dual-loyalty to the United States and Israel. He wrote, "They charge us with anti-Semitism... The truth is, those hurling these charges harbor a ‘passionate attachment' to a nation not our own that causes them to subordinate the interests of their own country and to act on an assumption that, somehow, what's good for Israel is good for America." Buchanan asked, "Who would benefit from a war of civilizations between the West and Islam? Answer: one nation, one leader, one party. Israel, Sharon, Likud." He went further in his comments about Likud, arguing that it "has dragged our [America's] good name though the mud and blood of Ramallah... "

Defense of John Demjanjuk

In a May 2011 column, Buchanan repeated his very vocal defense of Nazi war criminal John Demjanjuk who that month had been convicted in Germany for assisting in the deaths of 28,000 Jews during World War II.

Earlier, in an April 2009 column which appeared in several places on the Internet, including the Web site of MSNBC, Buchanan again unearthed his defense of Demjanjuk for whom he attempted to arouse sympathy. Buchanan described Demjanjuk as "relentlessly pursued and remorselessly persecuted."

Calling the accused death camp guard an "American Dreyfus," Buchanan went on to assert that Demjanjuk "is to serve as the sacrificial lamb whose blood washes away the stain of Germany's sins." Even more troubling is Buchanan's comparison of Demjanjuk's experience to that of Jesus Christ. Buchanan argued that the "spirit" behind the "un-American persecution" of the alleged Nazi death camp guard is "the same satanic brew of hate and revenge that drove another innocent Man up Calvary that first Good Friday 2,000 years ago."

Buchanan's defense of accused Nazi war criminals is nothing new. Since 1983, he has devoted over ten nationally syndicated columns to the defense of Demjanjuk. These articles form part of a larger picture in which Buchanan has defended other accused war criminals and Nazi collaborators.

Anti-Immigrant Statements and Conspiracy Theories

Buchanan also advances a deeply-seeded anti-immigrant ideology, specifically targeting Latinos, Muslims, and Asians. He derides what he alleges are cultural differences between non-white immigrants and white Americans, which he believes threaten to alter the "character" of the United States. Buchanan goes further by alleging the existence of a Mexican conspiracy to annex American land, praising border vigilantes as heroes, and blaming "diversity" for the April 2007 massacre at Virginia Tech. He has also cited research from the Center for Immigration Studies, an anti-immigrant think tank.

In his 2011 book, Suicide of a Superpower, Buchanan refers to the "Mexican nation within a nation," in the United States and asks whether "our passivity in the face of this invasion imperiled our union?" In another section of the book, he writes, "What motivates people who insist that America's doors be held open wide until the European majority had disappeared? What is their grudge against the old America that eats at their heart?"

In various columns, Buchanan decries not only the disintegration of white America due to the influx of immigrants, particularly Latinos, but also the destruction of Europe due to immigrants from South Asia, the Middle East, Africa and the Caribbean. In an August 2010 column, Buchanan wrote, "What were the British thinking when they threw open their doors to mass immigration from the Third World?...With no common faith or culture to hold the nation together, Britain is coming apart." In a column a month earlier, Buchanan commented on the Norwegian terrorist and mass murderer Anders Breivik. Even though Buchanan called Breivik a "cold-blooded, calculating killer," he sympathized with Breivik's anti-immigrant ideology. Buchanan asserted that the threat in Europe does not come from the far right. Rather, he claimed, "that threat comes from a burgeoning Muslim presence in a Europe that has never known mass immigration, its failure to assimilate, its growing alienation, and its sometime sympathy for Islamic militants and terrorists."

Although Buchanan has turned his attention to Europe, he mostly focuses on immigration in the United States. In 2009, Buchanan was no exception to the rash of media pundits that exploited the H1N1 flu to advance their anti-immigrant ideology. In an April 2009, column "The Obama Flu?" he suggested the possibility that Obama was pandering to the "open-borders crowd" by refusing to close the American-Mexican border and thereby risking American lives. Buchanan, who has a history of blaming non-white immigrants for societal ills, went on to exploit the outbreak of what he termed the "Mexican swine flu" to reiterate his long-held allegation that "an invasion of illegal aliens" has imported a "raft of diseases never seen here before... multiple drug resistant tuberculosis, malaria, leprosy, measles, syphilis, Chagas disease, dengue fever and new strains of hepatitis." He finished off the paragraph by implying that undocumented immigrants are responsible for the "bed bugs [that] have invaded half the American states." 

Another of Buchanan's most widely-employed arguments is that undocumented immigrants, specifically from Mexico, are secretly plotting "La Reconquista," a conspiracy to "invade" the United States and conquer its Southwestern territory, also referred to as "Aztlan." He argued in his 2008 book Day of Reckoning: How Hubris, Ideology, and Greed Are Tearing America Apart, that "Mexicans bear an ancient grudge against us as the country that robbed Mexico of half her land... " and demonized Mexicans as an enemy of United States sovereignty.

In State of Emergency, Buchanan declared, "Paralyzed by guilt, we are inviting La Reconquista, the reconquest of the Southwest by Mexico... What Mexico's elites have in mind, what they are systematically pursuing, is a sharing of sovereignty in these lost lands and their ultimate recapture, culturally, linguistically, by Mexico, no matter which nation holds title to them."

Buchanan went into even greater detail and spells out what he calls the "Aztlan Strategy":

endless migration from Mexico north, the Hispanicization of the American Southwest, and dual citizenship for all Mexican-Americans. The goals: Erase the border. Grow the influence, through Mexican-Americans, over how America disposes of her wealth and power. Gradually circumscribe the sovereignty of the United States. Lastly, economic and political merger of the nations in a bi-national union. And in the nuptial agreement, a commitment to share the wealth and power. Stated bluntly, the Aztlan Strategy entails the end of a sovereign, self-sufficient, independent republic, the passing away of the American nation. They are coming to conquer us.

 

Buchanan does not confine his anti-immigrant beliefs to demonizing Latinos; he also advances an anti-Muslim ideology, which he also spelled out in his 2002 book, Death of the West: How Dying Populations and Immigrant Invasions Imperil Our Country and Civilization. He wrote, "The day of Europe is over. The coming mass migrations from the Islamic world will so change the ethnic composition of the Old Continent that Europeans will be too paralyzed by a threat of terrorism to intervene in North African, the Middle East, or the Persian Gulf... As their populations become more Arabic and Islamic, paralysis will set in."

Buchanan proves himself to be an equal-opportunity bigot. In addition to his continued attacks on Latinos and Muslims, Buchanan blamed Korean immigration, as well as "diversity" in general, for the tragic April 2007 shooting spree at Virginia Tech, in which a Korean student murdered 32 students and faculty. In Day of Reckoning Buchanan wrote, "... the most recent reminder of diversity in Virginia... was the massacre of thirty-two students and teachers at Virginia Tech by an immigrant madman."

In "The Dark Side of Diversity," a May 2007 column, Buchanan argued that the shooter, born in 1984, "was among the 864,000 Koreans here as a result of the Immigration Act of 1965, which threw the nation's doors open to the greatest invasion in history... " He claimed that the shooting "cannot be divorced from what's been happening to America since the immigration act brought tens of millions of strangers to these shores... " Buchanan wrote that the source for many of the article's statements was VDare, a "Web site that covers the dark side of diversity." VDare regularly features the work of anti-immigrant figures, racists, and anti-Semites.

Racist Statements

In addition to his anti-Semitism and anti-immigrant views, Buchanan has also made a number of racist statements and stereotyped characterizations of minority communities.

In Suicide of a Superpower, Buchanan cites statistics about minorities from Heather Mac Donald, who works for a conservative think tank. Buchanan asserts, "If Mac Donald's statistics are accurate, 49 of every 50 muggings and murders in New York are the work of minorities. That might explain why black folks have trouble getting a cab. Every New York cabby must know the odds, should he pick up a man of color at night. They are forty-nine to one that if he is assaulted or never makes it home his assailant will be a man of color."

Buchanan has also focused a lot of anger on President Obama. In an August 2011 column, "Obama's Race-based Spoils System," Buchanan suggested that the president is a racist who is trying to fill federal jobs with minorities, to the detriment of qualified white workers.

He also attacked Obama with racist vitriol during his campaign for the Presidency. Although Buchanan praised a speech that Obama made during the August 2008 Democratic National Convention, he stated that Obama received media attention and votes because of his race and that there was truth to a depiction of the Obamas as Muslim terrorists.

In an August 2008 column entitled "Whitey Need Not Apply," Buchanan expressed anger about what he alleged was media favoritism towards Obama due to his race. Buchanan also argued that Obama's race was earning him more votes, ignoring any merit-based qualities that would attract votes for any candidate. Buchanan asked, "What, other than race, explains how Barack rolled up 90-10 margins among black voters while running against Hillary Clinton... ?"

In "The Untouchables," a July 2008 column, Buchanan characterized the controversial New Yorker cover that depicted the Obamas as Muslim terrorists as "an exaggeration that contained no small kernel of recognizable truth." Buchanan suggested, "Put glasses on him, and Barack could play Malcolm X in the movies." Buchanan also stated of Obama's allegedly preferential treatment by the media, "Barack gets the special-ed treatment [as] our first affirmative action candidate."

“Barack gets the special-ed treatment [as] our first affirmative action candidate.”

From a July 2008 column, discussing Obama's allegedly preferential treatment by the media

In addition to his focus on Obama, Buchanan has made racist statements about the black community as a whole. He has also re-cast American history to temper the brutal experience and aftermath of slavery in the United States with what he alleges are the benefits that "White America" has since provided for the black community. In "A Brief for Whitey," a March 2008 column, Buchanan purported to speak for the "Silent Majority," or "White America," and he lists its "convictions, grievances, and demands":

First, America has been the best country on earth for black folks. It was here that 600,000 black people, brought from Africa in slave ships, grew into a community of 40 million, were introduced to Christian salvation, and reached the greatest levels of freedom and prosperity blacks have ever known... Second, no people anywhere has done more to lift up blacks than white Americans... Where is the gratitude?

Buchanan also defended racist statements made by others, specifically Don Imus, a radio talk show host who has a long history of making racist and anti-Semitic remarks. In April 2007, Imus faced national criticism following a program during which he called the Rutgers University women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos." In a column published the following week, Buchanan downplayed the severity of Imus's comments by suggesting that "outrageousness is part of the show." Buchanan also dismissed the notion that Imus's words could have any lasting effect by questioning, "Who, after all, believed the slur was true? No one." Buchanan even praised Imus as "among the best interviewers in our business" and suggested that the members of the basketball team "are not 5-year-old girls, and they are capable of brushing off an ignorant comment... "

True to form, Buchanan also argued that as a white man, Imus was actually victimized. Buchanan asserts that Imus faced a "lynch party" not because of his comments, but because he is a "white man, who used a term about black women only black folks are permitted to use with impunity and immunity."

In his 2006 book State of Emergency: The Third World Invasion and Conquest of America, Buchanan revealed his racist and anti-immigrant agenda, explaining that "the new Orthodoxy teaches as dogma that race does not matter, that to treat people of different creeds, colors, or cultures differently is immoral in principle and intolerable in practice. The crisis of the new orthodoxy is that it is rooted in an ideology few truly believe. For creed, culture, and ethnicity do matter, immensely."

Buchanan's racist statements earned him the "Thumbs Down Award" in July 2008, given by the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) "to an individual or organization for especially insensitive, racist or stereotypical reporting, commentary... " 

Buchanan affiliates with various anti-Semites, white supremacists, anti-immigrant extremists, and conspiracy theorists. He contributes to their publications, cites their work, appears on their radio shows, and his Web site features links to their Web sites. Conversely, extremists praise Buchanan and look to him as a successful purveyor of hateful views in mainstream media and politics.

Funding Anti-Immigrant Group's Inaugural Event and Convening Panel Including Racists

In 2009, Buchanan continued to make its long-established anti-immigrant and racist leanings clear. In June of that year, he hosted a conference to discuss how Republicans could regain a majority in the United States and invited Peter Brimelow, who runs the racist Web site VDare to be one of the speakers. Other speakers included Tom Tancredo, a former Colorado Congressman and Representative Lou Barletta (R-PA), who are both known for advocating anti-immigrant legislation.

When Youth for Western Civilization (YWC), a controversial student-led group staged its inaugural reception in February 2009, Buchanan's right-wing group The American Cause (TAC) co-sponsored the event. YWC, which claims to be "the West's right wing youth movement," has staged other events promoting an anti-immigrant ideology.

Marcus Epstein, who wrote for VDare, initially served as both TAC's executive director and YWC's vice president. (Epstein has kept a low profile since he was charged with assaulting a black woman in Washington, D.C. in 2007. In 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty to simple assault, apologized to his victim and sent a donation to a charity for black college students.) The group has sponsored lectures by Tom Tancredo, who has repeatedly demonized immigrants and maintained affiliations with the border vigilante Minuteman movement. During a February 2009 lecture at American University that YWC organized, Tancredo suggested that "throughout history, people who are not white Anglo-Saxon have become American by adopting a white Anglo-Saxon culture."

In addition to its affiliations with YWC, Buchanan's group also revealed its racist and anti-immigrant sentiment by sponsoring a January 2009 panel at the National Press Club during which Epstein and Peter Brimelow, were featured. The panel caught the attention of the New York Times, which published an editorial detailing the racism of Buchanan, Epstein, and Brimelow.

A month later, Brimelow demonstrated his racist views. He spoke at a conference of racists in Baltimore, Maryland, dedicated to "Preserving Western Civilization" and delivered one of the most extreme presentations at the conference. He argued that the influx of "non-traditional" immigration is a problem all over the Western world and that the loss of control over the country by "white Protestants" will mean a collapse of the American political system. He urged that whites respond by creating an explicitly white nationalist political party.

Contributing to and using extremist works

Buchanan contributes to works published by and praising extremists. In 2006, he authored the "Foreword" to Shots Fired: Sam Francis on America's Culture War, a compilation of the works of the late Sam Francis, a white supremacist and frequent speaker at white supremacist American Renaissance conferences. Buchanan praised Francis's character and work and explains that Francis's "great gifts" included having "one of the finest minds of his generation" and a "brave heart to pursue and tell the truth." Following his death in 2005, Buchanan wrote an article dedicated to Francis, whom he called "my brave and generous friend." Buchanan also referenced the work of Francis several times in State of Emergency, his 2006 anti-immigrant book. Buchanan called Francis "one of the finest minds of his generation."

Anti-Semite John Sharpe co-edited and published neo-Conned! Just War Principles: A Condemnation of War in Iraq, referred to earlier as a collection of views which includes a Buchanan essay. Sharpe, a former naval officer, attended a 2006 conference organized by American Renaissance, a white supremacist publication, and was placed on administrative leave from the Navy due to his leadership of the Legion of St. Louis and the IHS Press, two anti-Semitic organizations. 

In addition to providing material for extremist publications, Buchanan has incorporated the research and writings of extremists into his own articles and books.

In Suicide of a Superpower, Buchanan cites the words of Sam Francis to decry the concepts of equality and multiculturalism. In the book, Buchanan also cites the work of writer John Derbyshire, who had been invited to speak at white supremacist American Renaissance conferences and of Chilton Williamson, who writes a regular column for Middle American News, an ultra-conservative newspaper that often promotes racist views.

In State of Emergency, Buchanan, more than once, cites "The Color of Crime," a 1999 study published by the white supremacist New Century Foundation (NCF), the organization behind American Renaissance. In spite of NCF's history of espousing racist views and hosting conferences that feature white supremacists as speakers, Buchanan has referred to the group as simply 'right-leaning.' Buchanan has also cited some of the findings of the 1999 study in one of his 2007 articles. From the material taken from NCF, Buchanan concluded that "the real repository of racism in America... is to be found not in the white community, but the African-American community." 

In Death of the West, Buchanan also discussed NCF and cited research in a book authored by its leader, white supremacist Jared Taylor. Buchanan described Taylor as "a controversial figure in the debate on crime and race."

Praise from extremists

In addition, Buchanan has appeared as a guest on several Internet radio programs hosted by individuals who ascribe to anti-Semitic, white supremacist, anti-immigrant, and/or conspiracy-oriented philosophies. 

Buchanan has appeared three times on The Political Cesspool, a Tennessee-based Internet and AM radio show hosted by white supremacist James Edwards. In October 2011, Buchanan promoted his book Suicide of a Superpower and claimed that when whites become a minority in the United States, they will face havoc and turmoil that Californians are allegedly experiencing now due to the growing Hispanic and minority population in that state.

In June 2008, Buchanan went on the show to promote his book, Churchill, Hitler, and the Unnecessary War: How Britain Lost Its Empire and the West Lost the World. Edwards commented that Buchanan's publicist initiated and arranged the appearance. During the interview, Buchanan posited that World War II was unnecessary and that the British "blundered... to bring about a war with Germany," a war he claims Hitler did not want. Buchanan also stated, "Had there been no war, there would have been no Holocaust... "

When Edwards mentioned Charles Lindbergh, Buchanan defended the American aviator hero who led America First, a group opposed to U.S. intervention in World War II. Lindbergh claimed that powerful Jews in America were trying to push the United States into war against the Nazis to preserve Jewish interests. Buchanan stated, "Good for you for bringing up Colonel Lindbergh's name because his reputation has been blackened because of a single speech he gave and a couple of paragraphs in it where he said that...the Jewish community is beating the drums for war... but frankly, no one has said what he said was palpably untrue."

Buchanan first appeared on The Political Cesspool show in September 2006 to promote State of Emergency. During his interview, Buchanan explained how "we are being invaded by people of different cultures." He argued that Americans "cannot survive a bifurcated culture or a heavily Hispanicized culture, tilted towards Mexico... I think that's the beginning of the end of the United States."

Edwards regularly invites anti-Semites, neo-Nazis, white supremacists, Holocaust deniers, conspiracy theorists and anti-immigrant leaders to voice their views on his show. He is not only a radio host; he appears and speaks at events hosted by racist groups and has been involved in the Council of Conservative Citizens, a white supremacist group and is a leader in the American Third Position, a white supremacist political party.

The radio show of the Minuteman Project, an anti-immigrant group whose members engaged in armed, vigilante border patrol, listed Buchanan as its premier guest. Buchanan appeared on the show in September 2006 to promote his anti-immigrant book State of Emergency, released that year.

In August 2006, Buchanan gave an interview on the radio program of Alex Jones, a conspiracy theorist. He made a number of anti-immigrant comments and supported the outlawed separate-but-equal doctrine, stating:

I grew up in Washington D.C. It was a segregated city, a southern city, but at the same time, African Americans or black Americans and white Americans, we were marinated in the same culture. We had the same teams, we rooted for, we watched the same TV shows, listened to the same radio, went to the same movies. When we went to schools, the schools may have been segregated, public schools, but we studied the same literature, studied the same language, the same history, the same heroes, the same holidays. We were one people.

Meeting with far-right European politicians

Buchanan has also supported and personally met with those who demonize minorities, specifically Muslims. Two examples are Frank Vanhecke and Filip Dewinter, leaders of the Vlaams Belang, a now-defunct racist and xenophobic far-right Belgian political party. In February 2007, Vanhecke and Dewinter visited Washington, D.C. on a four-day "study tour," and attended a taping of The McLaughlin Group, a mainstream news program which Buchanan co-founded and on which he often appears. Following the taping, Buchanan posed for pictures with Vanhecke and Dewinter and met privately with them. 

After the McLaughlin Group taping, the Vlaams Belang leaders gave a lecture in Washington, D.C., at the invitation of The Robert Taft Club, a right-wing group affiliated with The American Cause, an organization Buchanan founded in 1993. In their speech, entitled "Immigration, Multiculturalism, and the End of Free Speech in Europe," Vanhecke and Dewinter argued that the large influx of Muslim immigrants in Flanders and Europe generally represents a danger to Western culture.

Links to extremist Web sites and praise from extremists

As Buchanan touts the work of anti-Semites and anti-immigrant figures, he receives heavy praise from extremists. James Edwards, the host of the Political Cesspool, credits his experience volunteering for the 2000 Buchanan presidential campaign with inspiring him to become politically active. In July 2008, Edwards posted an article entitled "Why I love Pat Buchanan" to his blog, claiming to "love" Buchanan "because he tells it like it is." In concluding a June 2008 interview with Buchanan, Edwards states, "Mr. Buchanan, thank you so much for coming back on our program, for fighting for our people."

Several extremists cite Buchanan's work and post it to their Web sites. VDare contains an "archive" of Buchanan's articles. National Vanguard, a now-defunct neo-Nazi organization, and its successor, European Americans United, have both posted Buchanan's work to their news sites. David Duke, an anti-Semite and former Ku Klux Klan leader, has posted Buchanan's work to his Web site. Additionally, the white supremacists and anti-Semites who frequent the white supremacist Internet forum Stormfront often post Buchanan's articles. The Muslim Observer, a widely circulated weekly that has published conspiratorial, anti-Israel, and anti-Semitic articles, included one of Buchanan's pieces in a March 2007 issue. In the piece, Buchanan discussed a possible American attack on Iran and explains that "Israel wants Iran attacked yesterday. The neocons need a new war to make America forget the disaster they wrought in Iraq."

In spite of the increasingly abundant evidence of Buchanan's extremist views and affiliations, mainstream news programs continue to feature him as a legitimate conservative commentator. The Web site of The McLaughlin Group, a mainstream political commentary program on network television, describes Buchanan as "a regular member for much of the program's history." He frequently appears on the show to debate American politics alongside other mainstream commentators. Buchanan also appears, with regularity, as a guest commentator on news programs syndicated throughout the United States. Buchanan does not tone down his rhetoric in front of the camera, however. He makes anti-Semitic, sexist, racist, and anti-immigrant statements in front of a national audience. 

Denigrating women and minorities

In April 2011, on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews Buchanan asserted that President Obama "is affirmative action all the way" and claimed that Obama was not qualified to get into top schools and only made major achievements because he benefited from affirmative action.

In July 2009, after President Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, Buchanan referred to her on an MSNBC national news show as an "affirmative action candidate," and claimed that Sotomayor was "a tremendous advocate of racial and ethnic preferences."

In May 2009, Buchanan went on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews to discuss Supreme Court Justice David Souter's announced resignation from the Supreme Court and President Obama's pending appointment of a justice to assume the vacant seat. Buchanan explained that Obama should appoint someone "who has real stature, impresses people." He went on to argue that rather than appointing "someone who is really conspicuously highly qualified," Obama will "go for a minority, a woman and/or a Hispanic because... he sees that as their turn."

Buchanan's comments about women and minorities are not new. In a July 2007 episode of The McLaughlin Group, Buchanan alleged that "the rise of women to power in a civilization is very often the mark of its decline."

“The rise of women to power in a civilization is very often the mark of its decline.”

Buchanan on a July 2007 episode of The McLaughlin Group

During an October 2007 appearance on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews, Buchanan suggested that black male residents from the "south side" of Chicago are categorically unintelligent by describing Barack Obama as "not what you would expect from a black guy from the south side of Chicago. He's something... you'd expect in a Harvard seminar for undergraduates or something."

Anti-Semitic and anti-immigrant comments

During his appearance on MSNBC in March 2009, Buchanan suggested that with the rising presence of "Hispanics" in the United States, the very survival of the nation is in question. He argued, "Mexico is the greatest foreign-policy crisis I think America faces in the next 20-30 years... We're going to have 135 million Hispanics living in the United States by 2050, heavily concentrated in the Southwest. The question is whether we're going to survive as a country."

“We're going to have 135 million Hispanics living in the United States by 2050, heavily concentrated in the Southwest. The question is whether we're going to survive as a country.”

During an appearance on MSNBC in March 2009

In a November 2007 appearance on FOX News's Hannity and Colmes, Buchanan argued "You've got a wholesale invasion, the greatest invasion in human history, coming across your southern border, changing the composition and character of your country." He used his mainstream exposure on the show to promote the existence of "La Reconquista," the conspiracy theory that Mexicans are conspiring to forcibly annex the Southwestern United States. Buchanan stated, "I do believe we're going to lose the American Southwest... I think it is almost inevitable. If we do not put a fence on that border... you're going to have 100 million Hispanics in the country, most of them new immigrants from Mexico that [sic] believes that belongs to them."

“We have a massive invasion of this country…Thank the Lord for the good folks of the Minutemen.”

Praising a border vigilante movement on MSNBC in April 2007

In April 2007, MSNBC invited Buchanan to give commentary about the anti-immigrant Minutemen as an "MSNBC Analyst." He stated on camera, "The Minutemen are American citizens, and I think they're American heroes... We have a massive invasion of this country... Thank the Lord for the good folks of the Minutemen." Buchanan's Web site featured a video clip of this statement under the heading "VIDEO: Pat Buchanan: Minutemen Are American Heroes."

“If you want to know ethnicity and power in the United States Senate, 13 members of the Senate are Jewish folks who are from 2 percent of the population.”

On a February 2007 episode of The McLaughlin Group

Buchanan increasingly demonizes Jews, blacks, and non-white immigrants. He has progressed from merely flirting with extremist ideology and associating with haters and has gone on to adopt their positions.

Buchanan's mainstream acceptability has given him license to increase his hateful rhetoric and gain a wider audience. National media outlets legitimize Buchanan's decades-long history of anti-Semitism and bigotry by presenting him as a respectable source of political commentary and ignoring his publicly hateful statements and open affiliations with anti-Semites and racists. Cable and network television stations syndicate his appearances throughout the country, and mainstream newspapers and magazines often print his articles. A prolific writer, Buchanan releases a book nearly every two years, each increasingly taking the view that non-white immigrants destroy Western culture.

In his June 2008 interview on the white supremacist Political Cesspool radio show, in speaking about his plans for the future, Buchanan said that he has "one book in mind." In his next book, he plans to discuss how the "the wars of race and ethnicity and culture are going to replace the old wars... of ideology and dynasty and empire."

Buchanan has made his trajectory clear. He will continue to promote bigotry and anti-Semitism as long as he is given a platform to do so.