Donald Trump Meets Allen West, Who Fears ‘Card-Carrying Marxists’ In Congress

Donald Trump Meets Allen West, Who Fears ‘Card-Carrying Marxists’ In Congress

President-elect Donald Trump is meeting former Congressman Allen West at Trump Tower today. West supported Trump throughout the campaign and his website, which functions as a right-wing news site, got into trouble recently for posting a meme about ‘exterminating’ Muslims.

West has become a popular figure on the right over the last few years. His website posts inflammatory articles about President Barack Obama and articles outlining West’s own beliefs about patriotism and the dangers America faces. But West is probably most famous for claiming Congress was infested with Communists.

“What percentage of the American legislature do you think are card-carrying Marxists?” West was asked on video in 2012. Rather than refuse to answer such a bizarre question, West treated it seriously with a soundbite that went viral and appeared on The Rachel Maddow Show.

“That’s a fair question. I believe there’s about 78 to 81 members of the Democratic Party that are members of the Communist Party,” West said. “It’s called the Congressional Progressive Caucus.”

West stood by his claims about Communists in the Democratic Party and was compared to Senator Joseph McCarthy for his accusations. The American Communist Party denied having any members in Congress. West’s attack on the Congressional Progressive Caucus  is part of a pattern. West opposes all forms of progressiveness and has called Obama’s policies ‘socialist’.

It is not clear if Donald Trump will offer West a position in his cabinet but the two men are meeting in New York today. West would fit neatly with Trump’s current cabinet picks.

Darragh Roche

Darragh Roche is Political Media Editor

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