Michigan Republican lawmaker doubles down on pushing ‘great replacement theory’

A Michigan Republican lawmaker has doubled down on tweets he made echoing the white supremacist Great Replacement Theory, and has lost a committee seat in the state’s House in doing so.

State Representative Josh Schriver insists he has been falsely branded a racist despite sharing the bigoted conspiracy theory.

“I’m a White rapper and most conservative voting Representative in Michigan,” he wrote on X/Twitter. “I guess it was only a matter of time before I was falsely labeled a ‘raaacist!’”

He later insisted he was a “Christian” and “not a racist”, according to The Daily Beast.

“I’ve worked in inner city schools with autistic children,” he said. “Some politicians refuse to go near these communities. I go anywhere God leads me!”

On Wednesday, Mr Schriver used official Michigan House of Representatives letterhead to issue a statement addressing the “racist plan to replace Whites with non-Whites through illegal immigration to irreversibly warp America’s demographics, voting citizens, and national identity to keep power in the hands of a godless regime”.

He further wrote that there was an “anti-White agenda” and that talking about it does not make one a racist.

The Great Replacement Theory suggests that Democrats are intentionally flooding the country with non-white immigrants, and that in return those people will all vote for Democrats. Its premise assumes that American “national identity” is inherently connected to whiteness, and that its demographics should always remain primarily white.

Josh Hoskins, a Democratic state representative, introduced a bill after he made the comments condemning the use of racist language by state lawmakers. That bill passed 98-5, with four of the five no votes coming from the chamber’s far-right “Freedom Caucus.”

On Valentine’s Day, Mr Schriver continued pushing the conspiracy theory, tweeting that “white erasure is wrong” and that thinking so “isn’t controversial.”

White identifying people still make up 75 per cent of the US population, according to the US Census.

A few days prior, he tweeted that “illegal immigrants should not replace Michiganders”.

After he was removed from his committee, Mr Schriver complained that the House Democratic leadership was “disenfranchising” his constituents.

When he isn’t making controversial claims, Mr Scrhiver likes to post conservative rap videos featuring himself.

In one, called “The Conservative C.O.D.E.,” the lawmaker dances in a pickup truck near an American flag mural that contains the phrase “In God We Trust.”

“I swore a sacred oath, so help me G-O-D,” he sings in the video. “G-O-D, help me G-O-D.”

The Independent has reached out to the lawmaker for comment.

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