Religious Right radio host Sandy Rios claimed that the term “alt-right” was constructed by liberals to denigrate conservatives, especially those like her who speak out “in the name of Jesus.”
While speaking with pro-Trump Religious Right leader Robert Jeffress this morning, Rios asked for his thoughts about a letter evangelical pastors sent to the White House asking that President Donald Trump take more steps to condemn the white supremacist alt-right movement. Jeffress told Rios he thought the letter was unnecessary.
“Let’s be clear. The president has soundly denounced racism,” Jeffress said, citing Trump's signing of a joint resolution of Congress that renounced white supremacist and other hate groups. The letter evangelical leaders sent, Jeffress said, “is continuing to pick at a scab that does not need to be picked at.”
Rios said she agreed with Jeffress and that a lot of the “good men on this letter” didn’t fully understand what they had signed.
“A lot of the talking points in this letter come straight out of the playbook of CNN and MSNBC. They are untethered from what actually is happening here, and it is much bigger than what happened in Charlottesville,” Rios said, referring to the white supremacist rally that ended in the violent death of a counter-protester.
Rios went on to claim that liberals are “crafting a resist movement” that is aimed at destroying “all of us, especially those of us that pray in the name of Jesus.”
“Even the term ‘alt-right’ is a construct that they have used to denigrate and try to destroy,” Rios said.