Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign announced the support of yet another far-right figure today, issuing a press release touting the endorsement of Lt. General Jerry Boykin, the executive vice president of the Family Research Council.
Boykin first gained notoriety when he was publicly rebuked by the Bush administration for giving speeches framing American military conflicts in the Middle East as a religious conflict between “our God” and Satan. After retiring from the Army, Boykin threw himself into Religious Right activism, eventually landing the number-two post at the Family Research Council. (Boykin's boss, anti-gay extremist Tony Perkins, is also a Cruz endorser.)
Boykin’s career in the military came under further scrutiny last year when the Intercept reported that Boykin — who now frequently accuses the Obama administration of persecuting Christians at home and abroad — created a Pentagon program that used unwitting missionaries as spies.
His career as an activist has featured plenty of the same Holy War rhetoric for which he first became known, combined with conspiracy theories about President Obama as a terrorist sympathizer and a vision of Jesus as a “man’s man” who will return carrying an AR-15. He is deeply involved in both anti-Muslim activism and the fringe “dominionist” movement that seeks conservative Christian control over the U.S. government.
Just a few lowlights of Boykin’s career:
- Said that “Islam is not a religion and does not deserve First Amendment protections,” and wants “no mosques in America.”
- Thinks Christians should act more like ISIS and be “willing to die” for their God.
- Said Jesus, who’s a real “man’s man,” will return to earth carrying an AR-15.
- Blamed Obama and his supporters for the shooting at an Oregon community college, adding that we here at Right Wing Watch use “the exact same tactics” as ISIS and Al Qaeda to encourage attacks on Christians.
- Warned that Obama was using the health care reform law as a cover for establishing a private army of Brownshirts loyal just to him.
- Claimed the bailout of AIG led to the establishment of Sharia law and that George Soros and the Council on Foreign relations conspired to collapse the U.S. economy in order to help Obama get elected.
- Alleged that Obama may be a secret Muslim who “cavort[s] with the enemy” and says “things that are really supportive of what they’re doing.”
- Said that American Jews were misled into supporting Democrats by wrongly thinking Adolf Hitler was a right-wing extremist, and believes that that Jews must be converted to Christianity.
- Said the U.S. government was founded to be run by Christians.
- Warned that Muslim-Americans, including Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin and John Kerry’s son-in-law, are undermining national security.
- Accused the Obama administration of showing “support for the infiltration of the Muslim Brotherhood into our government.”
- Claimed that the police won’t go into Dearborn, Michigan, because if its large Muslim population.
- Suggested that the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell led to the “absolute destruction” of our military.
- Predicted that American might soon face God’s judgment because it is worse than Sodom and Gomorrah.
- Said that “God’s army” must fight the “evil” of gay rights.
