Sen. Candidate Royce White Uses Antisemitic Tropes In July 4 Fed Rally

Two years after a host of antisemitic statements during his run for Congress, Royce White, the Republican-endorsed candidate in the Minnesota U.S. Senate Primary, is at it again.

At a march and rally before a reported dozen or so people on July 4, White said that the Federal Reserve bank is run by “Jewish elites,” citing Ben Bernanke – the former chair of the Federal Reserve who left the position in 2014.

“The first time I started my campaign at the Federal Reserve they said I was a debt hawk. And that I was dog-whistling antisemitism because I was at a place where a lot of Jewish elites actually run the Fed,” White said. “(Ben) Bernanke, you know – there’s a long list of them. So you can’t mention the Fed because of a Jewish person that works at the Fed – now you’re antisemitic.”

If White wins the Aug. 13 Primary Election, he’d face Sen. Amy Klobuchar (DFL). 

White – who according to a report in the Rochester Post-Bulletin, was wearing body armor – used that statement as a jumping-off point to complain about sending money to Ukraine, bringing up the role the country played in Holocaust, specifically the Babi Yar massacre. 

“But you can send your money to a country that killed 33,000 Jews in three days, with small arms,” he said. “Those are the Ukrainians; we’re sending money to them.”

The full statement is available on White’s social media, which he posted on July 4. 

In a statement, the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas said White was perpetrating “tired and reprehensible antisemitic tropes of Jewish elites controlling the Federal Reserve.”

“A self-described antisemite, the latest vile remarks from Mr. White follow earlier rhetoric from the aspiring United States Senator decrying ‘the Jewish lobby,’ claims that Jews focus on the Holocaust ‘to provide a victimhood cover for their own corrupt practices,’ and the charge that Israel is ‘the lynchpin of the New World Order.’ These most recent and past comments from Mr. White demonstrably prove Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt’s ‘horseshoe theory’ that antisemitism has infected our politics from both ends of the political spectrum,” the statement read.

“August 13 is the last day to vote in Minnesota’s state primary elections. We hope that Republican voters and party leaders will strongly consider whether the habitual antisemitism of Mr. White, which we unequivocally condemn, is something that can be looked past when deciding their party’s standard bearer for the general election.”

In a statement from the Minnesota Chapter of the Republican Jewish Coalition or obvious reasons, Mark Miller said that the RJC has publicly endorsed Joe Fraser, a Navy veteran who is opposing White in the GOP Senate primary in August. Miller said, “Fraser is a strong supporter of Israel, who has condemned White’s July 4th antisemitic remarks.”

White won the GOP endorsement at the party’s convention in May, and he was introduced by Steve Bannon, the former adviser to former President Donald Trump, who recently began serving a federal prison term for failing to comply with a congressional subpoena. 

White’s campaign has been beset with issues, including facing possible jail time for falling behind on child support payments and misusing funds from his 2022 campaign at a strip club and on transportation.

In 2022, White ran as one of the GOP candidates for the 5th Congressional District. In that election cycle, he went on a podcast of Dr. Scott Jensen, the Republican nominee for governor that year, losing to incumbent Gov. Tim Walz. White made the appearance to discuss mental health, and at the time his Twitter bio read: “American, Hotep, Blackface, Extremist, Alt-Right, Cis-Male, Sexist, Misogynist, Homophobic, Transphobic, Xenophobic, Antisemitic, Christian-Fundamentalist, etc.”

White used to be a regular on the Blaze TV show of former sportswriter-turned-conservative commentator Jason Whitlock, where he often decried the “globalist agenda,” and had previously complained of the “Jewish elite” and that it’s a problem when it’s suggested that there is a Jewish elite, there are cries of antisemitism.

“Why can’t anyone say the word ‘Jewish’ without being threatened with an antisemitism designation?” he said on Whitlock’s show in 2022. “That’s a problem. We have to address those first before we have a fair and balanced conversation about where we are as a society. It goes for gender, it goes for racism.”

White is a former pro basketball player, although his shortlived NBA career lasted less than 9 minutes over three games with the Sacramento Kings, due in large part to the off-court problems and mental health struggles that plagued his career. 

He started his college career at the University of Minnesota after playing at De La Salle High School for his first three years before finishing at Hopkins High School. He never played a game at the U after he was suspended for involvement in a shoplifting incident. There was also an investigation into a theft in a dorm room and trespassing which saw him suspended for his entire freshman year. He transferred to Iowa State where he was the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year in his only season in Ames.  

White is said to have a generalized anxiety disorder, which was exacerbated by having to fly around the country. He tried to get the Rockets to allow him to ride a bus to games where the schedule allowed. He said the team had been inconsistent in helping him cope with his anxiety. Ultimately he was traded away from Houston. He has recently played in the Big3, 3-on-3 basketball league.