For Immediate Release
Wednesday, September 7, 2022
Contact: Hannah Goss, hgoss@azdem.org
HuffPost: Blake Masters Touted a 9/11 Conspiracy Theorist, Discouraged Voting
PHOENIX — Today, a new HuffPost report featuring previously unreported emails highlighted Blake Masters’ long history of promoting out-of-step ideas, including defending a 9/11 conspiracy theorist, calling America “fascist,” and encouraging people not to vote.
Masters’ skepticism of the “official story” of 9/11 joins a long list of conspiracy theories the GOP nominee has touted on the campaign trail. What’s more, HuffPost’s investigation is just the latest in a series of reports detailing Masters’ well-documented record of controversial statements — including quoting Nazi leaders, calling World War II unjust, promoting the Unabomber, and stating that Al Qaeda isn’t a threat to America.
See below for key excerpts, or check out the full story here:
- As a college student, Blake Masters ― now the GOP candidate for U.S. Senate in Arizona ― defended a classmate’s skepticism of the “official story” of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
- He also told his roommates that voting was pointless and often “immoral,” railed against health inspections as “bullshit,” and said America circa 2006 was “fascist.”
- The emails, dozens of which were obtained by HuffPost, show Masters’ embrace of contrarianism and devout libertarian ideals even before he became an acolyte of venture capitalist and democracy skeptic Peter Thiel, whose millions funded Masters’ campaign in the Arizona primary.
- Masters’ past comments, on blogs, in interviews and even on a Crossfit message board, have already become major issues in the race. […] Masters had referred to the Unabomber as an “underrated” thinker, and the Anti-Defamation League has criticized posts and articles Masters wrote suggesting that the “Houses of Morgan and Rothschild” were partially responsible for America’s entry into World War I.
- To win his primary, Masters espoused a variety of hard-line views, calling for the overturn of the Supreme Court cases guaranteeing a right to contraception and same-sex marriage, backing former President Donald Trump’s lies about a stolen election in 2020 and saying he would vote to impeach President Joe Biden.
- “I just want to point out that there is absolutely nothing wrong with being a ‘conspiracy theorist’ or a ‘revisionist historian,’” Masters wrote […] “The story we’ve been told about 9/11 may indeed be correct, but blindly accepting it would be an error…”
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