“We urge Republican Party leaders in North Carolina and nationwide to disassociate the GOP from all forms of bigotry, including the kind of Islamophobia spewed by Mr. Gaubatz.”

“The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called on the Republican Party to drop a notorious anti-Muslim conspiracy theorist as a speaker at an upcoming event in North Carolina and to repudiate his hate-filled Islamophobic tweets and rhetoric,” began a press release to journalists recently sent by The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), “Islamophobe Chris Gaubatz has been invited by the Haywood County Republican Party as a guest speaker Tuesday, Feb. 19, at the Haywood GOP headquarters in Waynesville, N.C,” the organization continued.

CAIR would provide examples of the disinformation and rhetoric used by Chris Gaubatz in relation to Islam.

Gaubatz And Islamophobia

“..That a mosque is not a Muslim church, a mosque is what used the mosques for; for storing ammunition, for storing food, for planning jihad…it’s the place from where the jihad was launched. A mosque is more like a military outpost” Gaubatz stated during an interview.  Gaubatz would go on to reinforce Mohammad used mosque’s to store weapons and ammunition. Of note, ‘ammunition’ is usually used in reference to bullets, it’s an assumption that Gaubatz is referring to arrows in his false accusations directed towards modern mosques.

A video capturing the comments and those by John Guandolo is below.

“You have entire enclaves that are essentially no-go zones, for not only law enforcement, but also citizens,” City Pages reported while investigating Chris Gaubatz’s bizarre claims about Muslim ‘no-go zones’ in Minnesota. When the outlet asked his lawyer for a response on the real world location of these areas City Pages did not receive a response. There has yet to be any evidence of such zones actually existing.

In June of last year, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) highlighted the connection Gaubatz has with another prominent Islamophobe.

Within the last two months, Gaubatz reappeared on the anti-Muslim speaking circuit with a new title, president of Rise Align Ignite Reclaim, or RAIR Foundation, whose mission is to “reclaim America from the network of individuals and organizations waging war on our Constitution, borders and Judeo-Christian values.” Materials associated with the group reveal this is the same organization associated with [Amy] Mekelburg, only the name has been changed and the mission statement slightly altered. The branding, however, has remained the same.

“Additional proof comes full circle on Twitter, where both Gaubatz and Mekelburg’s bios linked to the same website: rairfoundation.com, which is now behind a membership wall. Gaubatz and Mekelburg removed the links to the RAIR Foundation in their bios, presumably after Hatewatch reached out to Gaubatz to ask him about his ties to Mekelburg and RAIR,” the report continues.

Huffington Post published an expose on Amy Mekelburg in May 2018, which was responsible for drawing her connection to Gaubatz. From their investigation:

The 45-year-old resident of Fishkill, New York, grew up in a Jewish family in East Brunswick, New Jersey, a fairly affluent community not far south of New York City. Her father owns a wholesale business called Mekelburg Co. that sells magnets, keychains and assorted gimcrackery. Her brother runs a popular restaurant and craft beer bar in Brooklyn that also bears the family name. As a teenager, Mekelburg attended East Brunswick High School, where she stood out for her athletic ability and was a key member of the state championship soccer team. She graduated in 1991. East Brunswick High, according to one former classmate, was not a diverse school. “It was predominantly white with a large Jewish population,” the classmate said. He estimated that less than 1 percent of their nearly 500-person class were Muslim.

CAIR Calls For Change

“We urge Republican Party leaders in North Carolina and nationwide to disassociate the GOP from all forms of bigotry, including the kind of Islamophobia spewed by Mr. Gaubatz,” said CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw within the press release. Currently, Gaubatz has an invitation from the Haywood County Republican Party to speak this Tuesday at the Haywood GOP headquarters in Waynesville, N.C.

Thus far the Haywood County Republican party has been silent on the issue, seemingly comfortable allowing Gaubatz to keep his speaking engagement.