Senior Republican Party official spreads conspiracies about covid-19

What contraindications would the vaccine against covid-19 have?

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(CNN) -

Amid Florida's recent surge in coronavirus cases, a senior Republican National Committee (RNC) official has spread anti-vaccine rhetoric and misinformation, comparing the Biden administration's efforts on the matter. of vaccines with the "brown shirts" of the Nazi era, and twice calling vaccines "the mark of the beast", and comparing them to a "false god".

A review of CNN's KFile found that Peter Feaman, an attorney and member of the Florida RNC committee, made the comments on his blog "The Backhoe Chronicles," which he regularly posts to a private group on the MeWe social network.

The social network advertises itself as the "anti-Facebook" application.

• Is it legal to require vaccination against covid-19?

  In many circumstances, yes

"Biden's brownshirts are starting to show up at private homes questioning vaccine papers," Feaman wrote on July 20, incorrectly implying that government officials were showing up at people's homes to question their status. vaccination, comparing them to the paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party.

Previously, he supported far-right MP Marjorie Taylor Greene, who used the term and faced a swift backlash.

The "mark of the beast"

In May, Feaman called COVID-19 vaccines the "mark of the beast" - a reference to a symbol from the biblical Book of Revelations that shows allegiance to Satan - and called the Democratic governor of Michigan "diabolical." , Gretchen Whitmer, for promoting vaccines.

"The devilish Governor of Michigan, Whitmer, wants her citizens to put on the 'mark of the beast' to participate in society," Feaman wrote.

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Florida Republican Party National Committee member Peter Feaman holds documents that he and the rest of Florida's 29 presidential electors used to vote for Donald Trump and Mike Pence during a voters' meeting on Capitol Hill in Tallahassee, on December 14, 2020.

"Now the Michigan Democrat has announced that she is going to prolong the state's suffering until residents submit to getting 'the prick,' and if enough of them meet her demands, then she and Joe Biden could allow them to celebrate the July 4th, "he added, apparently referring to the Biden administration's goal of having 70% of the US adult population have at least one dose of the vaccine by that holiday.

(The objective was not met).

Later he added, "Hey Whitmer, we won't bow down to your false god."

CNN reached out to Feaman and the RNC for comment, but neither responded.

Feaman is one of three officials who represent Florida on the governing body of the RNC, the political committee that leads the Republican Party.

He has served in the position since 2012.

His re-election to the office in 2020 at an annual meeting of the Florida Republican Party was endorsed by the party's state chairman, Joe Gruters, and was previously appointed to the state and federal judge nominating commissions by Senator Marco Rubio and the then Florida Governor Rick Scott.

He was also a voter in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections.

Record of hospitalizations in Florida

On Sunday, Florida broke its record for coronavirus hospitalizations just one day after the state recorded the highest number of new daily cases of covid-19 since the start of the pandemic.

They form lines in Florida for covid-19 test 1:42

On Thursday, Feaman lashed out at new guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggesting the use of masks in places with high rates of transmission of the variant. delta.

"Wolves want control and power," he wrote.

"As for me and my house ... we will fight them."

In addition to spreading misinformation, Feaman spread conspiracy theories.

He pushed the falsehood that the 2020 elections were stolen from former President Donald Trump, promoted insurrection conspiracies on Capitol Hill by suggesting that the events of January 6 were a "hoax to make Trump's people look bad" and implied that the event was a "false flag" operation carried out by the Democrats to seize power.

In another February post, Feaman shared an article by conservative radio host Dennis Prager in which the author compared the actions of the Democrats following the Capitol uprising with the Nazis who used the Reichstag fire as a means to seize power in 1933. .

• ANALYSIS |

  The tragedy of the Covid-19 victims who said no to the vaccine

"What the left is doing by demonizing conservatives and Trump supporters is exactly what the Nazis did in 1933," Feaman wrote on MeWe, but said Trump supporters were "not afraid," adding: " Unlike Germany in 1933, they have guns. "

"Wake up America!"

In addition to his blog, Feaman also wrote two books - "Wake Up America!"

in 2007 and "The Next Nightmare: How Political Correctness Will Destroy America" ​​in 2012 - which claimed that "Islamofascism" was the greatest threat to Judeo-Christian values ​​and the United States.

One of the books appears to feature a doctored review from The New York Times Book Review.

At the top of the cover of "Wake up America!" An ad reads: "'Wake up America!'

makes a compelling argument that Americans cannot take for granted: that today's world will not necessarily exist tomorrow, 'as seen in The New York Times Book Review. "

There is a similar ad on the book page on Amazon.

A Times spokesperson confirmed that the publication did not publish a review or cover the title in any way and said they were reviewing the unauthorized use of the Times name in the book.

Republican National CommitteeCovid-19