If there were such thing as a Racist Hall of Fame, neo-Nazi podcaster Scott Rhodes of Idaho would be its latest inductee.
The Orlando Sentinel reports that Rhodes is facing a $12.9 million fine for harassing Andrew Gillum supporters with a deluge of racist robocalls during his 2018 Florida gubernatorial campaign.
According to the FCC’s complaint, Rhodes targeted five states and was “apparently motivated by a belief that these actions would result in media notoriety and accordingly would enable him to increase publicity for his website and personal brand.”
The Des Moines Register notes that the messaging of these calls included racial slurs and “urged residents to support the deportation of nonwhite immigrants.”
For those wondering how in the hell Rhodes got slapped with such a massive fine, it might have something to do with the fact that between Florida and Brooklyn, Iowa, alone, he was responsible for more than 1,500 robocalls over a seven day period—and was even kind enough to flood supporters of California Sen. Dianne Feinstein with a barrage of anti-Semitic rhetoric—1,496 calls to be exact—condemning her Jewish heritage.
And it gets better.
From the Des Moines Register:
Beginning in November 2018 in Virginia, Rhodes began placing what would eventually add up to 2,023 robocalls calls in an effort to influence the jury during the murder trial of James Fields, who was later convicted of killing Heather Heyer when he drove his vehicle into a crowd of protesters at a “Unite the Right” rally in August 2017.
The judge overseeing the case questioned jurors about the calls and asked the jury pool to ignore the messages which spread a “racist and anti-Semitic conspiracy theory” and blamed the death on local officials, according to the press release.
Oh, and this:
In November 2018 Rhodes attempted to interfere in a third election by making 583 robocalls denouncing Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams. The racist and anti-Semitic calls falsely claimed to be from Oprah Winfrey, according to the FCC.
Like I said, first-ballot Racist Hall of Fame.
Good luck with that fine.