GOP Rep Gonzales Accuses His Primary Challenger, Gun YouTuber Brandon Herrera, of Being Neo-Nazi

Last updated on August 7th, 2024 at 04:29 pm

Sitting Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) referred to his Republican primary opponent, a firearms YouTuber named Brandon Herrera, of being a “known neo-Nazi” in a new interview.

Sitting down with CNN’s “State of the Union” program on Sunday, Gonzales referenced Herrera in passing as a “known neo-Nazi,” while criticizing elements within the Republican party.

“I served 20 years in the military. It’s my absolute honor to be in Congress, but I serve with some real scumbags,” Gonzales said. “. . . [Rep. Bob Good] endorsed my opponent, a known neo-Nazi. These people used to walk around with white hoods at night. Now they’re walking around with white hoods in the daytime.”

Gonzales’s comment, of course, references Herrera, whom he faces in a May 28 primary runoff contest.

Herrera, also known as The AK Guy, runs a firearms business and produces YouTube videos dealing with firearms and firearms culture. Herrera has said he decided to run because of his dissatisfaction with Gonzales’s legislative record on guns, including his 2022 vote in favor of new gun control measures contained in a bill dubbed the “Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.”

Herrera came under renewed scrutiny earlier this month for a video he produced last year showcasing the MP-40, a submachine gun in use by the Nazi German army throughout World War II.

Herrera’s YouTube content typically includes a demonstration of various pieces of his firearms collection, interspersed with jokes and skits referencing the firearm’s history. In this particular video, he makes multiple references to the gun’s historic users, the Nazis. In one such reference, Herrera called the gun, the “original ghetto blaster” in apparent reference to Nazi violence against Jewish populations they’d relegated to ghettos.

At another point in the YouTube video Herrera marches around with the gun with a black and white video filter over the footage, and the song “Erika” by German composer Herms Niel playing in the background. “Erika” was composed in 1938 and became a popular march song of the German Wehrmacht during World War II.

Gonzales’s campaign team recently reposted an article noting the use of apparent Nazi imagery in Herrera’s 2023 video.

It appears Gonzales’s comments about Herrera during the CNN interview on Sunday may have been in reference to this recent article.

Herrera has also posted videos demonstrating guns used by the Allies to defeat Nazi Germany during World War II, including the Thompson SMG, the Sten Gun, the Grease Gun, and the M1 Garand. In his Sten Gun video, after clearing a malfunction, he joked “Minor complications, but we got there . . . kind of like Berlin,” in reference to the Allied forces taking the capital city of Germany and defeating the Nazi government.

Herrera has also featured on his channel the Sedgley OSS .38 “punch pistol,” and noted the gun’s appearance in the 2009 film “Inglorious Basterds”—a comedy-drama about a group of Jewish-American commandos successfully completing a fictitious plot to kill Nazi German leader Adolf Hitler and to fulfill a quota to gather Nazi german scalps. In his video review of the gun, Herrera referred to “Inglorious Basterds” as “one of the best movies ever made.”

Gonzales’s description of Herrera as a “known neo-Nazi” is made in passing without further elaboration or request for clarification or pushback from CNN host Dana Bash.

Dash responded to the allegation with a “Wow, ok” before contesting another claim Gonzales made during the segment, that Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) had “paid minors to have sex with them at drug parties.” Bash pointed out that the U.S. Department of Justice had investigated those allegations against Gaetz and closed their case without pursuing charges.

Gonzales’s attacks on his primary opponent and sitting Congressional colleagues quickly met pushback.

“My failure of a Congressman @TonyGonzales4TX went on CNN this morning calling @mattgaetz and @RepBobGood Klansmen, and me a ‘known neo-Nazi.’ This is the death spiral ladies and gentlemen. He has to cry to his liberal friends about me, because Republicans won’t listen anymore,” Herrera said.

My failure of a Congressman @TonyGonzales4TX went on CNN this morning calling @mattgaetz and @RepBobGood Klansmen, and me a “known neo-Nazi.”

This is the death spiral ladies and gentlemen.

He has to cry to his liberal friends about me, because Republicans won’t listen anymore. pic.twitter.com/Wal5m3NclP

— Brandon Herrera (@TheAKGuy) April 21, 2024

Gaetz said Gonzales is now trailing Herrera in the primary polls, and has now turned to “laundering lies on CNN.”

“’Unhinged Outbursts’ is one of the final phases a politician goes through prior to defeat,” Gaetz continued. “The Texas Republican Party has rightly censured Tony for supporting gun control and amnesty. Vote in the May 28 runoff for Brandon Herrera!”

Occasionally-Republican @RepTonyGonzales is currently down in the polls to @TheAKGuy.

Probably because he called @chiproytx’s strong border plan “UNCHRISTIAN”

Now he’s laundering lies on CNN.

“Unhinged Outbursts” is one of the final phases a politician goes through prior to…

— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) April 21, 2024

Rep. Eli Crane (R-AZ) also jumped in to defend Herrera.

“This is such BS and so pathetic, especially from a fellow veteran. To insinuate that other members are klansmen because they call you out for being a complete and total Rhino. Wasn’t one of our core values Honor @TonyGonzales4TX?” wrote Crane, a former U.S. Navy SEAL. “Hey Brandon, add me to your list of endorsements. We will never save the country with guys like Tony.”

This is such BS and so pathetic, especially from a fellow veteran. To insinuate that other members are klansmen because they call you out for being a complete and total Rhino. Wasn’t one of our core values Honor @TonyGonzales4TX? Hey Brandon, add me to your list of endorsements.… https://t.co/dWSCYcO2pR

— Eli Crane (@EliCrane_CEO) April 21, 2024