After a contentious meeting last night, the El Paso County Republican Party chose Joshua Hosler, previously the vice chair, to fill the vacant chairman’s seat.
Hosler initially said he had no interest in the position, but after much arguing at the meeting and being told to “step up” by one attendee, he agreed to replace Trevor Dierdorff as chairman.
As vice chair, Hosler earned the attention of The Colorado Times Recorder for his incendiary social media presence, often exhibiting his unfriendly attitude toward immigrants and Muslims.
Most recently, Hosler posted about the Delayed Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, implying that ending the program he views as unconstitutional wouldn’t accomplish the desired goal of getting Dreamers out of the country.
One commenter then advocated shooting DACA recipients in the streets.
Back in July, Hosler hopped on the bandwagon of conservatives who harshly criticized Women’s March organizer and Palestinian-American political activist Linda Sarsour, who they said called for violent “jihad” against Donald Trump in a recent speech.
But Sarsour’s comments were mischaracterized and taken out of context by conservative media outlets, causing an uproar on the right, including death threats and misogynistic insults from Hosler’s Facebook friends.
Hosler has also demonstrated his antipathy toward refugees, like when he posted on Facebook about walking out of church after the priest read a verse that he viewed as too supportive of foreigners coming to America in the wake of Trump’s Muslim ban.
Hosler’s response to the white supremacist terrorism in Charlottesville was also notable. He claimed that the protesters at the “Unite the Right” rally were really Democrats.
El Paso County’s new GOP chairman also “loves” that Trump insulted our NATO allies, and “loves” that repealing the Clean Power Plan will threaten the nation’s health.
