Mark Finchem, the GOP nominee for Arizona secretary of state who is endorsed by former President Trump, posted a “Treason Watch List” to his Pinterest account, CNN first reported on Tuesday.
Finchem, who currently serves as a state representative, repeatedly posted about anti-government conspiracy theories and stockpiling ammunition to his Pinterest account. CNN reportedly uncovered the previously unreported posts from links on his defunct Twitter account.
Pinterest is a social media platform where users can post by creating digital mood boards. Some boards on Finchem’s account include innocuous content related to food and dogs. But Finchem also has a board on his account titled “Treason Watch List,” which includes incendiary posts that appear to demonize Democrat Jesse Jackson, former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and former Secretary of State John Kerry.
In a now-deleted board labeled “Thought Provoking,” Finchem reportedly pinned a number of posts with extremist rhetoric, some of which compared Democrats to Nazis and invoked the Holocaust to argue against gun control, according to CNN. There were also reportedly posts in the board that called for stockpiling ammunition, and a cartoon that compared former President Obama to Adolf Hitler.
“What makes us think IT CAN’T HAPPEN IN AMERICA?” one of Finchem’s posts in the “Thought Provoking” board read, which opposed gun control and depicted Jews being rounded up by Nazis, CNN reported.
Additionally, other posts in the “Thought Provoking” board espoused conspiracy theories that the Mexican Army was infiltrating the United States and planning a full-scale invasion, alongside Islamophobic posts baselessly claiming that Sharia law was descending upon the U.S. soon, according to CNN.
Finchem previously self-identified himself as a member of the extremist group known as the Oath Keepers, a far-right militia group comprised of former and current military and law enforcement officers that has come under scrutiny for providing security for the “Stop the Steal” rally that occurred hours before the deadly Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, which many members participated in. Eleven members of the militia group were charged by the Justice Department with “seditious conspiracy” in connection to the insurrection.
Finchem has campaigned on the Big Lie of a stolen 2020 election. He attended the rally that preceded the attack on the Capitol, but has denied participating in the actual breaching of the Capitol. Finchem does not face any Jan. 6-related crimes.
