A review of the work of
Dr. Steven Hotze provides a good example of how radical hate groups, which promote political and scientific disinformation, have been harnessed by mainstream conservative organizations (
GOP), to perform unethical, if not barely legal actions. This does appear to be how certain mainstream organizations preserve their image while promoting dirty tactics.
First, Dr. Hotze, is a known Republican political operative who has funded attempts to
ban everything from gay marriage (
https://www.texasobserver.org/steve-hotze-splc-hate-list/) to
banning drive-in voting in Texas during the COVID pandemic, resulting in throwing out over 100,000 votes (
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-texas/texan-republicans-lose-bid-to-halt-drive-through-voting-but-fight-continues-idUSKBN27H1Q0?il=0).
Dr. Hotze was also one of the few medical "professionals" that was willing to go on the record in supporting far-right views that COVID-19 was a hoax, and appeared on several television shows to parrot unproven treatments for COVID-19:
. . . Hotze has been stirring the pot about the pandemic since the end of March. Scroll down through the CRT Facebook page feed, and you’ll find posts comparing COVID-19 to the rise of the Third Reich and attempts to draw similarities between the iron muzzles slaves were forced to wear and the masks we all are being asked to wear to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Earlier this month, he went too far with a post claiming that masks “create serious health risks for the wearer.” The post was no longer visible when Reform Austin visited the CRT page, but it is still up on Hotze’s personal Facebook page.
See:
https://www.reformaustin.org/texas-legislature/facebook-censures-steve-hotze-and-his-conservative-republicans-of-texas/
Dr. Hotze's
Conservative Republicans of Texas were placed on the Southern Poverty Law Center's hate list as well.
Dr. Hotze has also advocated the use of violence in solving social problems:
"I want you to give a message to the governor," Hotze told Abbott's chief of staff, Luis Saenz, in a voicemail. "I want to make sure that he has National Guard down here and they have the order to shoot to kill if any of these son-of-a-bitch people start rioting like they have in Dallas, start tearing down businesses — shoot to kill the son of a bitches. That’s the only way you restore order. Kill ‘em. Thank you."
See:
https://theeagle.com/news/state-and-regional/kill-em-houston-gop-powerbroker-steve-hotze-left-greg-abbott-a-voicemail-requesting-national-guard/article_ef7f80b3-41d2-5ab6-a627-78a47e15cc70.html
His sites are:
crtpac.com
drhotze.com
Dr. Hotze also has used PR firms to manufacture credibility by helping him to write books (see: https://www.mywot.com/scorecard/
advantagefamily.com)
Please feel free to rate these sites accordingly:
https://www.mywot.com/scorecard/crtpac.com
https://www.mywot.com/scorecard/drhotze.com