On Friday morning, Andrew Torba, founder of the far-right social media platform Gab, issued a seeming ultimatum to the Republican Party: "Gab is becoming the litmus test for candidates. Many have passed the test and doubled down. Some have lied and disavowed to gain points with the enemy. A truly great service to the American people to see who has a spine and who does not."
The occasion for the post was the fact that, over the last month, Torba and his platform, a hotbed of Christian nationalism and overt bigotry of various kinds, have become the center of numerous political controversies. After Torba endorsed a series of Republican candidates from the party's MAGA wing, one after another has been pressed to explain their relationship with a figure long associated with racist and antisemitic speech, including, just this Thursday, his calling Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Josh Shapiro, the state's Jewish attorney general, "this antichrist."
