In January, Republican state Rep. E. Werner Reschke appeared on Christian nationalist Jason Rapert’s “Save The Nation” program to discuss his role as the new Oregon state chair of Rapert’s National Association of Christian Lawmakers organization, a collection of right-wing state legislators and activists dedicated to electing “godly leaders in our nation at every level” for the purpose of seeing its “biblical worldview spread across the nation.”
During that discussion, Reschke stated that only those who understand the true “nature of God” are qualified to hold public office, declaring that Muslims, atheists, and the “godless” are unfit to serve in such a capacity. When Reschke’s comments inevitably began to cause controversy in Oregon, he baselessly claimed that his remarks had been “grossly taken out of context,” though he conveniently refused to provide any explanation of what he had supposedly meant.
Last Thursday, Jason Rapert, on whose show Reschke had originally made the comments, appeared on the “Truth & Liberty Live” program where he defended Reschke by glossing over and spinning what Reschke had actually said. Rapert also reported that Reschke is now facing a “formal complaint” for his remarks.
“He was just articulating a winsome, ‘I believe Christians should be involved because we know the truth, we uphold truth,'” Rapert claimed. “Rep. Reschke made a simple statement and, do you know, they turned that into a national story. Right Wing Watch—who’s watching you right now, probably; they’re probably gonna get both of us on this—they clipped it out. It’s the same standard operating procedure: Clip out a piece, twist it, and try to make people hate them.”
“Here’s what I found out yesterday,” Rapert griped. “Rep. Reschke now has a formal complaint in the Oregon House of Representatives coming against him in the Oregon Legislative Equity Office. You know that’s loaded. They’re coming after him formally as if he has charges against him because of comments—under free speech and freedom of religion—that he made on my program.”
For the record, Right Wing Watch in no way “twisted” Reschke’s comments. His remarks were reported accurately and entirely in context by Right Wing Watch and were even documented on video. In fact, the original interview is still available on Rapert’s Facebook page and the comments that Reschke made can be seen starting about the 22:15 mark. If one watches the original program, they will discover that the context of his comments was exactly as Right Wing Watch accurately described, transcribed, and documented.
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