Yet another white supremacist in Trump’s inner circle
by digby
I wrote about the ultra rich weirdo father-daughter GOP donors Robert and Rebekkah Mercer for Salon a few times during the campaign. They are farther right and much more eccentric than the Kochs which may make them less formidable in some ways but far more unpredictable.
I didn’t know they were racists but I guess it’s not surprising:
Hedge fund mogul Robert Mercer, one of the biggest financial backers of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, was sued by a former employee who claims he was fired for calling Mercer racist and publicly criticizing his support of Trump.
The complaint by David Magerman, a research scientist who worked at Renaissance Technologies LLC for two decades, alleges he was wrongfully fired April 29 after his relationship with Mercer and his family became toxic. For example, Magerman alleges that Mercer’s daughter, Rebekah Mercer, a member of Trump’s transition team, called him “pond scum” at a celebrity poker tournament.
The confrontation “just shows the hostility that the Mercers had toward Mr. Magerman because he dared to challenge their political views,” his lawyer, H. Robert Fiebach, said in a phone call on Monday.
Mercer, a major investor in Trump-friendly Breitbart News, advised the president to hire two of the Mercer family’s longtime political advisers, Stephen Bannon and Kellyanne Conway. Mercer’s politics have “tainted” the hedge fund, while internal policies that prohibit “politely” speaking out against the company in public are “unfair and untenable,” Magerman said in the complaint, filed May 5 in federal court in Philadelphia.
A spokesman for Renaissance had no immediate comment. Mercer emerged as one of the most influential Republican donors in the 2016 election, giving at least $2 million to Make America Number 1, a political action committee that began backing Trump in July. Rebekah Mercer was named to Trump’s transition team in November.
The dispute started on Jan. 16 when Magerman called Mercer and asked to have a conversation about his support of Trump, according to the complaint. During the chat, Mercer said the U.S. had started going in the wrong direction “after the passage of the Civil Rights Act in the 1960s,” according to the complaint. Mercer also said that black Americans “were doing fine” in the late 1950s and are the “only racist people remaining in the U.S.,” according to the complaint.
“Magerman was stunned by these comments and pushed back,” according to the complaint. Reminded of the racial segregation that existed at the time, Mercer allegedly responded by saying those issues weren’t important.
After the phone call, Magerman complained about Mercer’s comments to Co-Chief Executive Officer Peter Brown, who “expressed disbelief” and urged the two men to speak again, according to the complaint. Magerman agreed and called Mercer back on Feb. 5.
“I hear you’re going around saying I’m a white supremacist,” Mercer said, according to the complaint. During the call, Mercer “scoffed” at the idea that segregation was degrading and destructive, Magerman said.
This guy is a real tinfoil hatter so this is par for the course. It sounds very believable. And yes, disgusting.
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