Nearly 200,000 households received the call from William Johnson, a leader in the alt-right white nationalist American Freedom Party (AFP).
On the recording Johnson can be heard attacking Evan McMullin, a former Republican House chief policy director who has emerged as a serious contender for president in Utah, with the backing of several anti-Trump donors. McMullin has criticized GOP leadership for not distancing themselves from the controversial billionaire, and has labeled Trump "a racist."
"Don't vote for Evan McMullin. Vote for Donald Trump. He will respect all women and be a president we can all be proud of," said Johnson, who describes himself as a “farmer and a white nationalist”. He makes a point of noting that McMullin’s mother is a lesbian and accuses the candidate of being secretly gay.
"Evan has two mommies,” he says on the call, “His mother is a lesbian, married to another woman. Evan is okay with that. Indeed Evan supports the Supreme Court ruling legalizing gay marriage. Evan is over 40 years old and is not married and doesn’t even have a girlfriend. I believe Evan is a closet homosexual."
A part of the AFP’s platform is the "Freedom to live in a healthy and moral society." They are against gay marriage and allowing LGBTQ people to serve in the military, and believe that "Militant feminism and radical homosexuality have been foisted on the American people against their will."
Johnson also said McMullin would allow unrestricted immigration, something which the AFP says violates their "Freedom from the immigrant invasion."
"The core European American population never wanted their country to be overwhelmed and fundamentally altered by allowing tens of millions of legal and illegal immigrants to enter and drain endless billions of taxpayer dollars in services," according to the party’s platform.
After the robo-call went out, McMullin took to social media, tweeting Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, "this is your nominee and your supporter. They're defining you with white nationalism. Will you continue to embrace them?" He also addressed state Republican leaders, asking "Will Utah GOP leaders continue to stand with @realDonaldTrump and white nationalists' as they attack my faith and spread baseless lies?"
Johnson has used similar telephone shenanigans to slam Mitt Romney, who criticized Trump for not distancing himself from racist public figures and called the reality television star a "fraud." In that call Johnson claimed, "The white race is being replaced by other peoples in America and in all white countries. Donald Trump stands strong as a nationalist. Mitt Romney and the establishment conservatives pretend they don't care."
White nationalists constantly badger McMullin online for his anti-Trump sentiments, a price that he says he is "happy to pay".
