A speaker who was scheduled to deliver remarks at the Republican National Convention on Tuesday was abruptly removed from the program after she retweeted a thread promoting an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory with ties to the fringe conspiracy theory, QAnon.
Mary Ann Mendoza, whose police officer son was killed by a drunk driver, had been included in a list of speakers sent by the Trump campaign earlier Tuesday evening. An updated rundown circulated before the convention, however, did not include Mendoza after her tweet garnered significant scrutiny following a report by The Daily Beast.
Mendoza had tweeted, “Do yourself a favor and read this thread” in reference to a string of conspiratorial tweets about a Jewish plan to control the world. She later deleted the tweet and claimed that she hadn’t read “every post within the thread.”
“My apologies for not paying attention to the intent of the whole message,” Mendoza said. “That does not reflect my feelings or personal thoughts whatsoever.”
Mendoza’s initial placement in the program highlights the extent to which the Trump campaign has leaned into its fringe support in the final months of the 2020 presidential campaign. Last week, President Donald Trump embraced followers of the baseless QAnon conspiracy, praising them for their support and shrugging off the