Fresh off his trip to Arizona to pal around with anti-semites and endorse Donald Trump’s cost-raising agenda, new reporting reveals the online forum Marty O’Donnell created and tied to his campaign is rife with slurs and Nazi sympathizing. From posts that include racial slurs to those minimizing Nazi Germany and defending white nationalist conspiracy theories, O’Donnell’s online forum is a cesspool of bigotry and hatred. O’Donnell can continue to deny responsibility for his supporters’ actions, but he cannot escape his own, including the time he wore a mask of Benito Mussolini, the Italian fascist dictator and Hitler ally, for Halloween.
Beyond his wholehearted support of Donald Trump’s cost-raising agenda and disparaging of Las Vegas, O’Donnell’s facilitation of the bigoted “Marty’s Army” and apparent support for Mussolini are disqualifying for anyone who wants to represent Nevada in public office.
Associated Press: Online forum controlled by Nevada GOP House candidate contains slurs and Nazi talk, AP review finds
- An Associated Press review of thousands of posts made on the forum between 2022 and 2026 found racial slurs, minimizations of Nazi Germany and defenses of white nationalist conspiracy theories.
- “It wasn’t a couple of crazies. The popular sentiment was, ‘Yes, slavery should be legal,” said Deacon Dameron, a former group member who said O’Donnell banned him for calling another user a “dork.”
- Many views espoused in the forum, which is controlled by O’Donnell and his handpicked moderators, are at odds with some of the values articulated by the candidate and his campaign.
- In May 2022, for example, a member wrote, “WE STAND WITH MARTY.” Others reacted to the post using letter emoji to spell out — incorrectly — a racial slur for Black people. More soon chimed in, using emoji letters to invoke another anti-Black slur.
- A user suggested in March 2024 that the Nazis “did some good things” that were “completely overshadowed by the terrible things they did.”
- Another that month asked, “Was Hitler really an evil guy?”
- “Like aside from the Holocaust,” the user added, “did he really even do anything wrong?”
- In February, a third member posted, “Heil Hitler.”
- O’Donnell wrote on the forum that he rejects fascism. But he also shared a photo of himself wearing what he said was a mask of Benito Mussolini, the Italian dictator and key Hitler ally, that he wore to a Halloween party.
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