Tarrant County Republican Party #fundie texasobserver.org

Emails obtained by the Observer reveal that members of the Tarrant County Republican Party plan to hold a training by notorious Islamophobe John Guandolo at an undisclosed location on December 29 — less than two weeks before the local party is set to vote on whether to oust four of its members, one who is Muslim and another who is married to a Muslim.

The emails, sent by Republican precinct chair Dale Attebery to a group of selected precinct chairs and invitees, bill the training as a six-hour class by Guandolo titled: “School: Islam and Sharia vs. the U.S. Constitution.” Guandolo is an ex-FBI agent living in the Dallas area who makes a living by hawking virulently anti-Islam trainings and DVDs to citizens and law enforcement officials.

In the emails, both sent in late November, Attebury claims that around 100 people will attend the late December training, including precinct chairs, local police and perhaps the chair of the Tarrant County GOP. Attebury promises a “personal presentation by Mr. John Guandolo” that will include “absolute proof on everything presented” and “facts/figures that will frighten you.” Attebury does not disclose the location of the training, citing a “need to keep a level of secrecy for a time.”

Attebury paints an urgent cause for the training. “Because we need to know the truth before January 10, there is no option,” he writes. “Because we are losing Tarrant County [to Muslims], just like Dearborn, MI was lost.”

So what’s happening on January 10? As reported by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and the Associated Press, the party is voting whether to oust four members, including Dr. Shahid Shafi, the Muslim vice chair of the local GOP, and precinct chair Lisa Grimaldi Abdulkareem, whose husband is Muslim. The vote is the culmination of a long Islamophobic campaign driven by local activists such as Sara Legvold, who has defended apartheid and reposted stories on social media from white supremacist site Stormfront.

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