GOP House nominee called Kwanzaa a fake holiday, made anti-Muslim statements

A Republican House candidate in New Jersey has a history of making racist and anti-Muslim comments, according to a new report by CNN.

The news outlet reported Friday that Seth Grossman, who is running to replace retiring Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R) in New Jersey’s 2nd Congressional District, has consistently made inflammatory comments about diversity and railed against African-Americans and Muslims on his Facebook page and blog. 

Among other remarks, Grossman shared a news story in April 2015 on his Facebook page about Muslim migrants throwing Christians overboard into the Mediterranean Sea from a migrant refugee raft. Grossman commented, “This is where ‘multi-culturalism’ and ‘diversity’ has taken us.”

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Grossman has also called Kwanzaa a “phony holiday,” said Muslims are unable to be good Americans, and argued that gay men with HIV should have been quarantined in the 1980s.

“Over the years, I often made provocative statements for the purpose of provoking interest and open discussion on vitally important issues I believed were being ignored,” Grossman told CNN in an email. “Although some of the statements in your email below include some generalizations and remarks that may be offensive to some, I believe they were necessary to bring attention to important issues. I also believe them to be substantially true.”

Grossman drew widespread criticism earlier this month after video revealed that he called diversity a “bunch of crap” and an “un-American idea” during a GOP campaign forum. 

Diversity, he said, is “an excuse by Democrats, communists and socialists, basically, to say that we’re not all created equal, that if some people or somebody is less qualified, they will get a job anyway or they’ll get into college anyway because of what group or what box they fit into.”

CNN noted that Grossman, a vocal supporter of President Trump’s, received an endorsement from the National Republican Congressional Committee after he won his primary earlier this month. 

Grossman faces state Sen. Jeff Van Drew (D) in a district that is considered likely to flip from Republican to Democrat this year.