Gab CEO Andrew Torba on Jews: We’re “done” being “told what we're allowed to do in our own country by a 2% minority”

Andrew Torba, Gab CEO and consultant to Republican Pennsylvania gubernatorial nominee Doug Mastriano, responded to criticism of Mastriano using his antisemitic platform by telling Jews that “we're not bending the knee to the 2% anymore.” He also said that people are “done” with them and they won’t be “told what we're allowed to do in our own country by a 2% minority.” 

Mastriano stated in a campaign filing for his Pennsylvania gubernatorial campaign that he paid $5,000 to far-right social media platform Gab for “consulting” services on April 28. HuffPost’s Christopher Mathias subsequently reported that the payment seems to be for new followers, as “every new account currently being created on Gab automatically follows Mastriano.” (Torba has denied this while Mastriano has responded by retweeting someone calling the strategy “creative campaigning.”) 

In a May interview with Torba, Mastriano told him: “Thank God for what you’ve done.” 

Gab caters to far-right extremists, including those who have been banned from other platforms. The site is filled with antisemites, white nationalists, and neo-Nazis. One of its users was the mass shooter who allegedly killed 11 people at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue in 2018.

Torba himself is antisemitic and has complained that “pagans, Jews, non-believers, atheists” have too much political power, which has purportedly led to destructive results. He has also explicitly said that he does not want Jews in his movement, stating last week: “We don't want people who are atheists. We don't want people who are Jewish. We don't want people who are, you know, nonbelievers, agnostic, whatever. This is an explicitly Christian movement because this is an explicitly Christian country.”

Media outlets and politicians have criticized Mastriano’s embrace of Gab, but he has continued to support the platform by posting there. He recently liked a tweet accusing his Democratic opponent Josh Shapiro of “‘shoving' his religion by playing the antisemitic card."

The Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt yesterday appeared on MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports and criticized Mastriano for his use of Gab. Torba responded to the ADL in a video posted yesterday by saying that he and his allies are taking back the country from Jews. 

“We're not going to listen to 2%. You represent 2% of the country, OK? We're not bending the knee to the 2% anymore.” He added that Christians are “done being controlled and being told what we're allowed to do in our own country by a 2% minority or by people who hate our biblical worldview, hate our Christ, hate our Lord and savior.” 

Video file

Citation From a July 26, 2022, video by Andrew Torba

ANDREW TORBA (GAB CEO): This is a Christian nation. Christians outnumber you by a lot. A lot. And we're not going to listen to 2%. You represent 2% of the country, OK? We're not bending the knee to the 2% anymore. The 98% of the rest of us — you know, 70, 75% of which are Christians, self-identifying Christians — we're not taking it anymore, bud. We are taking back our culture. We're taking back our country. We're taking back our government. So deal with it. 

You know, there's nothing you can do to stop us because what has been set into motion, it's snowballing now. Right? We have Marjorie Taylor Greene openly saying that she's a Christian nationalist. We have Matt Gaetz kind of flirting with it a little bit today with his tweet on Christian nationalism. You know, we have Paul Gosar. We have like people in Congress right now, members of Congress right now who are openly, openly saying that they're Christian nationalists. We have multiple candidates for governor who won their primaries in a landslide, are winning in the polling right now, and are going to win the governorships of multiple states who are Christian nationalists. 

We have officials not only at the state level, not only at the federal level, but also at the local level. People who are running for school boards — Christian nationalists who are running for school board and by Christian nationalists, I mean like concerned Christian parents who are done, who are done, done with this, done, done being controlled and being told what we're allowed to do in our own country by a 2% minority or by people who hate our biblical worldview, hate our Christ, hate our Lord and savior. Done. It's over. So you better deal with it. 

You can — you can demonize me individually. You can try and attack me. But guess what? You know, I am just one of hundreds of millions of Christians in this country, bud. So guess what? It's inevitable. Sorry.  

Mastriano is also a QAnon supporter and January 6 insurrectionist.

Correction (8/1/22): This post has been updated to correct the name of ADL's CEO and national director, Jonathan Greenblatt.