President Donald Trump’s pick for a top post at the United Nations repeatedly praised far-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos and shared disparaging memes about prominent Democrats and progressives on social media.
Patrick Murray, a former Army officer and two-time congressional candidate, was nominated by Trump in May to be the alternate representative for special political affairs to the United Nations. Murray’s nomination was approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in August and he awaits full Senate confirmation.
If confirmed, Murray would serve under Ambassador Nikki Haley in representing US interests at the United Nations and would act as a fill-in for Haley in representing the US to the United Nations General Assembly when she is unavailable.
Murray has used his publicly visible Facebook account, which was linked on his now-defunct personal website, over the years to promote media appearances and share his thoughts on politics.
Murray did not return request for comment. The State Department declined to comment.
On Facebook, Murray praised Yiannopoulos multiple times in 2016, writing comments of approval like “Milo rocks,” “preach, Milo!,” and “clone this guy” while sharing videos of Yiannopoulos denouncing campus safe spaces, arguing that Britain should leave the European Union to stop Muslim immigration and talking about the 2016 presidential election.
In one of the articles shared by Murray, Yiannopoulos writes about a plan Trump proposed to screen incoming immigrants for their “commitment to Western values,” saying, “The test will apply to all immigrants, yet its obvious target is Muslims, who, as we know, get a bit bomby in the presence of gays, a bit rapey in the presence of women who wear skirts shorter than their ankles and generally a bit hostile and violent around anyone who doesn’t have their bum in the air five times a day.”
In one post, Murray defended Yiannopoulos after he was banned from Twitter for harassing Saturday Night Live performer and Ghostbusters actress Leslie Jones with a barrage of offensive tweets. Yiannopoulos had written a review of Ghostbusters that was seen as inciting harassment against Jones, in which he wrote that the move was “full of female characters that are simply stand-ins for men plus a black character worthy of a minstrel show.”
“Here’s another Milo Moment,” wrote Murray, linking to an interview with CNN where Yiannopoulos said he would continue to be as offensive as possible. “Who thinks he would be slapped with a permanent Twitter ban if he was a gay liberal instead of a gay conservative?’
In other posts on Facebook in 2015 and 2016, Murray shared the kind of provocative political memes that were popular among supporters of Trump during the election. Murray shared an image defending rancher Cliven Bundy, who was jailed and is awaiting trial for his role in the 2014 Bundy standoff against the federal government, and blasting Rev. Al Sharpton as a “life-long race baiter.”
In another post, Murray shared an image that suggested being a Democrat was a “mental illness.” In another post he called former President Bill Clinton the “the renowned cigar inserter,” shared a macro-image of Bill looking at Hillary Clinton with the text overlay, “when you’re in prison I’m free to date,” and picture of Bill Clinton smiling with the text, “is Bruce Jenner a woman yet.”
Murray added his own caption, “Hey Kaitlyn (sic), you make my knees wobble!”
In another post, Murray attempted to differentiate between liberals and conservatives. On a picture of a CVS being looted in the aftermath of an officer’s acquittal in the shooting Freddie Gray, the text read, “liberal land of the free.” An image of transitioning Caitlyn Jenner read “liberal home of the brave.”
In July of 2016, Murray shared an image on Facebook of a riot with buildings burning. Overlaying the image was a picture of former President Barack Obama and Sharpton shaking hands, with text that read, “Teamwork, it’s amazing what you can accomplish when you work together.” Murray captioned the post with his own text — “Barack set out to ‘fundamentally transform the United States of America.’ And did he ever. How’s that working for you?”
Murray also shared another image of riots in aftermath of the Gray verdict, with a photo of actor James Woods saying situations in Baltimore, Detroit, and Chicago were the result of voting for Democrats.
“I’m sensing some micro aggression out there,” wrote Murray.
Murray also shared his opinions about prominent Democratic politicians on his Facebook page. In one post, he called Hillary Clinton “decrepit” and in another called Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine “pasty liberal pajama boy male.” He also called Obama “a manchild.”