Waterville Mayor Nick Isgro has a long history of racist, misogynist and bigoted statements

Nick Isgro, the Mayor of Waterville, is under fire today for a comment he appears to have made on Twitter telling school shooting survivor David Hogg to “Eat it.” The tweet was apparently deleted, but Isgro hasn’t denied he wrote the tweet, nor has he apologized for his remark.

The statement certainly isn’t out of character for the conservative politician, who has somehow become a rising star in Maine Republican politics despite a near-daily output of caustic, extreme comments. Isgro routinely attacks and spreads false conspiracy theories about immigrants, Muslims and his political opponents and his statements have gone far beyond what is usually acceptable political discourse, even in the era of Governor Paul LePage and President Donald Trump.

I’m surprised it has taken this long for him to be called out.

Free Press reporter Andy O’Brien, who has been tracking the online activities of extreme-right and neo-Nazi figures in Maine, has shared screenshots of some of Isgro’s previous statements on Twitter and Facebook. Here are a few of the many lowlights:

During the Alabama Senate election last year, Isgro defended accused child molester Roy Moore, calling his detractors “cuckolded.”

Isgro has often used that favorite epithet of the alt-right, including recently when he called anti-sexual harassment legislation “cucked shit.”

Isgro often rants against public education and has claimed Democrats “want total control of your child’s mind.”

Most of Isgro’s most abusive rhetoric, however, is reserved for immigrants, especially Muslims and Somalis. His feeds are chock full of diatribes about “third-world hordes” and “the refugee racket” and he often uses social media to spread false stories from some of the darkest corners of the internet. He has shared posts from “Pizzagate” conspiracy theorist Mike Cernovich multiple times and regularly shares false, Islamaphobic stories from nationalist websites in Europe.

Some of Isgro’s favorite content is exaggerated or sensationalist claims about crimes committed by immigrants (immigrants actually commit fewer crimes than the rest of the population) and imagined assaults on “Western culture” (for example, falsely claiming that an Italian town removed its Christmas decorations to placate Muslims).

His attacks often have a religious bent (He once accused the Obamas of installing “pagan and demonic idols” at the White House) and, despite being a Catholic, he regularly attacks Pope Francis, who he says is “not a Catholic,” is “constantly waging war on his own religion” and has accused of “blasphemy.”

Isgro occasionally trains his fire on members of his own party, including Senator Susan Collins, who he has called a “swamp monster” and a “hack liberal who has used the GOP for decades to gain power.”

None of these examples are outliers. You can find dozens more with a quick scan of his social media accounts. Despite this openness about his views and willingness to publicly promote false conspiracy theories (or perhaps because of it), Isgro has become an influential Republican leader in Maine. In 2016 he led the charge on conservative campaigns against the minimum wage and education funding referendums and he flirted with a gubernatorial run last year.

Governor LePage recently appointed him to the Maine Commission for Community Service and last September the Maine Republican party sent a 10-minute-long video lauding Isgro to their entire email list. Isgro is a frequent contributor to the Maine Heritage Policy Center’s Maine Wire website.

Party officials have refused to comment on Isgro’s latest statement, with Maine GOP executive director Jason Savage (who himself was recently revealed as the anonymous author of some of the false stories Isgro has spread) calling the controversy a “political disagreement” and “not something we can get in the middle of.”

Last November Maine GOP chair Demi Kouzounas celebrated Isgro’s re-election, calling him a “fantastic mayor.”

Isgro official photo, via Twitter.