Ohio gubernatorial candidate Casey Putsch, a political outsider whose campaign included antisemitic dogwhistles and multiple allusions to Adolf Hitler, won 150,000 votes in the US Republican primary despite losing the race.

Vivek Ramaswamy, the former presidential candidate who had US President Donald Trump’s backing, prevailed with 82.5 percent of the vote, while Putsch won 17.5%.

Putsch, an automotive engineer who calls himself “The Car Guy,” made headlines during his campaign when he advertised an upcoming “beer hall rally,” which, combined with his last name, evokes the name of the “beer hall putsch,” a failed coup attempt led by Adolf Hitler. He had also made a YouTube video in which he asked the artificial intelligence tool Grok to name Hitler’s “good” qualities.

Putsch was initially endorsed by the Anti-Zionist America PAC, or AZAPAC, a group founded last year with the aim to “de-Zionize” the American government and end military aid to Israel. Multiple AZAPAC-endorsed politicians falsely believe that Jews were responsible for the 9/11 terror attacks and that Israel was behind the assassination........

© The Times of Israel