Brett Talley, Donald Trump’s 36-year-old nominee to a federal district court in Alabama, appears to have blogged prolifically on the message board TideFans.com. As BuzzFeed has reported, Talley seems to have written about sports, politics, and law under the username BamainBoston, posting more than 3½ times per day. He did not disclose these writings to the Senate Judiciary Committee. BamainBoston defended “the first KKK,” attacked Roe v. Wade, and wrote approvingly of sex between a 20-year-old woman and a 14-year-old boy. He also warned that a disproportionate number of Muslims are terrorists and aligned himself with Trump’s views on Islam.
In December 2015, a TideFans.com user posted an article about a pig’s head thrown at the door of a Philadelphia mosque. The conversation quickly descended into Islamophobia; another user wrote, “I would hang him/her in the doorway of the nearest Mosque. That way, every Muslim who comes to pray will see what happens to those who attack and maim/kill innocent civilians.” Someone else then retorted: “We going to be doing this to all terrorists or is it limited to Muslims?” At that point, BamainBoston jumped in:
There’s no comparison between Christians and Muslims when it comes to terrorism. There’s just not. There are terrorists who are Christians, but there is no organized Christian terrorist movement. Today, in countries around the world, the mainstream, dominant sect of Islam preaches the worldwide caliphate and the murder of nonbelievers. Doesn’t mean we should be throwing pigs heads on Mosques, but we should recognize that this is not a lone-wolf issue.
A few months later, in March 2016, BamainBoston weighed in on a discussion over whether Trump could actually “win the presidency.” Explaining “Trump’s appeal,” BamainBoston wrote: “he says what everyone is thinking about Islam but doesn’t want to say.” Weeks earlier, Trump had stated: “I think Islam hates us. … There’s a tremendous hatred. We have to get to the bottom of it. There’s an unbelievable hatred of us.”
If confirmed, Talley will likely hear cases involving Islamophobic discrimination and religious freedom for Muslims. He will also routinely interact with Muslim attorneys, plaintiffs, and defendants, whom he is obligated to treat with neutrality and respect. These comments made by BamainBoston—who is almost certainly Talley—call into question his ability to rule impartially as his office requires.
Find anything noteworthy in BamainBoston’s message board posts? Email us at tips@slate.com.
See also:
Trump Judicial Nominee Brett Talley Appears to Have Defended “the First KKK” in Message Board Post
Trump Judicial Nominee Brett Talley Appears to Have Called Roe v. Wade “Indefensible”
Trump Nominee Brett Talley Appears to Support 20-Year-Old Woman Having Sex with 14-Year-Old Boy
