Scoop: Biggs left positive reviews of Islamophobic and anti-immigrant books
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U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs at a campaign rally in Goodyear on July 31. Photo: Zach Buchanan/Axios
A Goodreads account seeming to belong to GOP nominee for governor Rep. Andy Biggs left positive reviews for books that argue the growth of Muslim and Latin American populations threaten predominantly white Western societies.
Why it matters: The apparent endorsements of books promoting extreme anti-immigrant views come as Biggs — one of the most conservative members of Congress — seeks to project a more moderate image in his race to unseat Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs.
Following an inquiry from Axios, the Biggs campaign neither denied nor confirmed that the Goodreads account is his. The campaign didn't answer questions about the reviews and the books' arguments.
State of play: Biggs' account on the book-tracking site shows roughly 1,400 books he's logged, rated and reviewed since 2009.
- His profile — which follows an account appearing to belong to his daughter, Mylie — was still public as of Tuesday afternoon.
- Among his logged books are Mark Steyn's "America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It," and "¡Adios, America! The Left's Plan to Turn our Country into a Third World Hellhole," by Ann Coulter.
Zoom in: Steyn's 2006 book argues that declining birth rates among white people coupled with Muslim immigration and population growth would eradicate Western society, particularly in Europe.
- On its back cover, the book forecast "Talibanic" book burnings in New York and a U.S. Supreme Court endorsement of Sharia law.
- The progressive media watchdog organization Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) called the book "inarguably Islamophobic."
- Biggs, then a state legislator, logged the book on his account in 2009, giving it five stars and writing that "I can't really disagree with anything he says."
Biggs also gave five stars to Coulter's 2015 book, which some credit with inspiring President Trump's anti-immigrant platform in his original run for the White House.
- Coulter warned of a similar demographic shift from Latin American immigrants, about whom she made several sweeping derogatory claims.
- The book "is packed with statements about 'Latin American rape culture,'" The Atlantic wrote in 2016.
Context: The books echo elements of the "Great Replacement Theory," a far-right conspiracy theory that claims there's a plot to diminish the political influence of white people.
- Since Trump's political ascendancy, explicitly anti-immigrant views have become more mainstream in the Republican Party.
The intrigue: Biggs' Goodreads activity offers other glimpses of him.
- Biggs has logged plenty of politics- and history-focused books, but has also rated classic works like "Hamlet" (five stars) and several works of Plato (mostly two stars).
- "Further indicia that everyone involved in popular music are sleaze-balls," Biggs wrote in a review of "Shout!: The Beatles in Their Generation".
The bottom line: The anti-immigration book reviews could give Biggs' rivals more material to challenge his appeal among moderate voters, after primary opponents criticized him as too extreme.