Conservative consulting group rebrands with new name after leader met with white supremacist Nick Fuentes

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Two months after its leader was caught hosting white supremacist Nick Fuentes, a prominent consulting firm for far-right candidates and groups is operating under a new name.

In a Nov. 13 filing with the Texas Secretary of State, an attorney for Pale Horse Strategies LLC wrote that the firm would also conduct future business under the name “West Fort Worth Management LLC.”

The firm is owned by former state Rep. Jonathan Stickland, and is heavily involved in right-wing politics in Texas.

Pale Horse Strategies has already used the new name to recruit for job openings on a website for right-wing groups, advertising for copywriter and event coordinator positions. The summary for one of the jobs initially included the name “Pale Horse Strategies” and invited potential candidates to apply if they “would be a good fit for this position at PHS.” The references to Pale Horse Strategies were removed Thursday afternoon, after the Tribune reported on the firm's new name and job posting.

A representative for Pale Horse Strategies could not be immediately reached for comment on Thursday.

The move comes as Pale Horse Strategies and Stickland remain at the center of a firestorm over the firm’s relationship with Fuentes and other antisemitic figures.

Fuentes is a prominent and avowed admirer of Adolf Hitler who has called for a “holy war” against Jews; questioned if the Holocaust happened and compared its 6 million victims to cookies being baked in an oven; encouraged his followers to beat women; and fantasized about marrying a 16-year-old when he is 30 because that’s “right when the milk is good.”

"All I want is revenge against my enemies and a total Aryan victory,” Fuentes said last year.

In October, The Texas Tribune published photos of Fuentes leaving the Tarrant County offices of Pale Horse Strategies after spending nearly seven hours there. Stickland was at the time also the leader of Defend Texas Liberty, a political action committee that two West Texas oil billionaires have used to donate nearly $15 million to Texas Republicans — including Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Attorney General Ken Paxton.

In response to the Fuentes scandal — as well as subsequent Tribune reporting that uncovered deeper ties between Defend Texas Liberty and other extreme or antisemitic figures — some Republicans have called for the party to cut ties with Defend Texas Liberty and its auxiliary groups, including Pale Horse, until Stickland was removed from any position of power and a full explanation of the meeting was given.

In October, Defend Texas Liberty issued a two-sentence statement condemning Fuentes’ “incendiary” views and quietly updated its website to reflect that Stickland is no longer its president. Tim Dunn, one of the two billionaires who primarily fund Defend Texas Liberty, also called the meeting a “blunder,” according to a statement from Patrick.

But Defend Texas Liberty and Pale Horse have otherwise remained silent about the scandals, even as others in the Texas GOP call for more to be done to oust white supremacists and other antisemitic figures from the party’s ranks. Earlier this month, nearly half of the Texas GOP’s executive committee voted to ban the party from associating with individuals or groups “known to espouse or tolerate antisemitism, pro-Nazi sympathies or Holocaust denial.”

The measure was defeated in a 32-29 vote, however, with some opponents worrying that such a ban would be a “slippery slope” and cause problems for the party moving forward.