Paul Joseph Tinkle told Blaze News he has been a shoe-leather Republican campaigner in Indiana since he was a teenager. His activism ended with him working as an operative for the Indiana Republican Party. He was unceremoniously fired on Tuesday after making the “OK” sign in a picture, he claims.
Tinkle spoke exclusively to Blaze News on the events surrounding his firing, the behind-the-scenes operatives seemingly stirring up hysteria, and what it means for the party moving forward.
‘Indiana is a place that a lot of people are worried is trending purple, and it’s the liberal Republicans … that are making us go purple.’
The trouble started for Tinkle after a social media group picture was published on Sunday morning, Tinkle told Blaze Media. In that photo he is seen making the “OK” sign.
“That Sunday morning, I received texts from a couple of different people in this program — supervisors in this [Indiana GOP] program,” Tinkle told Blaze News.
“One of them showed me a text that had been sent to them by someone in Hamilton County,” Tinkle said. “And they just asked, ‘Well, explain yourself. Like, what’s going on here?'”
“I explained over text,” Tinkle told Blaze News. “I didn’t get an in-person meeting or anything.”
In between Tinkle’s stints working on Republican campaigns and for the Indiana state GOP, the 27-year-old told Blaze News he spent three years with the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program, working as an educator in Japan. The program is sponsored by Japan’s government.
As evidenced by photos posted by Tinkle on X, the “OK” symbol is a common hand gesture in Japan when taking photographs.
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Paul Joseph Tinkle/X; used with permission
Regarding the texts Tinkle claims referred to “Hamilton County,” the chair of that county’s GOP, Mario Massillamany, denied playing a role in Tinkle’s firing. He told Blaze News that he informed the Indiana state GOP of concerns raised by anonymous individuals and removed the photo out of an “abundance of caution.”
“I was not instrumental in getting him fired,” Massillamany told Blaze News. “I have had nothing to do with firing him.”
Massillamany also insisted, “I did not know what his sign was.”
Tinkle offered Blaze News a different version of events.
“I was told Mario’s really angry. He’s reached out to people [at] the top of the party,” Tinkle said. “I didn’t get to explain to anybody in person. I didn’t get to talk to Mario. I didn’t get to talk to the Republican chair.”
Blaze News also reviewed a text sent to Tinkle by a state GOP “supervisor” Tinkle declined to name. The text appeared to support at least some of Tinkle’s claims.
“Mario thinks you dropped a white power symbol and no one will be able to convince him otherwise,” the supervisor told Tinkle just prior to his termination, one text showed.
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Courtesy of Paul Joseph Tinkle; used with permission
Two sources familiar with the Hamilton County GOP confirmed Tinkle’s account and further told Blaze News that it fits a pattern of anti-whiteness by Massillamany.
Massillamany has ruffled feathers with loyal Republicans lately.
Massillamany previously told Larry Lannon in an interview that diversity and female candidates were essential to his political philosophy. He described his approach as “getting more people from diverse communities” to run for office in Hamilton County.
In that interview, Massillamany also described criticism levied at Secretary of State Diego Morales as racist.
“I think that some of the attacks that he’s received would not have been received if he were the prototypical white male from Indiana, but he’s a short Hispanic from Guatemala that has a thick accent,” Massillamany told Lannon.
“He’s got a bigger target on him.”
When Blaze News attempted to ask Massillamany about his views on DEI and diversity, he hung up the phone.
Massillamany also publicly distanced the county party from Save Heritage Indiana in July, an anti-mass-migration group that held a rally on Aug. 1 in Fishers featuring Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith.
“Save Heritage Indiana is not affiliated with the Hamilton County Republican Party,” Massillamany told the Indiana Citizen. “I had not heard of the organization or of Nathan Roberts or of Daniel Poynter prior to this inquiry, and neither has attended or participated in any Hamilton County GOP event.”
The group’s website lists state Rep. Chris Jeter (R), who represents House District 88, among its endorsers. Jeter is a founding partner of Massillamany’s own Fishers law firm, Massillamany Jeter & Carson.
In firing Tinkle, the Indiana state GOP may have lost one of its most loyal operators.
“I have worked in Republican Party politics since before I could even vote,” Tinkle told Blaze News. “Maybe they think I’m a young infiltrator or something, but it’s quite the opposite.”
“When I was 16 in 2016, I worked the primary election, because you can do it at 16,” Tinkle said. “I remember all the way back then. I love Trump.”
Tinkle told Blaze News that Republicans like Massillamany are endangering the party’s future in Indiana.
“Indiana is a place that a lot of people are worried is trending purple, and it’s the liberal Republicans that are making us go purple.”
The Indiana state GOP did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
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Fired, Hysteria, Japan, Secretary of state, Trump, Politics
