Simon Says, January 15, 2021

On January 6, 2021, a mob stormed the capital building ostensibly to support President Trump’s allegation that he won the election and the eventual result reflected many species of fraud. One of rioters wore a T-shirt that read, “Camp Auschwitz” and the slogan “Works brings freedom.” Reasonable people can support Trump, and reasonable people can support Biden, but why does antisemitism rear its ugly head sometimes when politicians and their supporters speak? 

Representative Mary Miller, a newly-sworn member of Congress, said last week, “Hitler was right on one thing. He said, ‘Whoever has the youth has the future.'”  She was roundly condemned by official of both parties, but who thinks it is good to cite Hitler?

You may remember in 2019 Democratic Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar said some things that were interpreted by many people (I was among them) as antisemitic slurs.  However, their comments were not about the Auschwitz, Hitler. or the Holocaust.

Today, we need to be alert, because the antisemites are growing bolder.  Maybe, in the future the Justice Department will rank the domestic, white-nationalist groups as high as foreign terrorist groups.  I am not a shill for the Anti-defamation League, but it is important that we support them.  We must stick together, regardless of our politics.  Together, we can eliminate danger.