Nazi Apologists and Klan Support: The New Normal for this GOP

So, this is where we are:

This week, Rep. Steve King issued a confounding Tweet in which he shared a comic–from a European source widely recognized as racist– and said that we “can’t restore our civilization with someone else’s babies!” (Meaning, stop letting all these immigrants and Muslims into our country). For this sentiment, he was congratulated by David Duke, the same former KKK leader who publicly endorsed Donald Trump in the campaign (and whose support, for the record, Trump never rejected with much conviction).

Oh and also–also–King says the “blacks and hispanics” will fight each other before taking overtaking the whites. And said some cryptic thing about “their” plans to make whites a minority.

I am not f’ing making this up.

And then, because this week in the headlines is not bizarre enough, Senator Steve Fitzgerald (thanks, Kansas) made this absurd remark about how Planned Parenthood is like a Nazi concentration camp. When given the chance to backpedal or apologize for making such an outlandish statement, he dug his heels in further. Yep. Concentration camp. He stands by that. “The Nazis ought to be incensed by the comparison,” he said. He went on to say that “at least the Nazis had the good grace to call [the Jews] ‘less than human.’ These people (Planned Parenthood) admit that the victims are human and, so what? They kill them anyway.”

I find it deeply troubling that anyone could say “at least” and “Nazis” in the same sentence. Not to mention “good grace.” This is a pretty chummy attitude towards the horrors of fascism. Much like the tone that Trump takes with regard to Putin. What, he’s a great guy! You think we’re so innocent?? That kind of thing.

It is getting darker and weirder around here by the minute.

Meanwhile, with his remarks, Fitzgerald effectively denigrated both women AND Jewish people in a single breath. That takes some doing. That’s what I would call artfully insensitive. He ignores the valuable services provided by Planned Parenthood to women–many of whom don’t otherwise have access to care. And he simultaneously made light of the slaughter of millions of Jews during the Holocaust. But “at least their sub-human state was acknowledged first.” ???

With the recent acts of violence and aggression towards Jewish people in our own communities–from desecrated cemeteries to bomb threats at Jewish activity centers–this is not the time to be making blithely offhand comments about how maybe the Nazis weren’t such bad guys after all.

Whatever your personal views on abortion, it is a deeply complex and painful issue. One that we are going to have to learn to talk about with much more compassion and nuance if we want to effectively address the human costs. Fitzgerald’s attitude, on the other hand, mirrors that of the hecklers who gather outside the doors of PP, slinging shame and physical threats at the women and caregivers who enter. It is dangerous and irresponsible for an elected official to take that same tone in public discourse.

What these two guys have in common–other than that they both chose the same week to give their spokespeople an epic workout–is that they reveal an ominous truth about the state of our national psyche.

And the appalling things that powerful people can get away with saying in public these days.

You can say it’s always been there… You can say this is nothing new, this animosity towards women, Jews, Muslims and people of color. But until recently, these kinds of things just were not SAID in polite company. This was the stuff of back rooms and the dark web. These were the cockroaches, relegated to the underbelly of society where they belonged. But now, they’ve been called to the forefront. The Nazi sympathizers and the friends of the KKK. In Trump’s America, it is their time to shine. They’re bringing back overt racism and sexism and antisemitism, in ways that many saw coming in last year’s campaign climate. Well now it’s here. These guys are not your crazy drunk uncle or that weird recluse neighbor you avoid. These are elected officials of the United States. Right out there in the daylight.

I still believe in my heart that most Republicans are not about this. Not the ones I know, anyway. But, have mercy, how can you let these people speak for you? How can you let them lead in your districts, your states, the hometowns that you love?

All in all, just another day in the news. At least, how the news has gone lately. But whatever sick club these guys are forming, it should have no voice in our government. And this new normal is anything but normal.