On Meet the Press this morning, quite a bit of time was given to the fact that the White House had put out a statement yesterday, on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, that did not reference either anti-Semitism or the fact that some 6 million Jews died at the hands of the Nazis, choosing instead to focus on “all” the “innocent people” who suffered during that period of history.
Former Vice Presidential candidate Tim Kaine, who was a guest on the program, said that the oversight was “not a coincidence.” “I think all of these things are happening together,” Kaine said, “When you have the chief political adviser in the White House, Steve Bannon, who is connected with a news organisation that traffics in white supremacy and anti-Semitism, and they put out a Holocaust statement that omits any mention of Jews.”
When asked whether he regretted the fact that the Jews weren’t mention in the statement, Reince Priebus, President Trump’s chief of staff, told Meet the Press host Chuck Todd, “I don’t regret the words.” Priebus went on to say, “I mean, everyone’s suffering in the Holocaust, including, obviously, all of the Jewish people.”
Kaine, who spoke after Priebus, broached the subject of Holocaust denial. “Many Holocaust deniers acknowledge, ‘Oh, yeah, people were killed. But it was a lot of innocent people. Jews weren’t targeted.’”
I certainly don’t know what the Trump administration had in mind when they made the decision not to note the fact that 6 million Jews died during the Holocaust. I suspect, however, that Kaine is likely onto something when he says that it must have been deliberate, as they have access to the statements from previous administrations, all of which mention the Jews. And it could well have been the decision of Trump’s chief strategist Steve Bannon, who, according to many, including his ex-wife, is an anti-Semite… Regardless of who is responsible, though, it looks bad for the administration, especially on a day when everyone is talking about their campaign of “malevolence” toward Muslims.
Given everything going on in the country right now, I probably wouldn’t have even mentioned this on the site, if not for the fact that Reince Priebus made a very unfortunate choice of words when acknowledging how terrible the Holocaust was. “If we could wipe it off the history books, we could, but we can’t,” he said. If you watch the video, you can see Chuck Todd visibly wince in response to the comment, which comes across like the honest confession of a Holocaust denier. For what it’s worth, I think it’s pretty clear that’s not what Priebus meant. He clearly meant to convey that he wished the Holocaust had never happened. That’s now what he said, though. He didn’t say, “If we could change history, we’d make sure the Holocaust never happened, but we can’t.” No, he said that, if they could, they’d wipe the Holocaust from the history books. Again, I’m not suggesting that it was anything more than an unfortunate slip, but it sent a shiver down my spine when I heard it, and I felt compelled share it here, for fear that, otherwise, the moment would be lost forever.
Here’s the video. Jump to the 11:25 mark.
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People magazine:
Read more:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/white-house-says-deliberately-omitted-194423484.html
en TV veritas
From The Advocate: “Trump Invokes ‘All Lives Matter’ Logic to Erase Jews from Holocaust”
http://www.advocate.com/politics/2017/1/28/trump-invokes-all-lives-matter-logic-erase-jews-holocaust
Are you sure he didn’t mean it that way?? I’m not so sure.
I take him at his word. He’s repeating what he’s heard behind closed doors. Bannon is evil incarnate.
I don’t understand how they can feed anti-semites on the right wing while at the same time court/cozy up to Israel. Aren’t they playing with a powder keg? Then again, maybe they’re just juggling with lots of explosives and not so concerned with the casualties.
Do you not understand the requisite events for the rapture?
Sometimes “Freudian Slip” sounds insufficiently Germanic.
SEAN SPICER DENIES HITLER GASSED JEWS DURING THE HOLOCAUST. MR. PRESIDENT, FIRE SEAN SPICER NOW.
In his afternoon press briefing, Sean Spicer invoked Adolf Hitler in describing Syrian President Assad. Spicer said “Even Hitler didn’t sink to using chemical weapons.” Reaction of Steven Goldstein, Executive Director of the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect: “On Passover no less, Sean Spicer has engaged in Holocaust denial, the most offensive form of fake news imaginable, by denying Hitler gassed millions of Jews to death. Spicer’s statement is the most evil slur upon a group of people we have ever heard from a White House press secretary. Sean Spicer now lacks the integrity to serve as White House press secretary, and President Trump must fire him at once.”