It takes a truly special effort to display the level of clueless insensitivity… hell, downright dumbassery shown (or rather not shown?) in his statement marking Holocaust Remembrance Day. Not a single mention of Jewish victims, who were after all the primary reason the whole ghastly event was conceived and carried out. Or the Nazi’s atrocities in creating an appallingly efficient infrastructure to murder all those millions of people. Vance avoided all that and issued the blandest statement possible. This is J.D. (Justa Dumbass) Vance we are talking about. Our Vice-President. A man who’s a heartbeat from the Presidency.
Let’s be clear. The omission of any mention of the attempt to exterminate Jews, or Nazi atrocities was NOT some ‘oops’ or ‘slip-up.’ It was intentional. Even in a WH as dysfunctional as this one someone in the small group in the communications office tasked with crafting the statement HAD to have said something like: ‘Hey. Shouldn’t we say something about Hitler wanting to exterminate the Jewish people? And shouldn’t we mention how awful the Nazis were?’ Surely at least one person said things along those lines. Only to get shot down, or worse such things were included in the draft given to Vance. And HE took a red pen and crossed that stuff out, and sent it back with a ‘try again’ note. In the end however the final statement issued that omitted any mention of Jews or Nazis was no freaking accident.
It was cold and calculated. Deliberate. So, it’s fair to ask WHY? This article from The Forward offers a quite plausible explanation. First let’s look at what the VP’s statement said:
“Today we remember the millions of lives lost during the Holocaust, the millions of stories of individual bravery and heroism, and one of the enduring lessons of one of the darkest chapters in human history: that while humans create beautiful things and are full of compassion, we’re also capable of unspeakable brutality,” Vance tweeted Tuesday. “And we promise never again to go down the darkest path.”
The post included pictures of the VP and his (for now) wife Usha visiting a Holocaust Memorial site last year. They visited Dachau. His message went over like a lead balloon drawing bi-partisan criticism on Capitol Hill. And far beyond. Keep in mind Vance and his top staff HAD to know the omissions would raise eyebrows. Actually it’s brought open criticism and condemnation. For example:
Tablet, the Jewish digital magazine that promotes conservative ideas but has drawn a line of skepticism around the vice president, swiftly criticized Vance’s comments.
“Thank you Mr. Vice President for this unique commemoration of the Holocaust that manages to avoid mentioning Jews or condemning Nazis,” the site’s Twitter account posted. The post was retweeted by Jews across the political spectrum, including pro-Palestinian activist and former Congressional candidate Cameron Kasky, and its sentiments were echoed by many other Jews.
Or this:
“It really takes effort on the part of Vice President Vance to issue a Holocaust Remembrance Day statement like this without any mention of six million Jews lost, the Jewish people, Nazis, or the issue of antisemitism,” Halie Soifer, CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, tweeted.
Ouch. You can read the linked article for more reaction. What matters is that the village idiot, even MAGAs would notice Vance said nothing about the attempt to wipe out Jewish people, or Nazi crimes against humanity. That again begs the question of why, knowing he’d piss off people who history shows us have been targeted over and over again, AND who are pretty organized politically? Could it be that Vance knows something about MAGA that we don’t? Maybe, just maybe he believes there’s a lot more antisemitism in this country – and that they will vote in droves for him/conservatives. Maybe Vance looked at some actual polling numbers, or just made a judgement on the political lay of the land:
American Jewish groups have anxiously parsed Vance’s approach to antisemitism over the last few months. The vice president has previously failed to condemn a college student’s antisemitic question; remains close with Tucker Carlson; and has said several times that antisemitism is not a problem in the conservative movement. “We have far more important work to do than canceling each other,” he said at a Turning Point USA conference in December.
The Tucker Carlson thing is interesting. Vance seems to really want to make sure he and Carlson are “bros” and since Peter Theil seems done with him J.D. might be hedging his bets. As heir to the Swanson Frozen Foods fortune Carlson could be a sugar daddy and set Vance up in high paying jobs like Theil did. At least until he (Carlson) to gets tired of subsidizing J.D.’s incompetence. Well, that’s speculation on my part.
What is not speculation is this: It seems increasingly clear that unlike others in this administration Vance seems to be continuing to stake out a course that differs from longstanding conservative orthodoxy when it comes to Jewish people and Israel. Either he knows something other leading conservatives don’t, or he’s digging himself one deep political hole. Time will tell.
Friends, I know everyone begs you for money. I promise, among all those asking for spare change, we are the smallest and the hardest working. We’re a group of old, disabled people, except for one writer in his mid-50s. The rest of us are in our sixties and seventies, and this is a labor of love. All we’re asking for is the chance to keep telling the truth about Trump and help ensure democracy survives. If you can help, please do. Thank you. Ursula
“And we promise never again to go down the darkest path.”
Except they are.
Hopefully “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN’ does not in any way, shape, or form, equate to a contemporary materialising of ‘ARBET MACHT FREI’ Pray it is not JDs endorsement of this, and any future, horrendous atrocity, to appease ‘Coppertone Caligula’ and others whose laps JD sits and sins on.