GOP Senate Candidate Wants You To Know A Swastika Is Now ‘Clearly An Anti-Mandatory Vaccination Graphic’

“What a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.” — Proverb

“A rose by any other name still smells as sweet.” — Shakespeare

Politics has always had a smoke and mirrors facet to it, no question, but prior to the era of Donald Trump nobody had flat out lied to peoples’ faces and gotten away with it — much less gained a reputation for “telling it like it is.” We do live in peculiar times. That said, the thought that anybody and I mean anybody would try to portray a swastika as something other than a swastika was an unthinkable, beyond hubris kind of an act. Until today. Bess Levin, Vanity Fair:

But today, one not only did so, but acted deeply insulted that anyone would suggest otherwise. Per the Daily Beast:

Former NFL player Herschel Walker, who is running as a Republican for the U.S. Senate in Georgia, canceled a weekend fundraiser Wednesday after one of the hosts used a swastika comprised of syringes as her Twitter profile picture. Walker’s team had initially defended the woman, film and television producer Bettina Viviano-Langlais, when an Atlanta Journal-Constitution columnist pointed the image out. “This is clearly an anti-mandatory vaccination graphic,” a spokesman for Walker said. “Herschel unequivocally opposes anti-semitism and bigotry of all kinds.”

The “clearly” here is truly the most hilarious part of the statement, when “clearly,” the image in question is of the Nazi insignia, albeit one composed, bizarrely, of syringes.

Democrats and other groups who think antisemitism is actually a bad thing reacted with horror to the image and Walker’s response, with the Jewish Democratic Council of America saying the proud display was “absolutely vile.” The Jewish Democratic Women’s Salon called it “beyond unacceptable” and added, a “swastika is a swastika.” 

Walker is one of four Republicans hoping to challenge Senator Raphael Warnock next year; he was enthusiastically endorsed by Trump last month. According to CNN, a Texas woman told police in 2002 that Walker had threatened and stalked her, and that at least two other women, including Walker’s ex-wife and ex-girlfriend, have accused him of making threats, telling authorities he said he would shoot them in the face. In other words, you can see why Trump likes the guy. (Walker‘s campaign declined to respond to the 2002 allegations, citing his past struggles with mental health. In a statement, a spokesperson for Walker said, “It is sad that many in politics and the media who praised Herschel for his transparency over a decade ago are now making false statements, stereotyping, attacking, and attempting to sensationalize his past just because he is a Republican Senate candidate.”)

Hours after defending the syringe swastika, Walker canceled the fundraiser with Viviano-Langlais, with his campaign saying, “Despite the fact that the apparent intent behind the graphic was to condemn government vaccine mandates, the symbol used is very offensive and does not reflect the values of Herschel Walker or his campaign.” In a video posted Wednesday, Viviano-Langlais claimed she was forced to remove the symbol “because of the left’s need to silence free speech” and said she hadn’t intended to be antisemitic. “It was a pic showing what happens when fascists demand people insert foreign material into their body they don’t want,” she said. 

Now when your head stops spinning on your shoulders like Beetlejuice, let us review this situation calmly:

1. The GOP is running a candidate for Senate who’s got a history of abusing and assaulting women. So?
2. Said candidate supposedly reviles bigotry of all kinds, so we should take his word for it.
3. He has in his camp a woman who sees fit to use a swastika in her profile pic, and the fact that the swastika is composed of syringes is supposed to make it totally cool.
4. Would it be in poor taste to ask if a swastika composed of dead bodies, for example, would also qualify as a non-swastika and be accepted as an image of, oh, let’s say anorexia?

You are judged by the company you keep and Walker is hanging with the worst. You can make a swastika out of bows and print it in pink, it’s still a symbol of evil. In Germany it’s not protected by free speech laws. Use of the symbol results in a fine and/or prosecution.

In any sane world, which this one is not, a candidate would do well to drop out of the race after an egregious faux pas like this. Let’s see what happens next. The next sound you hear will be the other shoe dropping.