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October 29, 2018 01:23 PM UTC

Walker Stapleton. Anti-Semitism. Calling You Out.

  • 27 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

In the aftermath of Saturday’s deadly attack on a Jewish synagogue in Pittsburgh, capping a week of political violence that included a racially motivated shooting in Kentucky and pipe bombs mailed by a pro-Trump Floridian to numerous Democratic leaders and other critics of President Donald Trump, NBC News reported on an underlying spike in social media attacks on Jewish people in particular–using code language anyone who follows politics locally or nationally ought to recognize.

Separate researchers who were independently looking at [Instagram and Twitter] said attacks on Jewish people had spiked on both services ahead of the midterm elections on Nov. 6, similar to a rise in harassment before the 2016 presidential election.

Many but not all of the posts mention billionaire investor and philanthropist George Soros, the researchers said. Soros is frequently the subject of unfounded conspiracy theories, and his home was among the targets in a series of attempted bombings this month. [Pols emphasis]

Jonathan Albright, a researcher at Columbia University in New York who directs a center on digital forensics, told NBC News that the amount of anti-Semitic material posted to Instagram and tied to Soros was possibly the worst sample of hate speech he had seen on the site.

Billionaire investor George Soros has served as a boogeyman for the far right for many years, stemming from his support both for Democratic candidates and liberal nonprofit organizations working in support of a wide range of progressive agenda items. Colorado Republican gubernatorial candidate Walker Stapleton regularly invokes Soros as a villain on the campaign trail. In truth, conservative funders from Sheldon Adelson to the Koch Brothers spend vastly more on American politics than Soros–but Soros has been the subject of intense vilification because he was born in Europe, and perceived to be a corrupting foreign influence by the nativist right.

And of course, George Soros is Jewish.

RYAN WARNER: …Recently it was reported that Americans for Prosperity, a political advocacy group backed by the Koch brothers, will be investing in your campaign perhaps to the tune of as much as a million dollars. While it sounds like that money might be welcome when you look at what your opponent is spending, I wonder what kind of influence comes with a sizeable contribution like that.

WALKER STAPLETON: Probably the same kind of influence that comes from Good Jobs Colorado which is being backed by checks from George Soros, a wealthy international financier… [Pols emphasis]

Full stop. The term “wealthy international financier” has stood in for “Jew” among anti-Semitic bigots literally for centuries. Henry Ford’s infamous anti-Semitic book The International Jew was entirely based on the trope of wealthy Jews controlling the world through financial treachery and a lack of national loyalties, like its forged predecessor The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. In terms of identifying thinly-concealed prejudice against Jewish people, the phrase can be fairly considered a dead giveaway.

So the next logical question is, Did Walker Stapleton use these words by accident?

The answer: we don’t think so. And here’s why.

Stapleton was nominated for governor at the Republican State Assembly this year by former Congressman Tom Tancredo. Tancredo is a past board member of the openly racist organization VDARE, which had planned to host its annual conference in Colorado Springs but was turned away after negative press. Tancredo’s anger over the supposed bad treatment of VDARE led him to first consider a run for governor himself, then to endorse Stapleton once he was satisfied Stapleton took the “issue” seriously. If you go to VDARE’s website to read about Jewish people, this is the kind of thing you’ll find:

Jewish activity collectively, throughout history, is best understood as an elaborate and highly successful group competitive strategy directed against neighboring peoples and host societies. The objective has been control of economic resources and political power. One example: overwhelming Jewish support for non-traditional immigration, which has the effect of weakening America’s historic white majority. [Pols emphasis]

The individual in custody for the mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh entered the building screaming “All Jews Must Die,” and in his social media rantings before the attack peddled conspiracy theories that Jewish immigration groups were funding the “caravan” of asylum seekers slowly traveling north through Mexico toward the U.S. border. The attack in Pittsburgh on Saturday was a direct expression of the ideology promoted by VDARE as you can read above. The ideology of Tom Tancredo. The man who nominated Walker Stapleton.

The same Walker Stapleton now demonizing “wealthy international financier” George Soros.

Stapleton’s embrace of Tom Tancredo, like Donald Trump himself, was not an accident. Employing Tancredo to tacitly reassure far-right voters about Stapleton’s own views was not an accident.  The hatred being stirred up in order to turn out conservative votes across the nation and right here in Colorado, from fact-free conspiracy theories about “Soros funding the caravan” to Stapleton’s own ad campaigns vilifying so-called “sanctuary cities,” is not an accident. Based on these facts, we have absolutely no reason to believe that Stapleton’s choice of specific racist code words to describe Mr. Soros was an accident either.

At some point, you have to stop being polite and call this out for what it is.

After the deadliest hate crime against Jewish people in American history, the time has come.

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27 thoughts on “Walker Stapleton. Anti-Semitism. Calling You Out.”

    1. This is disgusting slander of the worst kind! TWO LAYERS of guilt by association required to turn Stapleton into an anti Semite. This is even worse than trying to blame Stapleton for his great grandfather's politics and everyone condemned you for that too Pols. Stapleton had NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING to do with this shooting and for you to claim he did is incredible. I hope Stapleton sues this blog into the ground for libel. You deserve it. I can't believe what I'm reading.

      And SOROS IS A VILLAIN. Read the truth about his family and the Holocaust. You're liars and hypocrites.

      Democrats are the most horrible people in the world. No one should ever vote for you. SCUM!!!!

      1. You're just jealous because we've all been cashing those Soros checks you've accused us of receiving, and you're not getting one!

        And what would the truth about Soros's family be, you anti-Semite supporting bigot?

      2. Coming from a guy who says he's 100% with a guy who stands with a fascist who is fine with committing violence against his enemies and then your friend the MAGA bomber tries to kill prominent Dems, you shouldn't be talking.

        That said, considering your lies have gone nowhere and your party looks like it's heading for a beat down, you seem to know it and you seem very angry.  So, seeing a post like this on Stapleton and his tacit support of white nationalism has you triggered.

        When you write your posts, I see you looking like this:

         

      3. And SOROS IS A VILLAIN. Read the truth about his family and the Holocaust. You're liars and hypocrites.

        George Soros is not a Nazi, explained

        Except Soros didn’t collaborate with the Nazis.

        While living with that Hungarian official — who did have the job of taking inventory at the homes of Jewish families whose possessions had been taken by the Nazi authorities — Soros accompanied him on one of those trips, to a mansion where Soros rode a horse for the first time.

        Even in that 60 Minutes interview that is pasted across the internet as conclusive evidence of Soros’s Nazi ties, Soros says that he was “only a spectator” to the confiscation of property (though he does say initially that he did help but seems confused by the question). As detailed in a biography of Soros by Michael Kaufman, his main job during his time in hiding was to pretend to the best of his ability to be a Christian teenage boy named Sandor Kiss.

        Only 6 to 11 percent of Europe’s prewar population of Jewish children survived the war. But because of Soros’s father’s efforts, both George and his brother, Paul, did.

      5. Hmm.  Horrible people we democrats?  Like the one that shot up the synagogue in Pittsburgh, or the one that mailed pipe bombs in a mass assassination attempt?  Sorry, but the data don't match your hypothesis.  Experiment failed, Moddy.  You are a deplorable, your president is, your party is, and our nation is going to hell because of it.  It is on you, your hatred, your paranoia, your inability to understand or relate to others not exactly like you.  You are worthless.  Truly

  4. "Soros is a villain." Gee, Moderatus, how so? Soros did not reach age 15 until three months after the war in the European theater ended in May, 1945. You're saying that a 14 year old kid, then, was a "villain?"

    I think you have some explaining to do, unless this is part of your usual hit & run tactics here.

  5. I was unaware of the slur  "wealthy international financier" and am shocked someone would use it after current events. What is the proper term to use? 

      1. That covers the wealthy portion of the description but leaves out the foreign and bankroller aspect of the notation and does not seem to describe the entire meaning of the term. I'm not much of a grammar scholar but I think "financier" is the noun in the term and "wealthy" and "international" are the adjective attributes.  

        Billionaire foreign bankroller?
        Affluent global tycoon?

         

          1. The master of deflection and obfuscation through inundation, our local gun lobbyist, Negev, strikes again. Sentence structure and the turn of a phrase changes reality to some folks .

            If you can design your word salad properly, you can change the subject and no one will notice.

            Call George Soros whatever you want…he is a wealthy man who supports causes in which he strongly believes. He is one of many who do so.

            If you support the Trumplican© party and the tyrant at its head, you are bringing fascism to America. Please have the courtesy to have the words on the plaque at the base of the Statue of Liberty changed. It should begin…"Give us you tired, your poor, your huddled masses, yearning to be incarcerated, separated from their families, and enslaved by the private prison industry."…" AND …" Don't you jews get too comfy either."

            That about sums up the Trump POV.  Amirite?

            Oh …I forgot to close with the new pledge of allegiance…
            Hail Victory!…America first!…( which translates to Seig Heil! Amerika uber Alles!

  6. I guess I'm curious if Stapleton has ever identified Sheldon Adelson as a "wealthy international financier." Or the Koch Brothers as "wealthy international industrialists." Or the Mercer Family as "wealthy international hedge fund financiers." Or the DeVos family as "wealthy international… " whatever they are.

    Stapleton is clearly evading the question with a "the other side does it too" response. As he does that, he certainly seems to be attacking the source of funds.

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