Rep. Steve Scalise was confronted by members of the Jewish-led activist group IfNotNow on Monday demanding the Louisiana Republican condemn what the demonstrators described as a pattern of racist and anti-Semitic comments from GOP leadership in recent years.
Ezra Oliff-Lieberman and fellow Louisiana-based IfNotNow activist Elias Newman confronted Scalise, who once referred to himself as “David Duke without the baggage,” at an event in Mandeville. The congressman deflected questions about President Donald Trump’s comments that Jews who do not support the state of Israel are “disloyal” and general anti-Semitic and anti-immigrant statements from a variety of party leaders.
“Donald Trump calls me a disloyal Jew and you say nothing,” said Newman. “You stay silent. It’s a trope that literally sent my grandfather to Auschwitz, Jews being called disloyal in Germany.”
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Scalise, in response, said that “the facts disagree” and pivoted to attacking Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), who was relentlessly pilloried earlier this year for tweets questioning the political influence of AIPAC on lawmakers. Scalise also appeared to suggest that Newman should condemn anti-Semitism, a suggestion that was met with incredulity by online observers, including Never Action Action’s Sophie Ellman-Golan, who called it one of the “wildest things” in the exchange.
Observers also noted that Scalise’s use of Israel as a deflection from Republican anti-Semitism didn’t work for the congressman.
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