Bush’s press secretary gets torched for hypocrisy after crying he was “incensed” by Biden remarks
On Friday morning, conservatives howled with faux outrage after an exchange between presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden and radio host Charlamagne Tha God went viral on social media.
In the clip, Biden jokes that “if you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t Black,” which was quickly seized on by Trump’s team of breathtakingly hypocritical propagandists in a desperate effort to smear him and take the heat off of the most racist president in American history.
Former Bush toady and FOX News contributor Ari Fleischer declared that he was “incensed” about this because he was a minority within a minority as a Jewish person and declared that he would be offended if someone told him that he wasn’t Jewish because of his politics.
I'm incensed about this because politically speaking, I'm a minority within a minority. As a Jewish Republican, if someone told me I'm not Jewish because of my politics, it would be offensive. It's contrary to individualism and it's disdainful of idelogical diversity. https://t.co/v1zEGOixCl
— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) May 22, 2020
But the hollow opportunism of his bad-faith pearl-clutching was quickly thrown back in Fleischer’s face by prominent social media commentators, who were not about to forget that President Trump literally said that Jews who vote for Democrats are “disloyal to the Jewish people and “disloyal to Israel.”
I’m so happy to hear you say that Ari. Not often that you admit you are incensed by one of Trumps comments. https://t.co/cFmrRXW8rM pic.twitter.com/pjcdJ9lue6
— Tim Miller (@Timodc) May 22, 2020
Jewish conservatives tell us liberals we're not really Jewish all the fucking time. Ben Shapiro has practically made a career out of it. pic.twitter.com/mVkF6qW25R
— Gary Legum (@GaryLegum) May 22, 2020
So much this! This is why conservatives are always so circumspect about making sure never to imply that some Jews are less Jewish than others simply because they oppose some policy, or a broad obvious trend in one party, or any one particular occupation. https://t.co/G5VSvOkWa7
— David Roth (@david_j_roth) May 22, 2020
President Trump has spent his entire presidency blowing racist dog whistles for his white supremacist supporters, openly pursuing a white nationalists agenda and dabbling in anti-Semitism whenever it suits him.
It is beyond repugnant to watch slugs like Ari Fleischer try to use his minority status to try to smear Joe Biden in the defense of a man like Trump when he knows full well that Trump and his family gleefully promote racist and anti-Semitic ideas and conspiracy theories.
Anyone who watches the full interview with Charlamagne Tha God can tell that Biden had been joking with the radio host, who didn’t react negatively to the comments. While there is an argument to be made that Biden was being overly familiar with a community that he has a long relationship with and perhaps could have phrased it better, there can be no stones thrown from men like Fleischer, who lives with his fellow Republicans in a glass house in the shape of a Ku Klux Klan hood.
Opinion columnist and former editor-in-chief of Occupy Democrats. He graduated from Bennington College with a Bachelor's degree in history and political science. He now focuses on advancing the cause of social justice and equality in America.