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No, the White House Did Not Deny the Holocaust
At some point, the overwrought and ridiculous accusations against President Trump have to peak. I have a visceral dislike of him and yet those attacking him have gone so far round the bend that I am forced, over and over again, to defend him. No, the White House did not deny the Holocaust in the press release for Holocaust Remembrance Day. To think otherwise is crazy with a side of ridiculous and covered in stupid gravy. Harsh words? Yes. Necessary? Absolutely.
I would have never imagined such claim would exist had I not seen it with my own eyes. I would not have cared if such asinine claims were made by anyone other than Ricochet contributors I respect. Our very own @claireberlinski has bought into this, as has John Podhoretz. Here is the tweet that got me started on this rant today:
Yes, the White House really did engage in Holocaust denial. This is part of an irrational pattern of thought that's dangerous for everyone. https://t.co/uvILxCIRJv
— Claire Berlinski (@ClaireBerlinski) January 30, 2017
When I first saw it I thought “no way that’s true,” so I followed the links. Mark Hoofnagle published a blog post on ScienceBlogs that starts with this:
The White House in its statement on Holocaust Remembrance Day engaged in Holocaust denial. Then they doubled down on the action and via Reince Priebus on Meet the Press expressed no regret about the wording which had no mention of the Jews in their supposed “remembrance”.
It’s possible that Trump and company wrote a poorly-worded press release worthy of this accusation. Performing all due diligence, I went to the source and read the press release. Here is the offending press release in full:
It is with a heavy heart and somber mind that we remember and honor the victims, survivors, heroes of the Holocaust. It is impossible to fully fathom the depravity and horror inflicted on innocent people by Nazi terror.
Yet, we know that in the darkest hours of humanity, light shines the brightest. As we remember those who died, we are deeply grateful to those who risked their lives to save the innocent.
In the name of the perished, I pledge to do everything in my power throughout my Presidency, and my life, to ensure that the forces of evil never again defeat the powers of good. Together, we will make love and tolerance prevalent throughout the world.
No, the president didn’t specifically say “Jews,” but exactly who the [expletive] else could he be referencing by “the victims…of the Holocaust”? If you read that and think of anyone other than the Jews, or read it to exclude the Jews, then it is an error of reading, not writing.
I understand Trump-Hate because I do a lot of it. I understand wanting to warn of his dangers because I fear them as well. This, however, is reaching way beyond honest criticism and into the realm of histrionics. There is plenty about which to criticize the new president, so there is zero need to invent or imagine things like Holocaust denial.
Stop making me defend the orange ass.
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I can see how it looks from Claire’s vantage point in Europe.
My daughter was in Ireland when the terrorist attacks occurred in 2001. She was stunned by the anti-America attitude there. I can’t help thinking that Claire has been swept up in that mood and mindset.
And I share Claire’s and everyone else’s fear of the white supremacist groups in the United States.
But her fears are way out of proportion to anything that is currently going on in this country. There are many things about Donald Trump I don’t care for, but I just don’t see him as racist or anti-Semitic. I am not worried about that at all. We are the same country today that we were before the last election.
I don’t think you understand Judaism at all, despite all the post from Jewish members of Ricochet. Jews believe that all the people in the world belong to G-d, none are left out. Not all the people in the world believe they belong to G-d. The Jews did not reject Jesus, he was a Jew and followed the Torah, but rejected Paul’s assertion that the Torah was no longer valid.
How odd of G-d to choose the Jews
It isn’t odd the Jews choose G-d
The problem is there was no list. It’s not like he mourned the Gypsies, the Slavs, and the cripples and snubbed the Jews; no particular group was singled out, and certain Jews (whom I respect and should know better) got indignant over that.
I think you misunderstood what I was saying, but I’m typing on my phone, so it’ll have to wait. :)
Thank you. I am all for making sure Trump does as good a job as possible and worry about his seeming petty narcissism, lack of knowledge of conservative principals etc. But it gets difficult to tell the good trump from the bad trump when people who I trust to help keep me informed to into the crazy liberal narrative. If had time to research everything myself – I would.
Frankly, I couldn’t care less about this proclamation.
I’m sure that if I look back, I’ll find beautifully-written International Holocaust Remembrance Day proclamations from the Obama administration, professing the most passionate sorrow at the fate of the Jews during the Holocaust.
But then, the Obama administration treated Israel so poorly during its eight years, that words like that don’t count for crap. President Obama himself orchestrated the most disgusting attack on Israel in my memory by not vetoing the most recent anti-Israel/anti-Semitic UN Security Council resolution.
If Trump follows through on what he already has outlined on his approach to Israel, he can write whatever he wants every January 27th, and I’ll kiss his tuchis.
Agreed. We’ve had eight loooong years of emphasis on words rather than actions. It’s about time we quit that.
The other people killed in the holocaust weren’t random either, which is the point I was trying to make. check your history.
I know my history, and I know your point. Do you understand mine?
Would the intentional murder of 12 million people be more or less “important” if they were targeted for some identifying characteristic, or if they were just chosen at random? In other words, is it the deaths or the targeting that makes the Holocaust significant?
I know what the True answer is. I also know the True answer doesn’t align with our human perceptions of death.
One of the arguments that Game of Thrones fans use to justify the violence in the show is that it highlights our duplicity in what we consider more heinous death. I don’t agree with their assessment of the show, but their argument about humanity is an accurate one.
I see a difference in a mother mudering her child vs a stranger killing an adult. Most of us do. We color our perceptions on many distinctions. Its one thing to mourn the intentional hunting down of a specific type of people, caging them, and slaughtering them than it is to mourn the Japanese inhabitants of Nagasaki who were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
If anyone seriously suggests that the White House statement is Holocaust denial, the only conclusion I can reach about them is that they must not think Jews are “people”.
I’m sorry to see Claire go off the deep end, but at least I now know I can’t take ANY statement she makes at face value.