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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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@thekingprawn, I looked this up, too. I see no ‘denial’, but an inclusion of all who perished: people with disabilities – on whom the technique was perfected – ethnic minorities, those who’re same-sex attracted, priests, nuns/sisters, any and all who posed a threat. Yes, the Jews are the ‘first’, but not the only victims.
I can’t remember where I linked to this fascinating Tablet story – perhaps from Instapundit, perhaps not – but its title indicates that the term Holocaust spurs discussion even within the Jewish community:
The Forgotten Holocaust: The Films of Boris Maftsir
An Israeli filmmaker works to revive the neglected, terrible history of Shoah victims in the Soviet Union
From the text:
Maftsir doesn’t mince words when he talks about the near-erasure of the eastern half of the Holocaust. “The place of memory of the Holocaust is already taken up,” he says. “There is the Victim—Anne Frank. There is the Saint—Janusz Korczak. There is the Villain—Adolf Eichman. There is Hell, it’s Auschwitz. There is heroism—the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. And that’s it.”
It is different because BLM was based on a lie. Started with “hands up, don’t shoot.” Also the whole BLM movement is backed and financed by George Soro. The Holocaust didn’t start with a lie.
While true, the Jews were particularly selected for discrimination and extermination, being forced to where yellow stars of David, so everyone else would know who to condemn, spit upon and discriminate against.
A horrible time.
Indeed, Mr. Carroll. I am not gainsaying this at all. When I was a newly-minted chaplain, “right to die” legislation was being formulated in the state where I then lived and worked. During the discussion, an Adventist colleague tried to bring this up and – along with me – was shut down. He then sent me a note, about a cousin of his, who in 1938-9 was a caregiver in a home for special-needs children with whom his family had corresponded regularly…Suddenly, letters stopped coming; later, the family found out why. She, and her charges, became part of an “experimental program”. Practice made perfect. Thus, my inclusion of the additional 5 million. This in no way means that I discount/demean/or forget the particularly-targeted 6 million lives snuffed out simply because they existed. Thanks for the chance to contextualize my earlier comment.
So if Michael Brown had been shot in error, BLM would be justified in being offended that people care about violence that effects everybody?
Michael Brown was not shot in error, he was shot because he attacked a police officer, tried to take his gun, injured the officer, and upon another attempt to take the cop out and got shot for his efforts. He was a thug and you know it or you are deliberately trying to justify the BLM movement, which is also sponsored by Soro. I have no intention of arguing the subject for the sake of argument. Get your facts straight.
No, he’s trying to point out that when one talks about the Holocaust as being primarily about Jews and suggest that their suffering was more egregious than that of the Nazi’s other victims, it sounds an awful lot like Black Lives Matter saying that a black victim of police brutality has suffered more than a white victim of crime. Frankly, at a certain point, it starts to sound like Jews agree with Hitler than Jews lives aren’t worth the same as goyim; they just think that Jews are worth more instead of less.
By the way, self-segregation nonsense like this latest Prager University video (usually good) doesn’t help Jews. The author claims that the Arab-speaking world’s economic and cultural malaise boils down to anti-Semitism. It points to other historical banishments and seems to imply that Jews are the driving force behind research, innovation, and finance everywhere.
It’s true that historical rises in anti-Semitism coincide with troubled times for all. But this video treats the anti-Semitism as a direct cause rather than symptomatic and accompanied by many other common symptoms of cultural decline.
At worst, stuff like this feeds the anti-Jew conspiracy theories about Jews controlling the levers of societies. At best, it pushes away Jews’ staunchest allies of the past century — conservative Christians — by suggesting that only our separate pains and not our shared struggles matter.
TKP,
This really takes the cake. Obama stabs Israel in the back at the U.N. and Kerry twists the knife. Did Hillary Clinton say a word? Did Chuck Schumer say a word? Nothing Nada just another day in the neighborhood. Now the most important thing in the Universe is a ridiculous reaching interpretation of a Trump statement on Holocaust Remembrance Day.
I think maybe my fellow Jews should be more concerned about the next Holocaust then gilding the lily on the last one. With friends like Democrats, Israel doesn’t need any enemies.
Regards,
Jim
And hatred of Trump by conservatives is also risking the “cry wolf” problem when they major on the minors. There’s plenty of real things to criticize him for. For the Jews, there are enough real wolves that no one needs to imagine more for them.
Like KP, I am no fan of Trump, but I read the press release three or four times trying to find what I was supposed to be offended by. I didn’t even notice that they didn’t use the word Jews.
There’s being skeptical, and there’s looking for an excuse to be offended. Claire and JPod have crossed the line.
I almost dare to say they have entered snowflake territory with this complaint.
Entered? Jpod bought property there over a year ago.
He’s had a lot of valid criticism of Trump, but this isn’t one of them.
Has he? He’s been on my ugly hate filled bigots to ignore list for awhile now.
I agree with him enough on the basic template of conservatism and Trump’s ill fit to that template to not write him off completely. This issue, however, looks like manufactured outrage.
Thank you! It was a lie, and it does matter, though the left will never acknowledge their lies or their fake news. But their failures to adequately reflect on true facts in favor of their alternate ones is precisely what will keep them a minority party going forward. It’s ridiculous to accuse Trump or his voter base of antisemitism, and it’s the worst kind of insult and accusation one citizen can hurl at another.
The hysterical left will continue to burrow themselves into a permanent minority fringe by promulgating these kind of mind-bending and egregious lies.
Some on the right are starting to join in the chorus. That’s the problem I’m hoping to highlight here. We need to keep our powder dry for when Trump deserves criticism and pushback on actual issues.
Let’s play a little game of memory. Way back when I joined Ricochet, as a younger, wiser man, I wrote about some people who had gone from Egypt to, I think, Tunisia, where they were murdered. The Administration, under Mr. Obama, of course, State, I supposed is the relevant Dept., made a statement about them.
That statement did not say, they were Christians. That’s why they were murdered.
Mr. Obama also refrained in at least one interview I heard for myself to mention that the deli attacked in Paris after the Charlie Hebdo attack–it was Jewish. Jews were being targeted there.
Now, Mr. Trump’s people made & defended this ‘Jew’-free notice or press statement. It’s a fairly perfunctory but conventionally obligatory statement. About the only way to attract attention is to screw it up. I think this does qualify, at minimum as a screw up. Would you agree to that?
Of course it should have said, Jews were murdered because they were Jews & the Nazis were Nazis! I wouldn’t mind an addition mentioning the other horrors perpetrated by Communists in that age! Saying who was murdered & why is a basic testimony to dignity. That’s all that’s left!
P.S. I’d be interested in asking America’s youth: Who fought the American Civil War? Who attacked whom at Pearl Harbor? Also, in non-American history, who killed whom in the Holocaust?
Thank you for pointing this out. I have recently started to pay attention to Twitter – the hysteria coming from the right is embarrassing. We had a post awhile ago about pundits we have written off; my list continues to grow. Not because I am holding a grudge; because they no longer have any credibility.
And they think Trump should stop Tweeting? First, why in the heck should anyone take advice from them. Second, someone should change their Twitter passwords for their own good. They are making fools of themselves.
None were mentioned!
It’s one thing to say, they killed more than Jews. Sure, add them all. Mention none? Was it random? They’re just abstract persons? Killed because they randomly were persons!
Titus, there is also the matter of context. When someone makes a statement in regard to the Holocaust, it assumes a basic knowledge on the subject at hand on the part of the listeners.
Does a failure to detail the entire history in and of itself imply insensitivity?
Judge!
It’s America: Great on freedom, but sucks terribly on history. Am I the only conservative on Ricochet who dares say most Americans have no idea about the big transformative political events of an hundred years back, or seventy? We’re assuming basic knowledge of history? Every conservative I could name on Ricochet has been bitching about Americans not knowing history ever since I met him, at least!
You always say the same thing: Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, the elderly, the sick. Am I leaving anyone out? Add them. It’s the least we can do!
At least correct the statement!
So don’t let’s pretend you need to write down the entire multi-million word history! Say the basic truths, preferably under 272 words!
If we’ve reached the point where “the Holocaust” doesn’t bring up Jews then we’re truly lost and probably can’t be trusted with our freedoms. Of course the same might be said concerning founding principles, so I’ll get back to you on this.
Titus, if you don’t think the average American can make a connection between the Holocaust and Jews, then your opinion of us is even lower than I thought.
And that’s really saying something. ;-)
If there’s anything Americans know about WWII, it’s the Holocaust, thanks to Hollywood.
It’s not as bad as Holocaust denial, whatever the lovely, intrepid Miss Berlinski says.
But forgetting history is not as bas as being truly lost, either.
It’s just America, always has been the same. We have to stand on ceremony as much as possible–we’ll talk exceptions in a crisis.
It’s a shameful thing not to tell the truth. Free people supposedly can afford to speak the truth. America has less to be ashamed of than any country that comes to mind–how in hell is not the Administration proudly saying that America saved Europe & the Jews & the gypsies & the homosexuals & the sick & elderly & whoever else was in those death camps–as many as possible.
America did turn away Jews instead of saving them. About everyone did. But America did see right from wrong, faced up to the ugliest tyranny, & fought & conquered. As much as could humanly be expected, America did. It was not more, but it was more than anyone else except Churchill’s Britain did!
Making excuses for not saying these things, briefly, officially, with dignity is a strange bashfulness. Why cannot this statement be changed to reflect the basic truths?
We’re not supposed to blindly defend this incompetence! We’re supposed to use dignified occasions like these speeches to say the basic truths. You never know how effective these speeches are, but they’re worth something.
Whatever the lefty hysteria–political oratory is a real thing. Hiring people who are not mental midgets to say something you needn’t blush at is not asking for miracles.
Mr. Trump is able to speak to many Americans in a way that does not make them want to bash their heads against the nearest wall. Others hate his guts, but politics is competitive, so wha’cha gonna do!
Someone else is capable of saying the basic truths about the Holocaust with some dignity–that also needs to be done.