I suppose the only thing worse than a so-called Nazi rally is the opportunist who would seek to profit from one.
Looking at you, Beto O’Rourke.
President Trump’s campaign event last week in North Carolina, in which supporters chanted “Send her back!” in reference to Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minnesota, was like an “impromptu Nuremberg rally,” according to the struggling 2020 Democratic primary candidate.
“Yes, President Trump is a racist,” O’Rourke said this week in an interview with ABC News. “What we saw in North Carolina last week was almost an impromptu Nuremberg rally, inciting hatred and ultimately, I think implicit in that, is violence against people based on the color of their skin, based on their religion, based on their difference from the majority of Americans.”
“Yes, President Trump is a racist,” 2020 candidate Beto O’Rourke tells @ABC News.
“What we saw in North Carolina last week was almost an impromptu Nuremberg rally.” https://t.co/rzC4HnxhRP pic.twitter.com/LiqB2XVitO
— ABC News (@ABC) July 22, 2019
“And it is in keeping the president who describes Mexican immigrants as rapists and criminals, who describes asylum seekers as animals or an infestation, who says that Klansmen are ‘very fine people.’ It’s very clear the path that he is taking us on,” said the former Texas congressman, who is polling at sixth place in the 2020 primary, according to a RealClearPolitics polling average.
Wait, hold on a minute. Let’s back up and revisit the part about Trump’s odious North Carolina campaign event being like an “impromptu Nuremberg rally.” O’Rourke knows he has fundraised off that incident, right? He sought to profit from what he characterizes as a modern-day Nazi rally.
In the immediate aftermath of the North Carolina incident and the “Send her back!” chants, the O’Rourke campaign sent out a fundraising email asking supporters to donate $3 to his campaign to show they stand in solidarity with Omar.
The fundraising pitch begins:
During the rally in Greenville, North Carolina, Trump attacked by name the progressive freshmen Democrats.
“These left-wing ideologues see our nation as a force of evil,” he said. “The way they speak so badly of our country. They want to demolish our Constitution. Weaken our military. Eliminate the values that built this magnificent country. You have to look at some of their recent comments, which are never talked about. When you see the four congresswoman, oh isn’t that lovely.”
The president said of Omar specifically that she “has a history of launching vicious anti-Semitic screeds.” The crowd cheered: “Send her back! Send her back!”
The O’Rourke campaign email concludes:
Can you chip in $3 today to show Ilhan Omar that we stand with her? Every contribution sends a powerful message to Donald Trump that we will not allow him to divide us up.
The link to the O’Rourke donation page contains a note that explains contributions “will be divided evenly between Ilhan Omar and Beto O’Rourke” because nothing says “I stand with you” quite like bankrolling someone else’s presidential ambitions.
Again, what is worse: Trump’s rally or O’Rourke’s cynical attempt to profit from it?
