Two of Southern Minnesota's finest Republicans--Congressman Jim Hagedorn and state representative Jeremy Munson--have used the term "national socialist" to describe opponents.
Yesterday, Vox's Aaron Rupar tweeted:
Here is @RepHagedorn (R-MN) calling Elizabeth Warren a "national socialist" (i.e., a Nazi) on Facebook pic.twitter.com/2v9Nez3AnC
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 24, 2019
Since "National Socialist" is a more formal way of saying Nazi, the Associated Press picked up on the criticism of Hagedorn's crack along with the congressman's backpedaling:
A Minnesota congressman has drawn sharp criticism for describing Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren as a “national socialist” on his Facebook campaign page, a term usually understood to mean Nazis.
Republican Rep. Jim Hagedorn attacked the 2020 Democratic presidential candidate for “socialist extremism” in a post Tuesday in which he vowed to keep working with President Donald Trump.
Hagedorn didn’t respond to a question from The Associated Press about what he meant by the label, but he soon replaced it with “Democratic socialist.”
Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party Chairman Ken Martin called the post “completely reprehensible.” Martin said Hagedorn should apologize to Warren
Adam Uren has more at Bring Me The News in Rep. Jim Hagedorn under fire for referring to Elizabeth Warren as a 'national socialist':
Minnesota's 1st District Rep. Jim Hagedorn found himself the subject of scrutiny Tuesday after he wrote a Facebook post referring to Sen. Elizabeth Warren as a "national socialist."
National Socialism is more commonly known as Nazism, with Rep. Hagedorn's remark drawing swift condemnation from the Minnesota DFL.
Hagedorn later edited the post to refer to Warren as a "Democratic socialist," with his spokesman telling the Associated Press he did this so his comment wasn't misconstrued, saying he was referring to Warren's "socialist agenda."
Nonetheless, Minnesota DFL chairman Ken Martin called on Hagedorn to issue an apology.
"It is completely reprehensible that Congressman Hagedorn would refer to a sitting United States Senator as a Nazi. If Hagedorn has an ounce of respect for the office he holds, he will immediately retract that statement and issue a full apology to Senator Warren and the people of the first district," he said.
"Minnesotans won’t always agree with our representatives, but we expect them to be decent human beings. Time and time again, Jim Hagedorn has failed to meet that low bar."
Hagedorn has generated headlines a few times in recent months.
At a town hall earlier in September, Hagedorn drew audible gasps from some members of the crowd when asked about the link between the proliferation of guns and suicide, and he said: "I don't believe in suicide. I think it's terrible. My religious background tells me if you kill yourself, you go to hell. It's a bad thing."
He also suffered a backlash in July when he said of immigrants being held in cages on the southern U.S. border: "The people there, they can leave. Nobody is holding them against their will."
And later that month his office said it would no longer meet with the liberal group St. Peter/Mankato Indivisible, saying the group was taking up a disproportionate amount of staff time.
Hagedorn narrowly won the 1st District in 2018, beating Democrat Dan Feehan by just 0.4 percent in the district vacated by now Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
Munson calls critics National Socialists
But Hagedorn wasn't alone in the misuse of the term, as the Strib's Matt Delong tweeted:
Appears to be a way to call your political opponents Nazis without using that word, and also to try to link socialism with Nazism, which has been debunked so many times it's hardly worth mentioning.
— Matt DeLong (@mattdelong) September 25, 2019
DeLong was not alone with the barbs for Munson:
I agree. The video was reckless. And the follow-up response calling insulin advocates "National Socialists" was offensive. I hope other GOP House members will similarly condemn Munson's remarks. pic.twitter.com/BIoPyF7j7D
— Lija Greenseid, PhD (@Lija27) September 25, 2019
It's not surprising that Munson and Hagedorn share some vocabulary, given that Munson served as chair of the Minnesota First Congressional District Republicans in 2017.
See also:
- Local Madelia businessman and telecom lobbyist vows to get Jeremy Munson tossed from office
- MNHouse Eric Lucero & Jeremy Munson stand shoulder-to-shoulder with anti-vax leaders
- Random white guy with an opinion on PBS thinks Sioux & Dakota fought war against each other
- Mankato Free Press scolds Jeremy Munson for "approach befitting a third grader" on Almanac
- Julie Rosen and Bob Gunther go to bat for Rapidan Township--where's Jeremy Munson?
Photo: Jim Hagedorn and Jeremy Munson in November 2018. Via Facebook.
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