Gal
The Kim Crockett incompetence and intolerance beat has expanded since we posted MNGOP endorsed secretary of state candidate's election ignorance pairs well with past racism on May 15.
On May 18, J. Patrick Coolican reported for the Minnesota Reformer in Minnesota GOP secretary of state candidate Kim Crockett is getting famous — in Israel:
Kim Crockett, who won her party’s endorsement Friday to become the Republican nominee for secretary of state, is being condemned for campaign imagery she used at the state GOP convention showing George Soros as a puppet master, an old antisemitic theme.
The headline in the Jerusalem Post reads “GOP-backed Minnesota politician: Jewish incumbent is controlled by Soros.”
Jacob Millner, Upper Midwest regional director for the American Jewish Committee, issued a statement:
“Criticizing George Soros and his politics is one matter. But portraying him in a video as a puppet master controlling elections is a vicious antisemitic trope … It’s made worse by the fact that the puppet strings appear connected to Steve Simon and Mark Elias, both of whom are Jewish. Kim Crockett must immediately apologize and repudiate this bigotry.”
Crockett did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
This isn’t the first time Crockett has been called out on allegations of bigotry. She previously apologized for comments she made to a New York Times reporter about East African immigrants coming to Minnesota.
“These aren’t people coming from Norway, let’s put it that way. These people are very visible,” she said in 2019, in an article that led her to leaving her post at the local conservative outfit Center of the American Experiment.
However, in a recent video posted by former GOP operative Michael Brodkorb, Crockett disavowed earlier apologies. “I would say everything today that I said in 2019,” she said. Her comments were merely taken out of context, she said.
That's the past racism we mentioned in our post. We're sad she didn't stick with her 2019 apology.
The antisemitic use of Soros in campaign material is nothing new for Minnesota Republicans. Take the 2018 episode in Minnesota's First Congressional District campaign when Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported in Republican Campaign Ad Claims Iraq War Veteran Is 'Owned' by Jewish Billionaire George Soros:
The new advertisement by the National Republican Congressional Committee shows Democratic candidate Dan Feehan next to stacks of dollars and an image of Jewish-Hungarian philanthropist George Soros. . . .
We posted about that sad episode in MN01: NRCC head defends anti-Semitic ads demonizing Soros and Dan Feehan and Hagedorn campaign changes tune on control of NRCC anti-Semitic ad, but still a-ok with content and Hagedorn campaign embraces NRCC's anti-semitic anti-Soros ad condemned by Jewish Community Relations Council.
There's sorta an apology from the state Republicans. Coolican reported on Thursday in the Minnesota Reformer article State GOP apologizes for Soros video, defends Kim Crockett:
The chairman of the Minnesota Republican Party has apologized for a campaign video shown at the recent state party convention that showed Jewish Holocaust survivor George Soros as a puppet master controlling Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon, who is also Jewish.
The puppet master motif, which was used in a campaign video for GOP-endorsed secretary of state candidate Kim Crockett, is an antisemitic theme long employed to stir suspicion and hatred toward Jewish people.
It drew coverage earlier this week from the Jerusalem Post.
David Hann, the GOP chair, said in a statement that he spoke to the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota, and “We wish to assure our friends in the Jewish community that the image was not intended to invoke hostility toward the Jewish people. It should not have happened, we apologize, and are committed to working with the JCRC to educate our staff and candidates on antisemitism.”
Hann said he spoke to Crockett and concluded, that “the depiction of Mr. Soros was not intended as antisemitic, and that neither Ms. Crockett nor her creative team were aware that the depiction of a puppet-master invokes an old but persistent antisemitic trope.”
Crockett, who did not immediately respond to a text message, is a graduate of the University of Pennslyvania Carey Law School, where she was a founding member of the school’s Federalist Society chapter, according to her LinkedIn page.
As former GOP operative Michael Brodkorb reported, the state party informed the campaigns prior to the convention that “All content needs to be tested, reviewed, and approved at your campaign rehearsal,” which means party officials saw and approved the video.
It’s unclear who produced the video.
Crockett’s campaign has paid Nativ3 Digital Marketing nearly $21,000, but Max Rymer, the company’s president, said the firm “definitely, definitely, definitely” had nothing to do with the Soros video. The company created the campaign’s website and has made social media content.
He said a volunteer produced the video, which Rymer said, “ain’t exactly Hollywood (quality.)”
This is not the first time Crockett has been accused of bigotry.
She previously apologized for comments she made to a New York Times reporter about East African immigrants coming to Minnesota.
“These aren’t people coming from Norway, let’s put it that way. These people are very visible,” she said in 2019, in an article that led her to leave her post at the local conservative outfit Center of the American Experiment.
However, in a recent video posted by Brodkorb, Crockett disavowed earlier apologies. “I would say everything today that I said in 2019,” she said. Her comments were merely taken out of context, she said.
Deena Winter contributed reporting.
We're disgusted with Crockett and not much happier with the Republican Party of Minnesota's pathetic excuse for her and itself.
Update: A tweet from Michael Brodkorb:
NEW: As she hides from the media and public, @KimCrockettSOS sends out a picture sitting by a lake and describes the ongoing controversy about her anti-Semitic campaign video as “contrived and bogus political attacks.” Crockett just negated the @MNGOP’s apology yesterday. pic.twitter.com/rtJOjkDlXx
— Michael Brodkorb (@mbrodkorb) May 20, 2022
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Related post:
Photo: Kim Crockett, from her campaign website.
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