Conservatives Blast Michelle Malkin’s ‘Anti-Semitic’ Questions: ‘Once Admired Her. This is Disgusting.’

Colby HallMar 3rd, 2020, 6:53 am
 

Michelle Malkin is catching grief from conservatives over comments made at the American First Political Action Conference  [AFPAC] last week in which she defended questions about the number of Holocaust victims from World War II.

Malkin is nothing if not a provocateur, and as such, her primary rhetorical goal often seems less about informing her audience, but instead provoking people into anger and animus, either in concert with her opinion or, in many cases, in disagreement with what she’s said. As her influence has waned of late, her inflammatory rhetoric has only burned brighter — and has included endorsing anti-Semitic trolls.

During the AFPAC speak, Malkin played the “best defense is a good offense” card by going through a litany of third-rail issues often criticized as “anti-Semitic” tropes, including “dual loyalty” and a clear dog-whistle for Holocaust deniers. Watch a portion of the speech here:

A transcript of her remarks:

Already right out of the gate, before I even knew who Nick Fuentes was, before I knew who Groypers were, I was being tarred as an anti-Semite. It’s become a useless, meaningless term and everybody knows it. And that’s why they’re so desperate to tar all of us as that.

It’s anti-Semitic to mention George Soros’s billions. It’s anti-Semitic to criticize the Anti-Defamation League. It’s anti-Semitic to question whatever the precise number is of people who perished in World War II. It is anti-Semitic for me, being married to a 100% Ashkenazi Jew, to question dual loyalties of people who are working here as agents of a foreign country.

Oh, and it is an unacceptably anti-Semitic to point out the rank hypocrisy of people who are fiercely protective of an ethno-state and an immigration enforcement system that works–who turn around and call those of us who believe, whatever our backgrounds are, who only have one homeland that they’ve ever known, to call us– what is it now?–“white majoritarianism” I believe is the term.” That’s me. Thank you.

Questioning Holocaust victims has long been a trope for fringe white nationalist groups who believe the Holocaust was a hoax designed to give Jewish people some sort of global political advantage with which they could control non-Jewish people. The “Dual loyalty” trope was recently in the political sphere when Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) was criticized by numerous Republican officials for making a similar suggestion.

Of course, Malkin is not an elected official, but her influence as an (erstwhile) conservative thought-leader is undeniable. Or maybe it’s time to start to question just how influential she still is, as the bipartisan reaction to her comments are quite noteworthy.

Take for example David Harsanyi, writer for National Review and the New York Post:

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Young America’s Foundation, a conservative college outreach group that recently fired Malkin, released the following statement:

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Colby Hall - Founding Editor

Colby Hall is the Founding Editor of Mediaite.com. He is also a Peabody Award-winning television producer of non-fiction narrative programming as well as a terrific dancer and preparer of grilled meats.