‘Morons’: Atlantic Writer Lays Waste to Claims Clarence Thomas’s Billionaire Friend is a Nazi

Atlantic staff writer Graeme Wood has taken a flamethrower to the claim that billionaire Harlan Crow, the subject of a ProPublica report on Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, is a Nazi sympathizer.

Wood expressed his disapproval of Thomas and Crow’s friendship, which has resulted in Thomas’s staying at Crow’s property and free attendance on lavish vacations with him, but expressed outrage at innuendo and outright accusations that Crow’s collection of various historical artifacts, including items owned by Adolf Hitler, meant that he admired the German dictator’s deeds.

Crow has a sculpture garden around an estate he owns in Texas that includes statues of various dictators, including the Soviet Union’s Joseph Stalin. Inside his home, Crow has various items of historical significance including Abraham Lincoln’s desk and a signed copy of Hitler’s Mein Kampf.

The billionaire’s possession of the items has led some to declare him an admirer of Hitler’s, or at the very least suspect. “Hmm. Clarence Thomas’s Billionaire Benefactor Collects Hitler Artifacts,” tweeted the New Yorker‘s Jane Mayer, linking to a Washingtonian story about Crow’s collection. The Nation‘s Elie Mystal outright declared Crow a “Nazi sympathizer.”

Princeton professor Kevin Kruse has been tireless in his attempts to cast Crow as much, arguing that the fact that the Hitler-related items, which also included a teapot, were not outside in the Garden of Evil indicated his affection for them. MSNBC’s Mehdi Hasan devoted an entire segment to the smear.

Wood characterized Crow’s critics as “morons.”

“Falsely accusing someone of being a Nazi is a contemptible, gutter pastime, and anyone with more than a casual acquaintance with Nazism knows how grotesque it would be to dilute the evil of the Third Reich by attributing it to someone who hasn’t earned it,” argued Wood, who has visited Crow’s estate, but never met the principal himself.

Wood said that the items in question received no place of honor on Crow’s property, while also noting that Crow was a fervent supporter of Liz Cheney, the ex-Republican House leader who stood up to Donald Trump after his 2020 election loss, and known admirer of Lincoln.

“It simply isn’t possible to be a Nazi, crypto or otherwise, and simultaneously be an Abe Lincoln and Liz Cheney fanboy—let alone to conceal from your dearest confidants, among them Black and Jewish people, your preference for the master race,” he wrote.

Wood — who has authored a book about the ISIS — closed by observing that if he himself was a billionaire, he “would buy one of those gold dinars, the official currency minted by the Islamic State.”

“Some strangers might suppose that because I own such repugnant items, I must have secretly pledged my soul to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi,” continued Wood. “But my friends would know otherwise, because they are not morons.”