You may have heard conservatives joke liberals and the media will label anyone they do not like a Nazi.
On Tuesday, the joke became a reality when a member of the Democratic so-called âSquadâ did just that.
In a tweet, Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) shared a portion of a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) by The Daily Wireâs Michael Knowles.
âMichael Knowles is a Nazi hellbent on keeping only white men alive and in power,â Bowman wrote. âWe cannot allow him and others to push their evil agenda and we must stand up for the transgender rights.â
He added, âCPAC has made one thing clear this year â they support a future run by Nazis like Knowles.â
During his speech, Knowles said, âThere can be no middle way in dealing with transgenderism. It is all or nothing. If transgenderism is true, if men can become women, then itâs true for everybody of all age.â
âIf it is false, then for the good of society, and especially for the good of the poor people who have fallen prey to this confusion, transgenderism must be eradicated from public life entirely â the whole preposterous ideology,â he added.
His comments quickly sparked a firestorm and led to some outlets misrepresenting his speech. Rolling Stoneâs initial headline declared, âCPAC Speaker Calls for Transgender People to Be âEradicated.'â
Were Knowlesâ comments a little bombastic? That is an understatement. The word âeradicatedâ can evoke thoughts of genocide.
Yet that is not what he had in mind. His argument stems from his belief that the Left has been progressively pushing to restructure society, and it is not enough to simply stop the leftward drift. Instead, conservatives need to take back the culture and defeat the theories of progressives, not through battle or genocide, but through winning the debate and legislation.
Knowles revels in setting off liberals with his conservative social and political commentary. And the controversy that ensued after his speech is, to a certain extent, what he was looking for â though he genuinely believes conservatives need to win the argument over transgender issues, too.
But he is not âhellbentâ on keeping white people alive or in power. You would think his commentary would be overflowing with calls only to elect white people, suggesting white people are superior to Black people, or questioning people of colorâs right to live and participate fully in society if Bowmanâs claim was true. And yet, if you listened to his commentary or surveyed his Twitter feed, that is not what you would find.
Knowles responded to Bowmanâs tweet writing, âA sitting Democrat congressman called me âa Nazi hellbent on keeping only white men alive and in powerâ because I said society should treat âtransgenderismâ as we did before 2015.â
If Bowman wants to push back against Knowlesâ argument, he should do so based on its merits, not making up lies to discredit him. The former is a more honest method of trying to win the debate.
But calling people Nazis, regardless of whether they actually are, is an easier way to try to discredit an idea. Itâs just a despicable lie in this case.
