Rantz: Washington superintendent’s disgusting Nazi comparison

A generally recognized rule of thumb — for many, at least — is not to invoke Nazi or Hitler comparisons unless they’re warranted. Doing so belittles the experience of an entire group of people facing extinction. That rule isn’t followed by the superintendent of public schools, who, with one tweet, has become a national embarrassment.

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Over the weekend, Washington State Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal compares the Trump administration to Nazis in Germany. In this tweet, Reykdal betrayed any honest understanding of history, insulting Jews along the way.

Please go back and read your history. The rise of Nazi Germany looked exactly like this current administration. https://t.co/CYK9Hu4RUO

— State Superintendent Chris Reykdal (@chrisreykdal) December 17, 2017

Exploiting the death of millions for political gain, Reykdal is overreacting to a misunderstood report in The Washington Post of seven words banned from use in budgets from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And no, this isn’t akin to what occurred in Nazi Germany; but it is an effective way for history-ignorant ideologues to go after a politician they don’t like.

First, it should be known that the actual Director of the CDC, says “there are no banned words…” In a series of tweets, Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald addressed the “mischaracterization” by The Washington Post.

The words are being omitted from budget documents presumably because under President Obama the CDC was inching further away from science and closer toward ideologically driven social justice projects. For example, it’s the Left that wants the CDC to review gun violence when it has nothing to do with disease or science at all; the goal is to get federal data to be used to help erode gun rights. This move also signals to conservative Republicans, like pro-life Americans, that their concerns on abortion will be heard.

Whether or not this is upsetting is obviously subjective. But this is not, in any way shape or form, Nazi-like.

Reykdal, in snobby fashion, wants you to read up on Nazi Germany history so you’ll be as evolved on this issue as he is. But he should do the reading. In the case of Trump, it’s pretty clear this is a political calculation to throw red meat to his base. No ordinary person views the set of budgetary documents at the heart of this issue. The CDC is generally budgeted to reflect the administration’s priorities.

It’s no shocker that the Trump administration isn’t focused on some of the social justice policies of Obama. This is a far cry from the type of censorship under Nazi Germany where libraries and bookstores were raided for material, then ceremoniously burned. Is Reykdal pretending Trump is starting a purge of oppressed communities via budget documents Reykdal has never even read?

Now, is this the right move from the Trump administration? No. I’m worried about it doing damage to the perception of the CDC. Unfortunately, Republicans and Democrats end up politicizing an agency that should be left alone to do scientific work and any attempt — by any administration — to tinker too much, should be criticized. But the criticism should also be reasonable.

Reykdal and his ilk love assigning horrific motives to political opposition as a means to not just dangerously vilify them but to set up a wholly contrived scenario where the Progressive side always comes up looking good. In doing so, not only does Reykdal belittle the history of the oppressed under Hitler, but he does it purely to make some over-the-top ideological attack that neither changes the conversation nor the questionable action itself.

Nazi comparisons are as lazy as Reykdal’s attempts to cash in on the type of publicity stunts that have served Bob Ferguson so well. And they never take seriously the history on which they’re based, no matter how insufferable they try to pretend they are. But if you’re going to make these stupid comparisons, let’s not ignore that whole “I’m going to beat you up and stifle speech because I don’t like it” tactic of the Left.

If you’re going to be an idiot with your Twitter hot-takes, at least go after all the nonsense, not just the stuff that makes your side seem innocent.

Follow @https://twitter.com/jasonrantz