Andrew: I’m in favor of a strong executive. I think we should have a stronger executive branch... I’m very pro-strong executive, strong leader, strong man. I support national sovereignty, and Hitler was a nationalist. He was like, we have to take Germany back for Germans. And I feel like we should do that in America. We should take America back for our native population. So, I’m not an expert on Hitler by any means, but as far as nationalism is concerned, I’m all that.

Moderator: What do you think of Jewish people?

Andrew: I would say a force for evil. I don’t see why we support Israel. I think Israel’s a very evil state. The genocide in Gaza, killing all these poor people. And the only reason we really support them is because they are the biggest donors. We have AIPAC, and these are all Jewish-run organizations.

Moderator: Let me clarify that. Andrew, you think the Jewish people are a force for evil?

Andrew: Yes, sir. It doesn’t bother me if it’s true. Those slurs, if you’re racist or whatever, that just rolls off my back… This is my country, my people have been here since the American Revolution, so I say what I want to.

[–] NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 8 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago)

I’d call America back to its native population a damn good start.

[–] DancingBear@midwest.social 4 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago)

I feel like his answer for “what do you think of Jewish people” was set up to get him to say that he hates Jewish people. Set up may not be the right word exactly… but he was answering a different question in my opinion.

Everything he said in that paragraph about Israel and aipac and the genocide is spot on.

He’s conflating Jewish people with the Israeli government in his line of thinking, probably due to his media influences, and also maybe just a general lack of awareness that this is even an important distinction to make.

Israel also does the same thing, shouting from the rooftops that anyone who speaks out about the Israeli government is antisemitic. If you only listened to corporate media, and weren’t particularly interested in politics, it is quite easy to make the same mistake. They use this as a blunt instrument to quell any discussion or criticism of Israel, intentionally, and they’ve been doing it for decades.

But everything he said in that paragraph you quoted is spot on. The problem is that he seemed to be answering a question about the Israeli government when the moderator was asking about Jewish people.

In the next question, he’s defending himself from an argument that what he is saying is antisemitic.

In both questions, it seems to me he is talking about the Israeli government, while conflating the government of israel with all of the Jewish diaspora.

The moderator seems to be having a separate conversation than the one this person is having.

To show what I mean… without changing the answers he gave, if I change the questions, 90 % of democrat voters would agree with his answers.

Question 1: what do you think of the Israeli government?

Question 2: Let me clarify that. Andrew, you believe the Israeli government is a force for evil?

Just saying. US Voters on Both the right and the left agree that genocide is bad, and that the Israeli government is pretty evil right now. And making the distinction between the Israeli government and the Jewish people of the world is more important than ever in my opinion.

Edit:

He never once said Jewish people, he only mentioned Israeli government. Yes, the moderator mentioned Jewish people twice.

However, in this case I believe the onus is on the moderator to address Andrew’s facts. Never once does the moderator address actual facts that Andrew has brought up. At least in these specific examples you are quoting. His follow up question appears troll like. (In the context of an actual genocide being committed, right now. Today, in Gaza and the West Bank. Whether someone professes to actually be an hater of Jews is irrelevant. One of the great things about the first amendment in the United States. This zoomer’s opinions are irrelevant compared to the actual genocide happening on the ground, currently, right now.) Israel is literally committing genocide while suggesting anyone who says this is antisemitic. AIPAC is literally contributing to campaigns of like 80% of congress in the states. It makes the antisemitic arguments looks naive and childish. And if Israel itself is going to constantly conflate criticism of its racist government policies against the Semitic peoples of the Palestinian nation with being antisemitic against all Jewish folks… it’s nonsense. Jewish folks around the world are going to have to stop this I don’t have an answer but it’s really messed up. When republicans are agreeing with leftists on these issues it gets really wild.

The lesson folks on the left need to take is please stop attacking folks who are agreeing with you. Take your wins and keep working towards policies you support. Stop attacking Marguerita green potato head for agreeing on this issue dam it.