Sean Spicer's Holocaust remark is a symptom of Trump's problem
Worth the time to read all of this good article.
Sean Spicer's Holocaust remark is a symptom of Trump's problem
http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/12/opinions/sean-spicer-holocaust-remarks-ben-ghiat/index.html
By Ruth Ben-Ghiat
Updated 7:56 AM ET, Wed April 12, 2017
Story highlights
Sean Spicer wound up apologizing for his insensitive remarks about chemical weapons and the Holocaust
Firing Spicer wouldn't answer deeper question of why Trump fails to speak out forcefully against racism and anti-Semitism, writes Ruth Ben-Ghiat
"Ruth Ben-Ghiat is a frequent contributor to CNN Opinion, and professor of history and Italian studies at New York University. Her latest book is "Italian Fascism's Empire Cinema." The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author."
(CNN)We should all be grateful to White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer. Attempting to make Syrian President Bashar al-Assad history's biggest villain, he stated Tuesday that Hitler "didn't even sink to using chemical weapons," a remark that's been interpreted by many as denying the Nazis' genocide of Jews in extermination camps during World War II -- camps which Spicer referred to, bizarrely, as "Holocaust centers."
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Like so many politicians today, Le Pen is playing a memory game designed to make people feel better about their nation's history. It is to deny responsibility for past national atrocities, or pretend they didn't happen. Spicer's comment may have stemmed from ignorance, but it makes the Trump administration a participant in this dangerous tendency.
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But there's something else that's sinister. The Holocaust is a thorn in the side of the new right, which depends on racism to find support for its anti-Muslim and immigrant campaigns. It's inconvenient to remember that anti-Semitism started with the very sorts of everyday attacks that have spiked in America and elsewhere as these illiberal forces have found power. To make racism usable for today, it's best to remove the memory of Jewish extermination from the equation as much as possible. Spicer's comment helps that happen.
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