From what I have been able to gather, Nugent's supporters are about evenly divided between those who profess not to see anything anti-Semitic here, and those who love the fact that the graphic is wildly anti-Semitic. Not surprisingly, the latter category includes former Klan leader David Duke. The graphic originally was posted on the web site Stormfront, which is described as a "white nationalist, white supremacist, and neo-Nazi Internet forum" on the Wiki page. Stormfront began life in 1990 as an online bulletin board for Duke's campaign for U.S. Senator from Louisiana, and eventually grew into the web's significant first racist hate site. Duke had previously endorsed Donald Trump for president saying that "He's the best of the lot". And Nugent also weighed in with his support for Trump, in an earlier Facebook post, calling him "the hellraiser America has needed for a very longtime".
Whether this latest outrage prompts Republican politicians, or the NRA, to reconsider their ties with Nugent remains to be seen. The man has a very long history of saying some incredibly vile and offensive things ranging from calling Hillary Clinton a "toxic cunt" to calling presidential candidate Barack Obama a "piece of shit" who "should suck on my machine gun". But those revelations didn't effect his standing as an NRA board member and unofficial spokesman, nor did they keep Texas Republican Greg Abbott from embracing Nugent during his campaign for Texas governor. Nugent joined Abbott on the campaign trail until reports surfaced that the rocker had called President Obama a "subhuman mongrel". Under fire from both sides, Nugent offered a tepid apology of sorts and Abbott distanced himself from him.
One of the things that I find particularly striking about all of this is the fact that Donald Trump is talking like Ted Nugent, and he is getting away with it. The Republican front runner has been freely mouthing vulgarities during his speeches to the rapturous delight of the crowds. Just yesterday, he called Ted Cruz a "pussy" during a speech in New Hampshire. Trump's supporters say they love the fact that he is unfiltered, and that he is willing to say things like that. And, in contrast to his rivals, Trump does indeed come off as refreshingly honest. We are so accustomed to political speech that is vapid, insipid, mendacious and robotic (think Marco Rubio) that Donald Trump almost seems like a breath of fresh air. And that is a damning indictment of our contemporary political culture.
Whether this latest outrage prompts Republican politicians, or the NRA, to reconsider their ties with Nugent remains to be seen. The man has a very long history of saying some incredibly vile and offensive things ranging from calling Hillary Clinton a "toxic cunt" to calling presidential candidate Barack Obama a "piece of shit" who "should suck on my machine gun". But those revelations didn't effect his standing as an NRA board member and unofficial spokesman, nor did they keep Texas Republican Greg Abbott from embracing Nugent during his campaign for Texas governor. Nugent joined Abbott on the campaign trail until reports surfaced that the rocker had called President Obama a "subhuman mongrel". Under fire from both sides, Nugent offered a tepid apology of sorts and Abbott distanced himself from him.
One of the things that I find particularly striking about all of this is the fact that Donald Trump is talking like Ted Nugent, and he is getting away with it. The Republican front runner has been freely mouthing vulgarities during his speeches to the rapturous delight of the crowds. Just yesterday, he called Ted Cruz a "pussy" during a speech in New Hampshire. Trump's supporters say they love the fact that he is unfiltered, and that he is willing to say things like that. And, in contrast to his rivals, Trump does indeed come off as refreshingly honest. We are so accustomed to political speech that is vapid, insipid, mendacious and robotic (think Marco Rubio) that Donald Trump almost seems like a breath of fresh air. And that is a damning indictment of our contemporary political culture.
