Bowman's Office Plays the Nazi Card Before Walking It Back

Asinine, juvenile, childish. See also: moronic. All apt words for describing New York Democrat Jamaal Bowman’s move on Saturday during the House votes. Of course, in the heat of the moment, Bowman may have seen himself as a freedom fighter who was thinking out of the box in order to save the government from shutting down. He may have had visions of his exploits being recorded in future textbooks or perhaps even a Jamaal Bowman public library. Of course, as I wrote this, I was waiting for the vote on Speaker McCarthy and listening to Matt Gaetz’s earlier comments. He said, “We need a f*****g budget.” Between those things and Lauren Boebert’s Denver date night, the House is looking more and more like a collection of outtakes from “Animal House.”

Back to Bowman’s frat-house stunt. The smart money is on the Democrats running cover for him until the issue rotates out of the news cycle for another story about Taylor Swift-football-something-something. And all of our brains will die a little more. But in the inevitable hangover that follows random acts of stupidity, Bowman’s office must have realized that he looked more like an eighth grader trying to get out of a spelling quiz or dodge detention than a statesman trying to save “muh democracy.”

So what did they do? They contemplated playing the Republicans = Nazi card. National Review notes that Bowman’s staffers drew up a set of talking points to send to fellow Democrats in an attempt to absolve him of his stupidity. The memo read in part, “I believe Congressman Bowman when he says this was an accident. Republicans need to instead focus their energy on the Nazi members of their party before anything else.” As usual, MAGA Republicans were also blamed because reasons.

Once that memo circulated, Texas Republican Troy Nehls posted this:

Jamaal Bowman is an unhinged lunatic.

HE PULLED A FIRE ALARM. pic.twitter.com/TKFUFPLkNt

— Congressman Troy E. Nehls (@RepTroyNehls) October 2, 2023

Once Bowman or his office realized that the kick had missed the uprights, the congressman issued a retraction, of sorts:

I just became aware that in our messaging guidance, there was inappropriate use of the term Nazi without my consent. I condemn the use of the term Nazi out of its precise definition. It is important to specify the term Nazi to refer to members of the Nazi party & neo-Nazis. https://t.co/DUi92VpUia

— Congressman Jamaal Bowman (@RepBowman) October 2, 2023

So it was all some intern’s fault. There you go, blame an intern or some unnamed staffer. But as you can see, Bowman has had no problems with throwing “Nazi” around when it suits his grandstanding needs. In fact, he’s pretty darn upfront about it:

Michael Knowles is a Nazi hellbent on keeping only white men alive and in power.

We cannot allow him and others to push their evil agenda and we must stand up for the transgender rights.

CPAC has made one thing clear this year – they support a future run by Nazis like Knowles. https://t.co/pxH2yccecd

— Rep. Jamaal Bowman Ed.D. (@JamaalBowmanNY) March 7, 2023

To be fair, “Nazis like Knowles” is a nice bit of alliteration. So there’s that.

Related: Steve Schmidt Finds a New ‘Nazi Dog Whistle’ for Trump

Unfortunately, Bowman’s behavior, and his team’s sad attempt to justify it, speak volumes about the people who have been elected to serve the nation, and it says even more about the maturity of those who elected him.