Illinois Republican Gov Nominee Pretty Sure Abortion Worse Than Holocaust Because He’s A Damn Fool
Why do these rightwing assholes keep comparing everything they don’t like to the Holocaust?
Darren Bailey, the Republican nominee for Illinois governor, is expected to lose big. Illinois is a solidly blue state, and Democratic incumbent Gov. JB Pritzker’s approval ratings remain high. Bailey isn’t even one of those sneaky blue state Republicans who pose as moderates (e.g. Sen. Susan Collins from Maine and Gov. Larry Hogan from Maryland). Bailey is a far-right Trump sycophant. He’s also an overall terrible candidate who keeps saying stupid things.
You might recall, because it was so awful, that barely two hours after a mass shooting at the Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Bailey said it was time to "move on and celebrate the independence of this nation.” Bailey is no common Herschel Walker. He’s an actual member of the Illinois state Senate. Unfortunately, he’s also spoken in public before this campaign.
During a 2017 Facebook livestream, Bailey, a staunch forced birther, reportedly said the Holocaust didn’t compare to the atrocities of abortion.
BAILEY: I believe that abortion is one of the greatest atrocities of our day and I believe it’s one of the greatest atrocities probably forever. The attempted extermination of the Jews of World War II doesn’t even compare on a shadow of the life that has been lost with abortion since its legalization.
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When discussing the Holocaust, normal people don’t compare the systematic extermination of six million Jews to any other unpleasant historical event. We appreciate that the Holocaust is uniquely horrible. Forced birthers believe abortion is literally infanticide. Most people get that baby killing is bad.
A recent poll found that just 14 percent of Illinois residents support forced-birth policies. Comparing 86 percent of the state’s population to actual Nazis doesn’t seem a winning political position. Not long after Samuel Alito’s Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, religious extremists and all-around woman haters were already scheming ways to “punish” anyone who tried to exert control over their own bodies. There’s more Nazi rhetoric found in those corners than at your average abortion rights rally.
Gov. Pritzker is Jewish, by the way, so there’s an added layer of grossness to Bailey’s remarks. Pritzker’s campaign press secretary Eliza Glezer deftly delivered the smackdown.
Conflating a woman’s bodily autonomy to the systematic mass murder of Jewish people is antisemitic and disqualifying. Darren Bailey’s disgusting assertion that a woman determining her own reproductive future is worse than the Nazis’ genocide of 6 million Jews is offensive to Illinoisans everywhere.
With violent antisemitism on the rise and in the wake of a massacre against the predominately Jewish Highland Park, Bailey must answer for his hateful comments.
Samuel R. Harris, president emeritus of the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center, said Bailey’s "despicable rhetoric is dangerous, trivializes one of the worst stains on human history, and disparages the memory of millions.” Jennifer Welch, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Illinois Action, demanded that Bailey "immediately apologize for his inappropriate and hurtful words."
Bailey is one of the MAGA faithful who received unsolicited assisted from the Democratic Governors Association during the Republican primary. One of the DGA’s ads labeled Bailey a “pro-Trump Republican” who "sued to stop JB Pritzker's COVID mandates.” This is all gold for Republican primary voters.
It’s reasonable to wonder why the DGA would waste a nickel on this asshole, especially considering that Pritzker is a lock to win re-election. Bailey was running against Richard Irvin, the first Black mayor of Aurora in suburban Chicago. Bailey once proposed banishing Chicago from the state, an overtly racist plan that would likely plunge Illinois into bankruptcy. There was a pretty clear contrast without the DGA’s help.
Irvin was hardly a formidable candidate: He wound up finishing a distant third in last month’s primary behind Bailey and Jesse Sullivan, a 38-year-old political unknown and smug venture capitalist. The self-described “true conservative” Sullivan campaigned on an “America first platform.” He smeared Chicago as a “corrupt war zone.” Illinois Republican primary voters apparently wanted a nominee more like Donald Trump than Adam Kinzinger, but I think conventional Democratic wisdom still thinks the so-called GOP “moderate” (defined as anyone who’s not a drooling bigot) poses the greater threat.
Although I resent having to look at Bailey’s face for another three months, I’m not worried that this fool will unseat Pritzker.
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