From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, May 5, 2020
Pennsylvania lawmaker compares governor’s handling of coronavirus data to Nazi Germany
Republican State Representative Cris Dush of Pennsylvania has compared Democratic Governor Tom Wolf’s refusal to release some coronavirus data and information to the actions of Nazi Germany, local media reports.
“More and more I go back to the German Democratic Nationalist Socialist Party, the Nazi party. I go to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the USSR,” Dush said during a House State Government Committee yesterday. “This is a socialist playbook.”
State Rep. Kevin Boyle, the committee’s ranking Democrat, condemned the comparison. “Chairman, this is outrageous. Stop it with the Nazi references. It is offensive and wrong, stop this,” he said, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
“It’s a statement of history. It’s history. It’s history,” Dush responded. “I have to say that it’s important for the people of this state to start having access to information rather than having it blown off to the side and hidden for an agenda.”
State Rep. Jared Solomon, who is Jewish, tells the Inquirer that after the hearing, on the House floor with all members present, Dush apologized for his remarks.
— JTA
