Protesters decry Catskills bookstore banner comparing Trump to Nazis
Inquiring Minds Bookstore and Cafe in Saugerties displays name of GOP nominee superimposed over Nazi flag
An upstate New York bookstore display containing the name “Trump” superimposed over a Nazi flag has spurred outrage, including from the Anti-Defamation League and supporters of the Republican nominee.
Some 20 protesters demonstrated Wednesday outside the Inquiring Minds Bookstore and Cafe in the village of Saugerties against the banner, which also read “Make America Hate Again.” Some demonstrators held Trump signs.
“This crosses the line. This is not OK,” Angie Minew, a resident of Saugerties, told the Hudson Valley News Network.
Supporters of Hillary Clinton staged a counter-protest.
The bookstore’s owner, Brian Donoghue, said he was exercising his First Amendment right to free speech in suggesting Trump’s polices are reminiscent of those of the Nazis.
Trump supporters come out against use of swastika in Inquiring Minds bookstore in Saugerties https://t.co/ltSAreInVo
— Tania Barricklo (@tbarricklo) October 19, 2016
“I thought that it was important to call attention to parallels that I see between the rise of Trump’s candidacy and the rise of the Brownshirts in Nazi Germany,” he said, according to the Hudson Valley News Network.
The Anti-Defamation League’s New York regional director, Evan Bernstein, decried the banner.
“Using the symbol of Nazism to make a political point is highly inappropriate and repugnant,” Bernstein said in a statement. “Such an offensive display has no place in Saugerties or in our civil discourse. There are better ways to make a point about the election and the candidates’ views without drawing a comparison to a genocidal regime that was responsible for the death of six million Jews and millions of others during the Holocaust.”
Trump’s calls to ban Muslim immigration to the United States and portrayal of Mexican immigrants as rapists have drawn ire across the political spectrum.
The display in Saugerties, which is located in the Catskill Mountains area about two hours north of New York City, also included books about the rise of Hitler and Nazi Germany.
Donoghue received a notice Tuesday from the local code enforcement officer informing him that the size of the sign violated village rules. The notice did not mention the banner’s content, the Daily Freeman reported.
The Times of Israel covers one of the most complicated, and contentious, parts of the world. Determined to keep readers fully informed and enable them to form and flesh out their own opinions, The Times of Israel has gradually established itself as the leading source of independent and fair-minded journalism on Israel, the region and the Jewish world.
We've achieved this by investing ever-greater resources in our journalism while keeping all of the content on our site free.
Unlike many other news sites, we have not put up a paywall. But we would like to invite readers who can afford to do so, and for whom The Times of Israel has become important, to help support our journalism by joining The Times of Israel Community. Join now and for as little as $6 a month you can both help ensure our ongoing investment in quality journalism, and enjoy special status and benefits as a Times of Israel Community member.
comments