FYI:
President Donald Trump hasn't endorsed a candidate in Pennsylvania's gubernatorial election next year, but Scott Wagner might have something close to it: Steve Bannon's stamp of approval.
Bannon, the divisive ex-Trump strategist, urged a conservative gathering at a St. Louis hotel on Sunday to support the Republican state senator from York County.
Conservatives could start “taking” the country back in Tuesday's U.S. Senate GOP primary in Alabama — where Bannon and Trump campaigned for different candidates — and “when Scott Wagner runs in Pennsylvania,” Bannon told the gathering.
Wagner, a Trump supporter who runs the municipal waste-hauling company he founded, spoke right before Bannon at the gathering, and criticized not only Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf but also his fellow Republican lawmakers.
Harrisburg, he said, is a “real swamp.”
Wagner told the crowd that his two-hour trip flying to St. Louis with Bannon left him “500 percent more emboldened.”
“Tomorrow in Pennsylvania the gloves are coming off and the message is, `the hardworking Pennsylvanians, you're being shafted by the corruption in Harrisburg, OK?“’ Wagner said. “Career politicians, Democrat and Republican. But I now see firsthand serving in the Senate. We now have a veto-proof majority, we went to 34. I watched Republican leaders giving our governor a free pass and you know what? Enough is enough.”
What Wagner was talking about, Bannon told the crowd, was not just about beating Democrats, but also the Republican establishment.
“The first thing we've got to get through is a corrupt and incompetent Republican establishment,” Bannon told the crowd to cheers.
Any yes, Wagner is an anti-Semite:
Pennsylvania Sen. Scott Wagner, a Trump-supporting Republican who’s running to become the state’s next governor, says he was just joking when he went on anti-Semitic rant about George Soros, a billionaire business magnate who donates generously to progressive causes and organizations.
During an appearance last Saturday at a festival in Luzerne County, Wagner told a tracker that he thinks Soros harbors “hatred for America.”
“You know what’s amazing is that a guy who came from Hungary — a Hungarian Jew — and made a fortune, and think where he came from, and he has an opinion of America that he does,” he said. “It’s just amazing to me.”
Perhaps anticipating allegations of anti-Semitism, Wagner was quick to tell the tracker, “I have a lot of friends who are Jewish.” Shortly thereafter, one of his handlers cut him off, telling the candidate his comments to the tracker were “feeding into his bullshit.”
Or at least wants the Anti-Semitic vote:
See, there is a connotation to referring to someone as a Jew in the context that he is some kind of political puppet master and that he hates America. The neo-Nazis who marched in Charlottesville (can someone explain the significance of tiki torches?) chanted, "Jews will not replace us."
It was pretty clear where they were coming from.
And by whistling to this breed of dog, Wagner is playing to them. Sure, in response to Charlottesville, he said he abhorred racism and discrimination in any form. But by calling out Soros as "a Hungarian Jew," he sort of winks to those who don't share his revulsion for racism and discrimination and hopes he can count on them for their support. (Same reason our president-for-the-time-being said there were some nice neo-Nazis, as if those exist.)
Wagner, of course, saw no need to apologize, even as several rabbis and preachers called him out. He is what he is.
To be sure, he didn't get his knickers in a knot over the accusations hurled by the religious leaders.
But he might have his knickers around his ankles. It's embarrassing and he might trip and hurt himself.
The news today explains this e-mail I received from Governor Tom Wolf’s (D. PA) re-election campaign:
One of President Trump's biggest fans happens to also be a Republican candidate for governor here in Pennsylvania, and this weekend he took his disturbing fandom of the "alt-right" to a whole new level by sitting next to and praising Steve Bannon in St. Louis.
Yes, the same Steve Bannon who co-founded Breitbart News and who helped craft much of the Trump administration's most xenophobic policies.
If you want to send a message to the Republicans running for governor that Pennsylvania won't tolerate candidates who pal around with racists like Bannon, then chip in $3 or more to Tom Wolf for Governor right now.
The Republican who praised Bannon is the same candidate who said he "didn't want to get involved in a national debate" after the events of Charlottesville, where white supremacists tried to intimidate and terrorize the people of Virginia with torches and violence. There's no way we can let this person near the governor's mansion.
This is bigger than political parties. This is about what it means to be an American. They need to answer to the people they serve and represent -- not sit with someone with ties to white nationalist groups.
Pennsylvania was built on the values of freedom and inclusion. We need a governor who will always protect the diverse views, cultures, identities, religions, and shared life experiences that have contributed to the creation of this melting pot we call home. That governor is Tom Wolf.
If you agree, then make sure we have the resources to build the infrastructure for a campaign that can defeat this hate. Chip in $3 or more now.
Thanks for fighting with us,
Jeffrey
Jeffrey Sheridan
Campaign Manager
Tom Wolf for Governor
Let’s keep hatred and bigotry out of the Harrisburg. Click here to donate to Wolf’s re-election campaign.