The Anti-Semites Who Call Progressives Nazis
Gina Carano and the curious phenomenon of anti-Nazi anti-Semitism
On February 10, 2020, Disney-owned Lucasfilm announced that Gina Carano, the actor known for portraying Cara Dune on The Mandalorian, would no longer be a part of the franchise. For months, Carano had caught the ire of liberal fans of the show incensed by her anti-mask, transphobic, and anti-democracy posts to social media. At last she was cut loose after posting an anti-Semitic tweet in which she compared Trump supporters to Jews in Europe under Nazi rule.
Carano’s anti-Semitic tweet is worth examining in depth because it reveals important features of present-day anti-Semitism that make it not only hateful but dishonest.
Anti-Semitism has always been stupid. Anti-Semites in the post-WWI Weimar Republic believed in the stupid theory that Germany had only lost the war because of a back-stabbing cabal of deep state Jews. But until recently, anti-Semites were at least honest enough to admit that they were out to smear the Jews. Today’s anti-Semites seems not to be so self-aware.
Instead, most present-day anti-Semitism is ironically couched in terms that explicitly condemn not the Jews but their Nazi persecutors. But because this bizarre postmodern strain of anti-Semitism rewrites history…
