CLINTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WXYZ) — Controversy is swirling Wednesday over a tweet sent out by the official Michigan Republican Party Twitter account, which alluded that gun control legislation could lead to a repeat of the Holocaust.
The tweet sparked outrage from some members of the Jewish community, including Republicans, but the party's chairperson isn’t backing down. The Michigan GOP held a press conference Wednesday afternoon to defend their position.
“We are a different Republican Party," GOP Chair Kristina Karamo said during Wednesday's press conference. "We are not the Republican Party who apologizes and run away from our positions.”
Karamo was elected MI GOP Chair in February after receiving the party's nomination for secretary of state last November, running against Joeclyn Benson in the general election.
She doubled down on the tweet about gun control that referenced the Holocaust, sparking outrage from some in the Jewish community who attended the press conference to confront Karamo about the tweet.
“Take it down," said Rabbi Asher Lopatin, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council/AJC. "Talk to other people, to Jews, to other people who have suffered, to many other people and really please don't offend our community."
“Let me ask you this: do you speak for every Jewish person?" Karamo asked, to which Lopatin responded, "Absolutely not."
"Ok, so you speak for yourself,” Karamo responded.
Lopatin confronted Karamo about the tweet during the press conference but Karamo did not apologize.
“There's a difference between learning from history and exploiting history and trivializing history and I want to know, did your group ask any Jews? Did you consult with any Jewish people? Because our community is hurting and offended, and even if you didn't mean that, they are," Lopatin said during the briefing. “The fact that it wasn't even taken down when I believe you had a lot of complaints shows a lack of sensitivity, almost a lack — I hate to say it — a lack of decency because it’s exploiting the Holocaust."
Karamo's full press conference below:
“It’s politically motivated and disingenuous to accuse us of trivializing the mass murder of people, that is totally disingenuous,” Karamo said. “Pointing to historical events is not trivializing them, it’s learning... Learning from the horrors of history helps us build a better society.”
Karamo was adamant the tweet was not offensive and did not exploit the Holocaust.
"Was I celebrating people being mass murdered? Absolutely not. I was pointing to a historical event,” Karamo said.
Jamie Roe is a Republican strategist, who previously worked for the Michigan GOP. He agrees with Karamo’s views on gun control but feels the tweet is not an appropriate way to get that view across.
“I think using such imagery is wrong... Using Holocaust imagery for anything other than discussing the Holocaust is a bad idea,” Roe said. "People made mistakes like this before. If you admit a mistake, people are willing to forgive you and I hope she does admit she made a mistake here.”
However during the press conference, Karamo did not offer an apology.
“There are people who claim to be Republican that are also upset — so be it," Karamo said. "They have other agendas that have nothing to do with what I stated."
Throughout the press briefing, Karamo continued to defend the tweet, citing other historical events that could've been referenced as well. She was adamant the tweet will stay up, and that the backlash is an attempt by Democrats to distract the conversation from gun control.
“That’s just the Michigan Democrats agenda. Because the Michigan Democrats don't want to talk about the issue. They instead want to draw controversy over the historical comparison,” Karamo said. “Why people are offended — they chose to be offended in my opinion."
“To tell Jewish people not to be sensitive about the Holocaust is trivializing the Holocaust,” Lopatin said.
During the briefing, Karamo said no Republican had contacted her to take the tweet down.
