Tuesday morning, the Trump Administration announced that it had struck a deal with Germany to return the last remaining Nazi on American soil after more than a decade of negotiations, and that the (much hated) Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency had descended on the Queens home of 95-year-old Jakiw Palij.
You’d think that there’s nothing more unifying than deporting a Nazi prison camp guard, but you would be wrong. Somehow, leftists, including a writer at GQ and a content creator for the left-leaning site, Upworthy, were pretty miffed that Trump — and ICE — got the win.
“New media artist” Thom Dunn was adamant that nabbing the Nazi was actually part of a nefarious plot on the part of the Trump Administration to disguise its own Nazi connections.
“These ICE agents don’t realize that someone else will come for them when they turn 95,” Dunn opined in a now-deleted tweet.
He added that deporting a Nazi was a sure sign of white supremacy (of course).
“PS deporting a 95-year-old Nazi guard is a really great way to use elder abuse as plausible deniability for your xenophobic white nationalist sympathies.”
Hold on, it’s xenophobic white nationalism to demand justice for a Nazi camp guard who is what exactly? pic.twitter.com/L1Pxz6Gs53
— CE Pascal (@PaterIndomitus) August 21, 2018
When more rational Twitter users pointed out that it is indeed a good thing that America is no longer home to a Nazi war criminal — even if he happens to be an elderly man, well beyond being a threat to his neighbors — Dunn doubled down, suggesting again that Trump’s actions were part of a cover-up.
“Not at all. As a Christian, I do believe in forgiveness, repentance, and reconciliation. But I also believe that justice is cheapened when it’s only delivered as a PR stunt by someone else to make himself look good. Your mileage may vary; that’s fine,” Dunn tweeted.
He added, “sigh* The self-congratulatory, melodramatic air around this story reads—to me—like Trump administration PR stunt. It lets them point and say, ‘See this? We can’t be white nationalists!’ despite the many other instances that say otherwise, without alienating that base, either.”
He wasn’t alone. After Dunn signed off with the suggestion that ICE should be wary of arresting Nazis since they themselves would be drawn out of hiding and arrested one day (for the same purpose, of course), GQ writer Nathaniel Friedman popped on with his own observation: that the incident was “staged” to make “ICE look noble and heroic.”
He later said he meant the tweet as a joke, and deleted it.
Fortunately, plenty of leftists were available to pick up the parade of horribles.
The Washington Post suggested the Trump Administration was “playing up” the incident in order to build sympathy for its immigration enforcement policies.
Seeking political advantage, GOP plays up role of ICE in deportation of Nazi collaborator https://t.co/rlqoCJXbKp
— Washington Post (@washingtonpost) August 21, 2018
Others tried to downplay.
So, first ICE separates 2000 Central American children from their parents. Then ICE deports one Nazi 70 years after his heinous crimes. And the RNC wants to crow about it?
— Caleb Ellinger (@CalebEllinger) August 21, 2018
Others made odd policy statements disguised as impossible-to-answer questions.
Why did ICE tear apart so many families before they went to deport an actual Nazi war criminal? https://t.co/c6jL4X75A1
— Asher Huey (@asherhuey) August 21, 2018
And still others refused to let go of their carefully constructed narrative.
When ICE shows up to deport a nazi pic.twitter.com/gQ1WAlmrpA
— Kim Jawn PHL (@FanSince09) August 21, 2018
Palij will be deported to Germany where he will likely remain under house arrest until German authorities determine the appropriate course of action.