GAGOP Chair Joins Russian Propaganda Machine
Saturday afternoon David Shafer, the chairman of the Georgia Republican Party, Quote Tweeted a message which is a clear example of propaganda from the Russian Mission to the United Nations that showed the roll call vote of a resolution titled, “Combating glorification of Nazism, neo-Nazism and other practices that contribute to fueling contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and related intolerance.”
Shafer’s ham-fisted attempt to tie Joe Biden to Nazism ignored several key facts, including but not limited to the wording of the resolution, it’s use as a false justification of Russia invading Ukraine, and most importantly that the United States has voted against similar resolutions dating back to 2005 under President George W. Bush. And yes, the Trump Administration voted against this resolution too.
Shafer was quickly called out for sharing Russian Propaganda but he seemed undeterred, even after several people posted links to the full explanation of our country’s rationale for voting no. The document included this key text, which Shafer left out of his tweet, “Today, however, the United States must once again express opposition to this resolution, a document most notable for its thinly veiled attempts to legitimize Russian disinformation campaigns denigrating neighboring nations and promoting the distorted Soviet narrative of much of contemporary European history, using the cynical guise of halting Nazi glorification.” Emphasis mine.
Instead of owning his mistake, Shafer attempted to pivot by further slamming the Biden Administration, telling Greg Bluestein at the AJC that, “The crisis on our own border, the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan and our diplomatic isolation on a range of issues should cause every American concern.” And on this statement Shafer is correct. However, we can still be concerned about those aspects of President Biden’s mishandling of those issues and also that David Shafer, the Chair of the Georgia GOP, has engaged in sharing Russian propaganda at the same time.
Other Republicans are concerned about all of these issues simultaneously, including former Cobb County GOP Chair, Jason Shepherd. Shepherd had challenged Shafer for the State Chair last year and is now on the GOP’s State Committee. Shepherd reacted by tweeting the following:
But Shepherd did not stop at simply criticizing Shafer, and decided to introduce a resolution formally censuring him as well.
Here is a rule all of us should follow to make not only our lives easier but to stop tarnishing the image and embarrassing the hell out of the Republican Party; don’t try to tie your political opponents to Nazis. It really is that simple. And every time someone does it makes it harder for anyone associated with the GOP to be credible about issues on the border, the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, and our diplomatic isolation on a range of issues that causes every American concern.
As of the moment we clicked the publish button on this post, Shafer has not taken down his Russian Propaganda Tweet. But he should.
