A Minnesota Republican Party county official has resigned after comparing the state’s mask mandate to Jews being forced to wear Stars of David in Nazi Germany, according to CNN.
The black and white image posted on the Wabasha County Facebook page shows a Nazi officer and a man wearing the six-pointed star of David. The image was captioned, “Just put on the star and quit complaining, it’s not that hard” at the top of the image, and, “Just put on the mask and stop complaining” at the bottom.
Minnesota Republican Party Chairwoman Jennifer Carnahan echoed county officials who claimed that the group’s Facebook page was hacked. But, she retracted that assertion in a statement confirming the official’s resignation on Tuesday.
“The Republican Party of Minnesota has learned the Wabasha County Facebook page was not hacked last night, as believed by the Wabasha County Chair. The offensive picture was unfortunately posted by a board member who has resigned effective immediately at the party’s request. We are saddened by the vitriolic post and hope as we move forward that Republicans and Democrats alike will maintain the highest level of integrity, respect, and sensitivity. The Wabasha County Board and MN GOP apologizes for this disappointing post.”
The County board member who posted the meme was not identified.
The meme was criticized by the Jewish Community Action who shared a screenshot of the post and ask the Minnesota GOP to “tell Wabasha Republicans to stop using imagery like this. It betrays a total lack of both empathy and education.”
The post was an apparent reference to the mask mandate imposed by Democratic Gov. Tim Walz on Saturday.
Republican party official in Minnesota resigns after comparing the state’s mask mandate to Nazi Germany.
