The campaign flyer arrived in the mail yesterday at the New To Las Vegas world headquarters on behalf of Republican U.S. Senate challenger Sam Brown. It depicts a photoshopped image of Jacky Rosen, the Democratic incumbent running for a second term representing Nevada, with legs spread sitting in front of the U.S. Capitol surrounded by piles of hundred-dollar bills. “MULTIMILLIONAIRE AND CAREER POLITICIAN JACKY ROSEN GOT RICH IN WASHINGTON, While Voting to Make Your Life More Expensive,” the headline reads.
The copy doesn’t say it, but Rosen is Jewish. And the set-up of the image bears more than a little resemblance to a drawing in The Poisonous Mushroom (Der Giftpilz), an infamous antisemitic children’s book published in Nazi Germany in 1938. The original cartoon depicts a Jewish speculator with legs spread sitting on a big, fat bag labeled (in German) “Gold” in front of the “Stock Exchange.”
Look at the two images nearby, and judge for yourself.
After World War II (and the Holocaust), the publisher of The Poisonous Mushroom, Julius Streicher, was convicted and hanged at Nuremberg for crimes against humanity because of his antisemitism. Prosecutors specifically cited The Poisonous Mushroom as evidence against him.
In my view, this political flyer as constructed, playing on ancient tropes linking Jews to ill-gotten money, is antisemitic as hell. But that’s not even the most shocking part. Besides the fact that it’s not very often that Republican campaign literature criticizes the accumulation of wealth, this wasn’t sent out by some crazy, third-party political operation.
It was paid for and mailed by the Nevada Republican Central Committee, the state’s main establishment GOP operation, based in Las Vegas. And according to its filings, a number of Jews made campaign contributions to the NRCC. Folks like Miriam Adelson, Steve Wynn, Jared Kushner and his dad. Do they know how their money is being spent?
A flyer like this shows how desperate the Republicans are in this Senate race as November 5 nears. Brown, 40, a decorated injured war veteran who has only lived in Nevada for six years and has never held office, is running 15 points behind Rosen, according to the latest poll I can find, even as Kamala Harris and Donald J. Trump are in a dead heat for Nevada’s six electoral votes. Brown has mounted a terrible campaign, refusing media appearances, coming unprepared to the race’s only debate last week with Rosen, and seemingly on the stump only part-time. Chuck Muth, a Las Vegas conservative activist and Brown supporter, just wrote on his lively Muth’s Truths blog, “The problem is there’s been no ‘there’ there beyond the wounded warrior narrative.”
I find this baffling, as there is such a clear contrast on policy between the two candidates. Rosen, 67, who was a one-term Congresswoman before running for the Senate, is a garden-variety liberal strongly backing Kamala Harris. Brown is a hard-core conservative who has been endorsed by Donald J. Trump. Rosen and Brown differ on just about every conceivable issue. Of course, Nevada politics are somewhere in the center, which is why both candidates are hedging their long-held positions. Most notably, in this pro-choice state, Brown is trying to disavow past comments endorsing an absolute ban on abortion. Rosen’s posture might be a tad closer to the middle than Brown’s.
But Nazi imagery partly funded by Jews?
Miriam Adelson, widow of casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, is the world’s richest Israeli (she has joint citizenship), with an estimated net worth of $29.9 billion and has given $100 million to Trump’s election effort. In May she gave $10,000 to the NRCC. Her family owns the Las Vegas Review-Journal, which despite falling to its lowest print circulation in 60 years is still Nevada’s dominant newspaper. In October the paper endorsed Brown–although the editorial made no mention of Rosen’s supposed wealth.
Other Jews who gave $10,000 to the NRCC included Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law; Charles Kushner, Jared’s father; Steve Wynn, ex-Las Vegas casino-owner now living in Palm Beach, and Bernard Marcus, co founder of The Home Depot. There likely are others; the filing runs for many pages. The NRCC reported receiving $4.7 million in the two-year election cycle through August 31, and undoubtedly a lot more since then.
But the notion, fueled by that campaign flyer, that Rosen is some rich fat cat is simply absurd. Outside groups estimate her family’s net worth at no more than $15 million–less than many of the retirees moving to Nevada to escape state income taxes elsewhere. Her husband is a radiologist. Since coming to Nevada four decades ago, she had a long career in business and tech while serving as a president of her synagogue before entering politics.
Sure, the couple lives in a nice house in the Las Vegas suburb of Henderson. But both Zillow and Redfin value the property at less than $1 million, basically double the $490,000 they paid for it way back in 1997, according to Clark County records. That’s an average compounded annual appreciation over 27 years of only 2.6%, and there’s still a mortgage. Not exactly Forbes 400 stuff (like Adelson, Wynn and Marcus).
I should note that the head of the NRCC, which sent out that flyer, is Michael J. McDonald, He is one of Nevada’s six “fake electors” who tried to interfere when Joseph R. Biden won the state in 2020. The six were indicted on state charges, but a judge threw out the charges saying they were brought in the wrong jurisdiction (Las Vegas, instead of Carson City, where the six “voted” before TV cameras.) Prosecutors have said they will appeal.
I invite readers and anyone referenced in here to comment below. No matter what is said, they won’t end up like Julius Streicher.
I hope this information reaches those donors who might be offended by this use of their donated funds. Meanwhile, Brown and the Nevada GOP I hope are aware of the clearcut onset of early dementia in Trump; his classic rambling and inability to follow a narrative; and his reference two days ago to the sexual equipment of Arnold Palmer (blasted by his daughter). Is that what you would want in the White House?????