GOP Rep. Vicki Kraft Compares Gov. Inslee to Hitler in Editorial Board Interview
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | October 1, 2020
SEATTLE — In an endorsement interview with The Columbian newspaper editorial board that was recorded and posted online by the paper, Clark County Republican Representative Vicki Kraft compared Gov. Jay Inslee to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, describing the “Stay Healthy, Stay Safe” executive orders as “acting as a dictator.”
Kraft further stated that “Hitler was a dictator. One man, dictating to his country and trying to dictate to the world, what needs to happen. Governor Inslee is acting as dictator. He alone has been the one person making decisions for every person in the 17th legislative district and across Washington.”
Kraft has been a vocal opponent of public health measures to combat the COVID pandemic since it began, claiming that it’s good if more people get infected with COVID-19, stating that she would refuse a COVID vaccine, and opposing social distancing and mask mandates that public health officials and doctors say will help stop the pandemic and allow us to resume normal activity more quickly. Kraft’s comments show a sustained and dangerous disregard for the facts and science around COVID-19 and her policy prescriptions would prolong the pandemic, hurt our economy, and lead to the deaths of countless more Washingtonians.
The 17th LD House race is expected to be close in the November general election – in the August primary, Kraft led her Democratic opponent Tanisha Harris by just 859 votes.
“Kraft is one of the most reckless and dangerous politicians in the state, and she shows it again here,” said Tina Podlodowski, chair of the Washington State Democratic Party. “Not only is this comparison incredibly offensive, but advocating against smart and effective public health measures like this puts our whole community in danger. But Kraft doesn’t really seem to ever care about putting the people of Clark County at risk – whether it comes to gun violence, vaccines for kids, just about anything, Kraft always takes a wild and dangerous position, far out to the right wing. Politicians and organizations that associate with or support Kraft really need to take a good look in the mirror and think about who they are standing with and what that says about them and their values.”
Kraft’s full quote in the clip is as follows:
“Thank you, Greg. Let me really be clear – first of all, I never saw, I’ve never seen yet, a Nazi flag. Maybe there was one there, who knows. You know what – somebody could have come and been the plant and be there with one, let’s just say it, right? That’s kind of the unfortunate, very pathetic political climate we’re in these days. If there was a Nazi flag there, along with the tons of US flags, US flag shirts, freedom, standing for our constitutional rights, people in shirts, that I’m surrounding myself with, that were there at that event – if there was a Nazi flag, let me tell you exactly what that would mean. Nazi represents Hitler. Hitler was a dictator. One man, dictating to his country and trying to dictate to the world, what needs to happen. Governor Inslee is acting as dictator. He alone has been the one person making decisions for every person in the 17th legislative district and across Washington. The legislature has not, in any meaningful way, been involved in these conversations. That’s not bipartisan.”
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