Kanye West, Tommy Tuberville and the antisemitic, racist, no good, very bad weekend

Rex Huppke, USA TODAY
·5 min read
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It was a big weekend for high-profile, public displays of antisemitism and racism. (That sentence will one day be the answer to the question: “How were things going in America in the fall of 2022?”)

Kanye West – who now goes as Ye and was hailed a hero by many Republicans last week because he wore a “White Lives Matter” shirt – went on an antisemitic rant, writing Sunday on Twitter that he’s “going death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE.”

That was met by silence from the aforementioned Republicans, with the notable exception of Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, who on Sunday tweet-praised West’s “independent thinking.” Is that what they’re calling it these days?

Kanye. Elon. Trump. Bigotry?

The Twitter account for Republicans on the U.S. House Judiciary Committee had a tweet up all weekend that read “Kanye. Elon. Trump.” Nobody bothered to take it down – or respond to it – after Kanye declared war on Jewish people. That’s either lazy or unconcerned, neither of which is good.

An Oct. 9, 2022, tweet by Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, about Jewish people resulted in his account being suspended on social media. Spokespeople for Twitter and Instagram said Ye posted messages that violated their policies.
An Oct. 9, 2022, tweet by Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, about Jewish people resulted in his account being suspended on social media. Spokespeople for Twitter and Instagram said Ye posted messages that violated their policies.

West’s tweet got his Twitter account suspended, but the awfulness vacuum was swiftly filled by racist rants from two sitting Republican lawmakers, Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.

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Reparations? Ahhh, I see what you did there, Sen. Tuberville

At one of former President Donald Trump’s (hate) rallies Saturday night, Tuberville said this of Democrats: “They’re pro-crime. They want crime. They want crime because they want to take over what you got. They want to control what you have. They want reparations because they think the people that do the crime are owed that.”

If I run that through my Racist White Guy Translator it reads: “Black people are all criminals.” How subtle. It makes me long for the days when people at least took the time to veil their racist comments. Now they’re just stripped bare and tossed right out in the open.

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Tommy Tuberville is in his second year as a U.S. senator from Alabama.
Tommy Tuberville is in his second year as a U.S. senator from Alabama.

There’s also the seemingly important fact that, according to FBI data, the majority of people who commit crimes are white. But I wouldn’t want to toss a fact at Tuberville. He’d probably break out in hives.

Sadly, these are not insignificant people

There’s a tendency to write off comments like these as the ramblings of insignificant trolls, but I’ll remind you the examples cited so far came from: a rapper and fashion designer who is one of the most famous people in the world; the top law enforcement officer in Indiana; and a sitting U.S. senator. They are not insignificant.

And then there’s Marjorie Taylor Greene, who should be insignificant but, because the universe is testing our will to live, is not.

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MTG and the 'great replacement theory'

At another Trump rally on Sunday, Greene took the "great replacement theory – a belief that there’s an effort afoot to replace majority white populations with nonwhite people – and gave it a big old hug, saying that “illegal aliens are on the verge of replacing you, replacing your jobs, and replacing your kids in school. And coming from all over the world, they’re also replacing your culture.”

That is, as we say in the basic-human-decency biz, abhorrent. It’s also complete nonsense.

The avowed white supremacist who shot and killed 10 people at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, in May was inspired by the so-called theory (and let's be clear: There is nothing "great" about it). It’s not the kind of belief a sitting members of Congress should be peddling, but if we’re being fair, Greene isn’t the kind of person who should be a sitting member of Congress. And yet …

Race and history circle us: Where I was when a white gunman killed 10 Black Americans in Buffalo

'I'm not going to say he's being racist.' Of course you're not.

If the end is near – and at this point, I’m rooting for it – West, Rokita, Tuberville and Greene are the Four Jackasses of the Apocalypse. But what’s somehow louder than their thunderously repugnant rhetoric is the silence from the political party that embraces them.

Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska appeared to be the only Republican addressing Tuberville’s comments on Sunday, telling NBC News’ “Meet the Press”: “I’m not going to say he’s being racist.”

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You may not want to say it, Rep. Bacon, but it’s true. If you took out your iPhone and said, “Siri, show me something racist,” Siri would direct you to Tuberville’s Saturday rant.

The fact is ... facts aren't on your side

Bacon continued: “But the fact is we can’t ignore we have a 40-50% violent crime increase.”

That’s also factually incorrect – the FBI reported last week that the U.S. crime rate largely held steady in 2021 – and it’s irrelevant to the racism in question.

Anyhoo, I hate to keep harping on the year, but it’s 2022 and we have people with a lot of power and a lot of fame comfortably saying they’re “going death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE” (speaking of facts, Ye, it's DEFCON, you blockhead), saying Black people are “the people that do the crime” and telling white people that nonwhite immigrants are “on the verge of replacing you."

The rapper Ye, also known as Kanye West, was locked out of his Twitter and Instagram accounts. Spokespeople for Twitter and Instagram said Oct. 9, 2022, that Ye posted messages violating their policies.
The rapper Ye, also known as Kanye West, was locked out of his Twitter and Instagram accounts. Spokespeople for Twitter and Instagram said Oct. 9, 2022, that Ye posted messages violating their policies.

They’re saying it without fear of repercussion, and many of the people they’re saying it to are lapping it up because – lo and behold – they agree.

Call out Kanye, and Tuberville, and Greene – loudly

There’s one thing that connects all these people: the disturbingly silent Republican Party.

That leaves the rest of us with a choice: Stay silent, or make some noise.

Grab your bullhorns, folks. I say the more noise the better.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Kanye, Tuberville antisemitic, racist remarks must be rebuked by GOP