David Hogg d n c

perhaps redumbent re parkland / belated

mma

Charlie Kirk says David Hogg looks like “a survivor from a concentration camp”

05/27/25

no lnx

Dem shows how to take a Republican smear and hit back

Photo by Dan Burton on Unsplash

John Stoehr May 01, 2025

A word about David Hogg, Reince Priebus and how to combat Republican smears. But first, here’s a video. It’s short. Watch it.

As you may know, Priebus is the former chairman of the Republican National Committee. ABC News’ Jonathan Karl’s question to him is about the apparent conflict of interest Hogg has. Hogg is the vice chair of the Democratic National Committee, but he’s also involved in a progressive outfit that’s pledged to raise $20 million to primary out incumbent Democrats that it sees as too comfortable to stay.

The question is a serious one. Priebus could have landed a punch Hogg couldn’t recover from. Instead, Priebus just couldn’t help himself. He decided to smear the Democrats by way of smearing Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whose deportation case has dominated headlines for weeks.

“The Democrats are a complete mess,” Priebus said. “They’ve got no message. They’ve got no movement. They’ve got no leader. It doesn’t get any worse than that. You’re defending Harvard. You’re traveling to El Salvador for MS-13 gang members” (meaning Kilmar Abrego Garcia).

Another Democrat – another older Democrat – would have done a couple things. One, ignore the lie about Abrego Garcia being a gang member. Two, accept the lie as valid in order to demonstrate some kind of bona fides. This is what U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen did when he said: “I am not defending the man. I’m defending the rights of this man to due process. And the Trump administration has admitted in court that he was wrongfully detained and wrongfully deported.”

Hogg does neither. He takes the smear head on.

“This was not an MS-13 gang member and you damn well know that,” Hogg said. “The administration admitted that it was wrong. In America, we have due process and we are a land of law and order. This administration keeps showing time and time again that they do not care what the Supreme Court says, they do not care about the rule of law and you cannot defend sending people to another country.”

There is risk in this. After all, this is America. It’s a plain reality that a lot of white people are going to look at a brown Spanish-speaking immigrant of Central American extraction as a gang member simply because they are terrible people. To them, men like Kilmar Abrego Garcia are already guilty of something on account of who they are.

But I think the tradeoff is worth it. By centering the smear, Hogg put ownership of it back on Reince Priebus’ shoulders, thus calling into question the character of a man who would stoop so low. “Oh, come on” was Priebus’ feeble retort to Hogg’s “and you damn well know that.”

The other benefit is robbing the Republicans of validation and the appearance of a consensus. It robs them of more chances to keep pushing and pushing with greater lies and smears and bad faith, until it’s impossible for the Democrats to take their own side in the fight.

Another thing that an older Democrat would have done that Hogg does not do is dismiss the lie as distraction. That word doesn’t get enough scrutiny. What it means is this: “I’m not going to bother debating racism with racists. Instead, I’m going to try appealing to their wallets.”

This thinking was evident in comments made to The Hill recently by an unnamed Democratic operative. “People can’t afford eggs, and … you’re flying to sit with someone who’s accused of being in a gang,” they said.

“Republicans have given us such an opportunity with DOGE and … with Trump tanking the economy. Obviously, you can walk and chew gum at the same time, but I don’t think we can take our eyes off the prize in terms of talking about real world impacts and how people are being hurt in their everyday lives by some of these policies.

“Democrats want to think that everyone has the same morals and values that we do, and we want to think that everyone’s outraged by the same things that we are and we want to be the ones to help people and stand up for the moral injustices. That doesn’t necessarily win elections though, and last cycle was proof positive of that. We need to step back and wait for someone to be deported who has a really compelling story that’s devastating that Average Joe’s upset about.”

Translation: when the Trump regime deports a white person, then we can talk. As long the subject is a brown Spanish-speaking immigrant of Central American extraction, all this is wasted effort and a distraction.

I posted this to Bluesky last week and said it was a textbook example of Democrat conceding to white power. A shrewd reader demurred. “That's not conceding to white power. It is agreeing with white power.”

It’s also misreading the moment. More polls are showing majorities disapproving of the president’s handling of immigration (and virtually every other major issue). I don’t think that’s because voters have suddenly rediscovered their love for the rule of law. (They elected Donald Trump, after all.) What’s happening is the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia is generating a kind of “media ambience” that people can feel without actually understanding the details of his case. A similar ambience about prices (ie, eggs) informed the last election.

There’s already “a really compelling story that’s devastating that Average Joe’s upset about.” And Democrats like Hogg are refusing to accept Republican bad faith that might dilute that story’s impact.

Also read: If you're not furious about this yet, you should be

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GOP-backed House nominee posted a false claim that Jewish people “gave up their firearms to Hitler,” spurring the Holocaust

Special ProgramsGuns & Public Safety

Written by Eric Hananoki

Published 09/17/24 12:00 PM EDT

Right-wing commentator and U.S. House nominee Lily Tang Williams repeatedly shared a false meme criticizing Jewish people for supposedly giving “up their firearms to Hitler” and suggesting that led to their deaths in the Holocaust. The New Hampshire Republican even doubled down on the meme when apparently shown a fact check.

Williams is a public speaker and commentator who has appeared in conservative media outlets, including Fox News, Newsmax TV, and Tim Pool’s podcast. She won the September 10 Republican primary in New Hampshire’s 2nd Congressional District. The National Republican Congressional Committee, the Republican’s House campaign arm, has backed her campaign. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), a top-ranked House Republican, has also endorsed Williams.

As Media Matters previously reported, conservatives have repeatedly promoted a meme on social media claiming that Jewish people “gave up their firearms to Hitler.” The meme reads: “To all the kids that walked out of school to protest guns. These are the shoes of Jews that gave up their firearms to Hitler. They were led into gas chambers, murdered and buried in mass graves. Pick up a history book and you’ll realize what happens when u give up freedoms and why we have them.”

Williams reposted that meme on social media in June 2022 and April 2023. She wrote: “Remember what happened to Jews after they gave up their guns to Hitler. Our #2A exists to prevent tyranny. If you want to reduce mass shootings in schools, repeal gun free zones where the criminals always target our most vulnerable people.”

She also directed the meme toward Parkland, Florida, mass shooting survivor David Hogg, writing: “To the ppl who were in the ⁦@AMarch4OurLives⁩, who are demanding for more #guncontrol, research & study history on your own. Don’t rely on schools & media to tell you the truth: what happens when citizens are disarmed by their gov. #lily4congress ⁦@davidhogg111.”

The line of attack regarding the Holocaust and gun control has also been employed by right-wing media figures over the years.

The argument is a severe misreading of history. As PolitiFact wrote in 2019, “The message that gun control measures helped cause the deaths of Holocaust victims is wrong. Let's make something clear: The Nazis did deny guns specifically to Jews. But, given the size of their forces and their methods of confiscation and extermination, this is a trivial factor. The notion that it would have made any difference is unreasonable.”

Williams shared and disputed that PolitiFact article, writing: “They need to listen to the survivors of the Holocaust.”

Republican politicians have also drawn criticism for making the argument. In 2015, for instance, right-wing commentator and then-Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson made a similar analogy about the Holocaust and gun control.

In response, Holocaust scholar Alan E. Steinweis wrote: “I can think of no serious work of scholarship on the Nazi dictatorship or on the causes of the Holocaust in which Nazi gun control measures feature as a significant factor.” He added: “If the United States is going to arrive at a workable compromise solution to its gun problem, it will not be accomplished through the use of historical analogies that are false, silly and insulting.”

Media Matters has documented instances over the years of Republicans backing commentators with histories of vitriolic or extremist rhetoric when they run for office.

---===

GOP-backed House nominee posted a false claim that Jewish people “gave up their firearms to Hitler,” spurring the Holocaust

Special ProgramsGuns & Public Safety

Written by Eric Hananoki

Published 09/17/24 12:00 PM EDT

The line of attack regarding the Holocaust and gun control has also been employed by right-wing media figures over the years.

Williams shared and disputed that PolitiFact article, writing: “They need to listen to the survivors of the Holocaust.”

Media Matters has documented instances over the years of Republicans backing commentators with histories of vitriolic or extremist rhetoric when they run for office.

---

an 2 23

Although David Hogg lives in a state that finds itself dominated by Republicans in 2023, the 22-year-old Floridian has become one of the United States' best-known gun control activists. Hogg is a survivor of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre that occurred in Parkland, Florida on Valentine's Day 2018, and he has often used social media to speak out about gun control and the mass shootings that are so common in the United States.

Hogg addressed gun control once again in a Twitter thread posted on February 26, noting what the U.S. Constitution has to say about militias. And it didn't take right-wing Republicans long to become enraged by his comments.

Hogg posted,"You have no right to a gun. You are not a militia. When you're talking about your second amendment rights, you're talking about a state’s right to have what is today the National Guard. The modern interpretation of 2A is a ridiculous fraud pushed for decades by the gun lobby."

By "2A," Hogg is referring to the Second Amendment, which, he argues, Republicans have been misinterpreting.

"We need to stop using the NRA's talking points and the false interpretation of 2A they have been pushing for decades," Hogg argued. "Their version of 2A is younger than I am…. The future the gun lobby is pushing for is one with absolutely no gun regulation whatsoever where anyone can get a gun. That is the path we are going down right now. They want bad guys to have guns so they can use the rise in gun violence to sell more guns to scared people."

Republican attorney **Jenna Ellis**, famous for promoting former President Donald Trump's false claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him, was quick to slam Hogg and tweeted, "So the Constitution is a living, breathing, fluid document, except for THIS ONE ISSUE ONLY ALWAYS because it suits your (false) narrative."

Twitter user David Benjamin wrote that Hogg is a "paid shill for the [George] Soros crew."

Far-right talk radio host Lori Mills responded by posting, "Considering my state Government puts criminal rights above victims rights, my 2nd amendment right is and always will be mine. Don't break into my home, don't threaten my family and my gun will leave you alone."

Hogg's thread was mostly attacked by Republicans, but some Libertarians weighed in as well. @LPNational tweeted, "Our rights aren't subject to what you or any tyrant think we need."

Read David Hogg’s Twitter thread at this link.

prominent post uvalde

https://www.alternet.org/2022/07/david-hogg-disrupts-house-hearing/

pow https://www.alternet.org/2022/07/pro-gun-gop-rep-makes-tall-accusation-about-parkland-shooting-survivor-david-hogg/

dingdong?

https://www.alternet.org/2021/01/nra/

"Thoughts and prayers."

"The NRA's claimed financial status has finally met its moral status: bankrupt."

—NY Attorney General Letitia James

That is what many opponents of the National Rifle Association wryly stated in response to news that the pro-gun lobby group had officially filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Friday in the United States.

In a statement on its website, the NRA—which promotes the interests of the gun industry and gun owners unbothered by the unparalleled level of gun violence seen in the country—said it was leaving New York state, where it is currently registered, to restructure in Texas as part of a "new strategic plan" it is implementing.

"Thoughts and prayers to the NRA fanatical fiends who bear the blood of tens of thousands on their paws," said Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) in response. "The world will be a better place when the NRA is finally destroyed. Looks like that day is closer."

While the NRA claims in the statement that it is "in its strongest financial condition in years," it said the strategic plan "involves utilizing the protection of the bankruptcy court" and "dumping New York" so that it can reincorporate in Texas to continue its activities without such a "corrupt political and regulatory environment."

Brady United, which has called for the NRA's dissolution for decades, said Friday that "news of the NRA filing for bankruptcy is just the latest proof that the NRA has cheated its members and American taxpayers in pursuit of an extremist agenda that has made our country markedly less safe."

They told us the @NRA was too powerful, that the politics were too difficult. They were wrong. Today, the @NRA fi… https://t.co/DirmJAZAay

— Peter Ambler (@Peter Ambler)1610746222.0

David Hogg—one of the survivors of the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida who later became a vocal gun control advocate—was among those who welcomed the news late Friday afternoon and thanked all the tireless activism over the years focused on the NRA's deadly brand of influence peddling.

Thoughts and prayers https://t.co/bEkZ29n3WU

— David Hogg (@David Hogg )1610745956.0

"Don't read this as the NRA is going away," Hogg added. "They are not yet," he said, "but this is one step closer."

NRA fleeing New York, filing for bankruptcy, due to NY AG lawsuit (via @KLBKNews) https://t.co/xKtFWMVspi

— Violence Policy Center (@Violence Policy Center)1610749230.0

In August, as Common Dreams reported at the time, New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit against the NRA which sought to dissolve the organization based on widespread evidence of corruption and financial self-dealing that violated the state's requirements for nonprofit status.

In a tweet on Friday responding to the NRA's move to divorce itself from New York, James said: "The NRA's claimed financial status has finally met its moral status: bankrupt."

"While we review its bankruptcy filing," she added, "we will not allow the NRA to use this or any other tactic to evade accountability and my office's oversight."

FROM YOUR SITE ARTICLES

https://www.alternet.org/2019/03/nra-official-contacted-sandy-hook-truther-to-discuss-conspiracy-theory-on-parkland-shooting-report/

Wednesday, HuffPost reported that Mark Richardson, a National Rifle Association official and coordinator, got in touch with a noted Sandy Hook conspiracy theorist to speculate that the Parkland shooting in February 2018 may have been an inside job:

NRA officer Mark Richardson emailed Wolfgang Halbig, a noted harasser of parents of Sandy Hook Elementary School victims, to float a conspiracy theory about the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where 17 people were killed last year.

“Just like [Sandy Hook], there is so much more to this story,” Richardson said in an email dated Feb. 15, 2018 ― just one day after the Florida shooting. Twenty children and six adults were killed during the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. “[The Parkland shooter] was not alone.” The email was sent from his official NRA email address.

Reached for comment by HuffPost, Richardson doubled down. “Since an individual who was prohibited from the school was aloud [sic] to pass through the front doors with a backpack containing a long gun, it is a legitimate question to ask if he had assistance concerning access to the school,” he wrote. “No one else seems to be interested enough to even ask the question?”

Conspiracy theories about the Sandy Hook shooting have persisted for years. Far-right InfoWars host Alex Jones claimed that the whole thing was staged by the government with child actors and no kids were harmed ― which ultimately led to a lawsuit against him by parents of the victims.

With the Parkland shooting, conspiracy theories have tended to focus more on the student activists like David Hogg and Emma González, who have led the March For Our Lives youth campaign to effect reform of our nation’s gun laws. Hogg, in particular, has been the target of vicious smears, including claims that he wasn’t actually at the shooting or was backed by Hungarian billionaire George Soros.

The NRA has long agitated to crush tougher gun control laws in this country. But for its officials to be directly engaged in trutherism about school shootings is a new low.