Wendy Rogers has done it again.
A political candidate and Arizona State Senator who has made a reputation for herself as the poster board of all things MAGA and White Christian Nationalism-Fascism who likes to frequent events with Anti Semite guest stars, glorify Confederate Generals like Robert E. Lee, and thinks the COVID vaccinations are the machinations of the Devil, Ms. Roger’s recently surpassed herself in political lowness with a post on social media saluting the German Neo-Fascist Alternative for Germany Party for two victories in local elections last week with the rallying cry of the NAZI’s.
While members of the Arizona Republican Party, according to AZ Central Columnist Laurie Roberts, have been silent on Ms. Roger’s beyond the pale posting (no surprise since among Arizona’s Republican superstars are MAGA apostates Kari Lake, Paul Gosar, Vince Leach, Mark Finchem, and Andy Biggs,) Arizona’s Democratic Legislative Leaders are not shy about condemning Roger’s fondness for NAZI slogans.
Senate Democratic Leader Mitzi Epstein commented:
“Murder and genocide were not the start of the Nazi Party in Germany. They started with hate. The Nazis defined targeted groups of people and used propaganda to spread hate against them. Let’s remember those targeted people, and the slow, deliberate hatred that was spread about them to falsely accuse them. Truth matters in a just and free nation. Nazis spread hateful lies.”
“Gay people, Black people, people with disabilities, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Roma and Polish people – the people from neighboring countries – and primarily Jews were targeted first with oppression and then murder. It started by limiting education, and career choices. Jews and targeted groups were not allowed to go to medical school or law school, and were not allowed to be paid by state funds. That was how the Nazis started their reign of terror.”
“The phrase that Sen Rogers posted was used as an anthem by the Nazis. The specific phrase she posted was used to call for Aryans to feel superior over all the world, and led to the German intention to dominate the world. The modern-day German anthem does not use that phrase. Thus, Sen Rogers is either woefully uninformed, or intentionally suggesting loathsome goals.”
“We lawmakers take an oath of office to uphold the US and AZ Constitution. The AZ Constitution includes Article 2, Section 2: “All political power is inherent in the people, and governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, and are established to protect and maintain individual rights.”
“Our Constitution certainly does not give power to Germany over all the world.”
“I call upon her to renounce and remove her post on social media, and if she does not, I believe that Sen. Rogers has broken her oath of office as a state senator.”
“I sincerely hope that she did not intend to call for the rise of any form of racism. I hope she did not intend to call for religious or any other kind of discrimination. I hope she is not celebrating the propaganda of hate. If she does not avow these loathsome intentions, I call up on her to remove and renounce her post on social media of Sept 1, 2024 at 7:48pm.”
Senator and Arizona Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (ADLCC) Chairperson Priya Sundareshan offered:
“This is shocking behavior to see in 2024 from an elected official, even for Rogers who has previously been censured by the Senate for her past anti-semitic behavior. Yet Republican leadership continue to reward her with committee chair positions. Democrats must gain control of the legislature this year to relegate this language to irrelevance.”
Earlier, she reposted on social media:
UPDATE: Today (September 5, 2024,) Senators Epstein and Sundareshan issued a joint statement from their Senate offices that read:
“Murder and genocide were not the start of the Nazi Party in Germany. They built power by spreading hate, misinformation, and bigotry. The Nazis defined targeted groups of people and used propaganda to justify violence against them. Their primary targets were Jews, but they also persecuted people from neighboring countries, non-white races, the LGBTQ community, and people with disabilities. As elected officials, it is our responsibility to remember those they persecuted and denounce the tactics Nazis used to spread their poisonous beliefs.”
“Senator Wendy Rogers has once again disgraced the Arizona Legislature by repeating Nazi slogans. She has shown time and again that she feels no remorse for aligning herself with this level of hatred that led to the murder of millions, and we no longer trust that asking her to act appropriately will change her behavior.”
“Senate Republican leadership must denounce her spreading of Nazi propaganda. Arizona deserves an answer as to why Republicans believe a Senator willing to post the Nazi rallying cry (“Deutschland, Deutschland über alles”) that Germany removed from its national anthem after WWII, and who previously received a Senate censure for similar antisemitic activities, should be in charge of overseeing the Senate Elections Committee.”
“Truth matters in a just and free nation. We will not tolerate Nazi-sympathizers trying to drag our state back into darkness. Hate has no place in Arizona.”
Assistant House Democratic Leader Oscar De Los Santos relayed:
“It’s no longer a surprise or shock that Senator Wendy Rogers parrots Nazi slogans or cozies up to fascist White nationalists and Holocaust deniers. At this point she’s been doing it for years. What remains deeply shocking and disgusting is the backing and support that Wendy Rogers continues to enjoy from her caucus, her leadership and from the Republican Party. Silence is complicity. Wendy Rogers still chairs the Senate Elections Committee and her top contract staffer is the Chairwoman of the Arizona Republican Party, which recruits and supports their equally silent and complicit candidates up and down the ballot. If Republicans don’t have the courage to denounce and distance themselves from a far-right extremist like Wendy Rogers, then they must own her as their standard bearer.”
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“Apostates” is the wrong word here. “Adherents” would work, though.