Minnesota GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Stands By Likening Mask Mandate to Nazism

Earlier this week video surfaced of Minnesota Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott Jensen likening mask mandates to Nazism specifically citing Kristallnacht. At an anti-mask rally this past April, Jensen said:

As is the case with so many powerful initiatives like MaskOff, it starts with one thing, but it becomes another and another and it expands. If you remember, go back to World War II. If you look at the 1930s and you look at it carefully, we could see some things happening. Little things that people chose to push aside. ‘It’s going to be okay,’ And then the little things grew into something bigger. Then there was a night called Kristallnacht. The night of the breaking glass. Then there was the book burning, and it kept growing and growing, and a guy named Hitler kept growing in power, and World War II came about. Well, in a way, I think that’s why you’re here today. You sense that something’s happening, and it’s growing little by little.

Not surprisingly, Jensen stood by his comparison in a Facebook post:

So when I make a comparison that says that I saw government policies intruding on American freedoms incrementally, one piece at a time, and compare that to what happened in the 1930s, I think it's a legitimate comparison. It may not strike your fancy — that's fine. But this is how I think, and you don't get to be my thought police person.

You don't get to be my thought police person? Jensen sounds like he has a maturity of a 12-year old. But alas he is a 67-year old physician who his seeking his state's highest office and is telling us his way of thinking is beyond criticism. 

Kristallnacht was a pogrom in which the German state saw fit to destroy Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues while rounding 30,000 Jews who would be sent to concentration camps, many to their deaths. At the time, Jensen was likening mask mandates to Nazism, most of Minnesota's mask mandates had already been lifted including in public schools. 

Either Jensen has no idea what Kristallnacht truly was or he is being deceitful and inflaming ignorance. To make matters worse, Jensen defended his comments at a forum sponsored by the Republican Jewish Coalition. It's not clear how the RJC received Jensen's comments, but I have yet to see any RJC officials give Jensen their backing - yet. Even if RJC members disagree with mask mandates which are no longer in effect it would be truly irresponsible to stand by and allow your party's standard bearer to invoke Nazism without a forceful repudiation.

Whatever the case, Jensen is not fit to hold elected office and one can only hope Minnesotans re-elect Tim Walz for a second term.