Fascist demagogues used to blame Jew bankers for corrupting politics. Now they blame 190 Muslim doctors in Sioux Falls:
So for instance the legislators from Sioux Falls, they have a very strong Chamber of Commerce, they give a lot of money to these candidates. They have a Lutheran Social Services headquarter. The head of Lutheran Social Services used to be a cabinet secretary for Mike Rounds or Dennis Daugaard. So you have that group of people that know each other really well, that familiarity.
And then there’s 190 Muslim doctors that work at Avera and Sanford and so they don’t want to stir any waves, and so they put their weight behind it, and so all of a sudden if you’re a legislator from Sioux Falls, it becomes very difficult to vote against the people who are giving you money [Neal Tapio, response to voter question, Aberdeen, SD, 2018.01.30].
Tapio goes on to say that he doesn’t want people to contribute to his campaign until they know what he thinks. Well, there’s what he thinks.
The questioner does follow up and say that those 190 Muslim doctors and the Chamber don’t support terrorism. Tapio responds with some vague, unsubstantiated claim (from scared, behind-the-scenes Trump fans, he avers) that immigrant doctors are afraid of being killed by folks back in their homeland for apostasy.
Ri-i-i-ight. Keep talking, Neal… says every person running against you. Just keep talking.
p.s.: Betty Oldenkamp, president and CEO of Lutheran Social Services, served as Secretary of the Department of Human Services for Governors Rounds and Janklow, not Daugaard.
Tapio needs to pay closer attention to what his mentor Trump has said.
In a recent interview with Piers Morgan, Trump said, “I love Muslims and Muslims love me”.
I always thought Tapio looked a little bit like McCarthy, especially around the eyes, but he really shouldn’t be paraphrasing McCarthy’s Wheeling WV speech quite this closely. Substituting Muslims for Communists, the chamber of commerce for the state department, and 190 for 205 doesn’t make Tapio’s fear mongering original. From McCarthy,
“The reason why we find ourselves in a position of impotency is not because our only powerful potential enemy has sent men to invade our shores . . . but rather because of the traitorous actions of those who have been treated so well by this Nation. It has not been the less fortunate, or members of minority groups who have been traitorous to this Nation, but rather those who have had all the benefits that the wealthiest Nation on earth has had to offer . . . the finest homes, the finest college education and the finest jobs in government we can give.
This is glaringly true in the State Department. There the bright young men who are born with silver spoons in their mouths are the ones who have been most traitorous. . . .
I have here in my hand a list of 205 . . . a list of names that were made known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping policy in the State Department. . . “
Ms. Krebs gave Mr. Tapio this list of 205 communists who are working for the state? That seems a bit absurd. I don’t think Krebs likes Tapio well enough to give him lists of all the communists in the state government, if she even knows where all of them are.
Sorry, that wasn’t Mr. Tapio who said that. It was a different fellow. But I bet Tapio might say it.
… and watch out …. them muzzie dokters is gonna tranfuxe ya wit muzzie blood and make ya a sharia terririst !!
Tapioca is the perfect driver for tourism in South Dakota. The Chamber should feature him on all of their brochures as to what South Dakota values really are.
The Sioux Falls legislators shun Tapio because he wears his insanity out in public every day. There’s no conspiracy, Neal, they just think you’re nuts and it makes them uncomfortable when your eyes spin around in your head.
Let’s not make Tapio out to be that much crazier than your run of the mill Republican. The party that runs South Dakota and the federal government are cuckoo for cocoa puffs, and rotten to its core. It explains why South Dakota is a basket case, failing to pay its own way. And it explains how the Republican Party is destroying the United States of America. There’s not enough sanity in the ruling Republican Party to steer the ship of state, so they turn to authoritarian methods, ignoring the rule of law.
You might think the G. Marky wing is a bit less nuts, but think about how off-the-wall he is. Neither Tapio or G. Marky can stand anyone getting in their way. Tapio lays the blame for his insanity on Muslims. G. Marky’s tantrums are caused by anyone who petitions to stop his corruption. On the national level, Paul Ryan has always believed that the rich should rule us all, and so he is all in for Trump. G. Marky and Ryan have been better actors at covering up their insanity. But the actors’ masks are dropping and the rot and craziness are showing. They all need to be relegated to the dustbin of history.
Kate, thank you for that much simpler explanation. Sometimes it’s not a conspiracy that you get to blame on evil foreigners and minorities. Sometimes, Neal, you’re just so wrong that even members of your own party can’t accept your proposals.
But Kate’s comment about wearing his insanity in public flows into Donald’s concern that Neal may represent more of the “mainstream” Republican thinking than Republicans want to admit. G. Mark Mickelson isn’t beating up on Muslims but on the public at large for daring to horn in on his power as Speaker/leader of The Club. Mickelson, Paul Ryan, and other Republicans put a better gloss on their bad ideas and don’t say blatantly stupid, candidacy-aborting things like scapegoating 190 Muslim doctors. But that smarter packaging makes their wickedness perhaps more dangerous, in that they win more elections and get to make more decisions.
But first things first: let’s beat Tapio and Trumpism in this primary. Let’s push Republicans to either disavow Tapio and his scapegoating or hang it on their necks so we can take them out in November, too.