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Dush Likens Wolf Admin to Nazis

State Rep. Cris Dush (R-Jefferson) criticized Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration’s handling of COVID-19, likening it to the Nazi Party, during a state House committee hearing on Monday. 

“The press is having a very difficult time fulfilling its responsibilities to the public, getting information out because this governor has repeatedly refused all sorts of information,” Dush said. 

“More and more I go back to the German Democratic Nationalist Socialist Party, the Nazi Party,” Dush said. “I go to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the USSR.” 

“This is a socialist playbook,” Dush added. Historians widely dismiss attempts to label Nazis as socialist, despite the party’s appropriation of the term, favoring the term “fascist” instead. 

State Rep. Kevin Boyle (D-Philadelphia) fired back immediately calling his comments “outrageous” and condemned the comparisons he was making during the committee hearing. 

“Chairman, this is outrageous,” Boyle said. “Stop it with these Nazi references.” 

“It is offensive and wrong,” Boyle said. 

Dush responded by saying his comments were about a statement of history and called for increased access to information. 

“It’s a statement of history. It’s history. It’s history,” Dush replied. “This is a socialist playbook and I have to say that it’s important for the people of this state to start having access to information rather than having it blown off to the side and hidden for an agenda.” 

According to PennLive, Dush later apologized on the House floor for his comments made during the hearing. 

“Because of one government system I was talking about, a number of people took exception to it,” Dush said. “This was in no way meant to reflect that our Governor or anybody else would do the atrocities of that were done by any of those regimes.” 

“If somebody was under that impression, that that is where I was going, I apologize,” Dush said. “I had in no way was reflecting on that.” 

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Wolf’s office criticized the comments from Dush and other House Republicans during the ongoing dispute about responding to reopening the state after COVID-19.

“In the last few days, House Republicans have shared fake reopening plans online and a rank and file member has compared the administration to Nazis while Republican members have spent time moving legislation to reopen zoos during a global pandemic and rallied with activists who have made threats against the governor,” a spokesperson for Wolf’s office said in an emailed statement. “We badly need partners in the legislature who will take the challenge before them seriously instead of using it to divide the commonwealth.” 

Republicans lawmakers subpoenaed Wolf’s administration last week over documents related to its coronavirus waiver process for businesses, according to SpotlightPA

Dush, who is currently serving his third term in the state House, is running for the GOP nomination for the 25th state Senate District, a seat held by state Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati (R-Jefferson), who is retiring at the end of this term. In November, Dush announced in November that he was not seeking another term for the 66th state House District. In January, Dush announced his intentions to seek the Republican nomination for Auditor General, but decided weeks later to drop the bid for that statewide office and run for the state Senate.

17 Responses

  1. Levine and other appointed officials running the state. Elected legislators afraid to take her on. Right now its a one branch, the Executive, in total control. The balance of power no longer neutral and it may never recover.

    1. It’s called LEADERSHIP during a PANDEMIC! Seriously, people. What the hell is WRONG with some of you??

  2. No Jews live in this moron’s district I’m willing to bet. And if they do, they probably aren’t voting for him.

  3. Better to err on the side of caution than be wrong and have millions die. Dush is an interesting case though. Rumor in the T is that Scarnati held out as long as possible from officially announcing his retirement because Harrisburg Republicans loathe Dush. Sadly though, he is probably what every Republican far righty in the northern tier has wet dreams about.

  4. Was this an effort to appeal to poorly educated white trash to win a PA Senate seat? Or is Dush really that stupid?
    He must have changed his name from douche, because that’s what he is. Such a despicable statement smears the dignity of PA legislature, if it has any left. Even his ” was moronic.apology”

    1. Yes, Dush is really that stupid. Sadly, his supporters are, too. He reflects the willfully ignorant Trumpies whose brains actually hurt if they think too much. To EVERY politician: stay the EFF away from ANY and ALL Nazi references. It’s not a good look on ANYONE!

  5. If you are going to talk about history, please makes clear and articulate points that are researched and possibly annotated. Some of us care about history and don’t view meandering observations as acceptable in serious conversation. Thank you.

  6. This is part of the misguided political discourse that engulfs our society where compassionate and caring Governors are criticized for only taking matters to save lives in a health crisis that is unmatched in the world in 100 years. People are protesting stay at home orders with signs reading they have the right to get their haircut. The Pandemic is a serious health matter and governed not be politics but by science. This is really serious and trivializing it with pointless political chatter is unfortunate.

    1. So you must be from the fringe northern tier. An America hating, self-entitled, stable genius that could run the commonwealth government in your sleep. Go back to sleep since you can’t even add anything of value to the discourse. Your boy Dush has it handled.

  7. He’s not wrong. The Dems are the ones acting this way with mandates and threats. Good for him for saying it.

    1. Wrong. In a matter of a few months 70,000 have died. This is not a Dem virus so trivializing it with politics totally misses the urgency of the moment.

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