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Nazi Name-calling and Non-apologies

Steaks

The daily life of the ultra-rich man in 2014 has taken a strange turn. For millennia, the routine was thus: wake up, eat ten of the finest beefsteaks, whip poor people, count money, bed one million prostitutes, return to slumber. Well, what was wrong with that ennobling and rewarding routine, reader?

Alas, things have changed. Here’s what today’s routine looks like: wake up, eat ten of the finest beefsteaks, compare some center-left politician’s strategy to that of Hitler’s in the 1930s, whip poor people, count money, half-apologize for comparing some center-left politician’s strategy to that of Hitler’s in the 1930s, bed one million prostitutes, return to slumber.

Comparing Democratic politicians’ rhetoric on income inequality to Hitler’s actual plan to eliminate the Jewry is a pretty obvious misstep, and yet they yahoos do it again and again. The only imaginable reason for it the “any publicity is good publicity” rule. Some people just like seeing their name in the papers. One of these people is Ken Langone, the billionaire investor and co-founder of Home Depot. Langone fancies himself a sort of spokesman for Wall Street donors to the Republican Party. He frequently provides running commentary to Politico about where the Wall Street set currently stands on Andrew Cuomo, Chris Christie, various other New York-area politicians—and on America, in general. Whenever you see a Politico article that begins “Wall Street: . . . ” or “Billionaires: . . . ” or “The Rich: . . .”, et cetera, it will often be a piece quoting Ken Langone, self-appointed deputy Wall Street mayor and head of communications.

Politico’s latest in this series came out yesterday; it was titled, “The rich strike back.” (Back from what?) It’s a piece about how New York’s rich people (i.e., Ken Langone) simply don’t care for Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plan to increase tax rates on the city’s wealthiest people—a plan which he has thus far been unable to carry out. The point is not just that they (i.e. Ken Langone) don’t want to pay higher taxes, of course. It’s also about how Bill de Blasio is more or less equivalent to Adolf Hitler, and his New York City in 2014 is more or less the same as 1930s Germany.

“I hope it’s not working,” Ken Langone, the billionaire co-founder of Home Depot and major GOP donor, said of populist political appeals. “Because if you go back to 1933, with different words, this is what Hitler was saying in Germany. You don’t survive as a society if you encourage and thrive on envy or jealousy.”

Langone’s comments — sure to draw ire from those who find such comparisons to Nazi Germany insensitive — echo previous remarks from venture capitalist Tom Perkins, who likened the actions of some in the Occupy Wall Street movement to the Kristallnacht attacks on Jews in 1938. Perkins gave several interviews after the ensuing uproar, but he never really backed away from the comparison. And Langone showed no hesitancy in invoking the Nazis when describing current populist rhetoric.

You’ve got to love the way Politico characterizes this comment as one that is “sure to draw ire from those who find such comparisons to Nazi Germany insensitive,” as though there’s a small subset of whiny special-interest hippies who clock into work at the hippie office each day to disseminate their “ire” at “such comparisons.” “Insensitive” isn’t even the point. The point is that this is an obviously stupid comparison that doesn’t get any less stupid when successively employed by Langone, or venture capitalist Tom Perkins, or that Napster/Facebook/Justin Timberlake guy or anyone else, really.

In any case, “ire” was, indeed, drawn, allowing Ken Langone to play the martyr and move straight to the inevitable and hilarious non-apology apology stage. From his statement last night:

”My remarks were intended to discourage pitting one group against another group in a society. If my choice of words was inappropriate—and they well may have been that—I extend my profound apologies to anyone and everyone who I may have offended.”

How can you not love this guy? Ken Langone has done his part in a time-honored tradition. Send this man some beefsteaks!

How long will this cycle repeat itself? After just a few more billionaires have compared whatever politician they don’t like and the current political climate to Nazi Germany in the ’30s and Hitler, they won’t even have apologize anymore, because it will have become so normalized by then. This is classic Big Lie stuff. Oops, was that a Nazi comparison?