Mike Krawitz, a perpetually failed candidate for local office in West Deptford, New Jersey, has resigned from his latest campaign after telling a reporter he hoped she would get raped “by a Syrian refugee.” Krawitz made the comments on Daily Beast reporter Olivia Nuzzi’s Facebook page and then immediately, unconvincingly, claimed he was hacked.
Krawitz hasn’t commented at length on his posts, besides telling Philly.com he was hacked and didn’t even like the Daily Beast anyway, being that it’s a “Democratic organization.” When he spoke to WNYC on Monday, he said he both did and didn’t post those comments:
Krawitz spoke with WNYC on Monday, and he insisted that his Facebook and Twitter accounts had been hacked. Yet minutes later, he seemed to suggest that he was the one who wrote the comments.
“And did you see the post? I said ‘maybe she might get raped by a Syrian refugee,’” Krawitz said, before walking back from what seemed to be an admission.
In the past couple days, as the headlines about him proliferated, he’s continued posting an almost hourly series of pro-Trump memes. But at some point, NBC Philadelphia reports, he found time to send a handwritten note to the West Deptford GOP, telling them he is resigning from his candidacy for the township committee. Krawitz has run for the same position unsuccessfully at least twice before.
After initially posting a statement on their now-deleted Facebook page claiming Krawitz had been hacked (on Twitter, where he did not post the comments), the West Deptford GOP said their candidates shouldn’t wish rape upon people. From NBC:
Bob Waller, chairman of the West Deptford Republican Committee, said in a statement before Krawitz stepped down that there is “no reasonable reason’’ to believe Krawitz was hacked. He had called on Krawitz step down.
“We as a party cannot condone such repulsive, threatening or demeaning rhetoric of this kind being made by any person regardless of party,’’ Waller said.
A tipster pointed out yesterday that Krawitz had a little-used Twitter account bearing the same unusual punctuation (periods after every word, lots of smiley faces) as his supposedly “hacked” Facebook comments. That has also been deleted.
On the Daily Beast Tuesday, Nuzzi wrote that Krawitz’s comments have been normalized in what she dubbed “the age of Trump:”
And in the age of Trump, bullying has been rebranded as telling it like it is.
Using obscene or threatening language is a point of pride, proof that you’re beholden to nothing but the truth. And anyone who can’t handle that? Well, they’re just a politically correct loser.
When a former reality TV star can become the Republican nominee while offending and belittling entire genders, races, and religions, why wouldn’t a man seeking local office think that encouraging the rape of a woman he hates is OK?
This has been another invigorating episode brought to you jointly by male rage and this nightmare election cycle.