The Republican Party in Trumbull, Conn., issued a statement on Friday apologizing “sincerely” for a social media post that many viewed as antisemitic and said that it hoped that Jew-hatred will be taken seriously on both sides of the aisle.
“We want to sincerely apologize for the use of an artificial intelligence-generated image that included a modified headline in a recent social media post,” the Trumbull Republican Town Committee stated. “The alteration was completely unintentional, was not reviewed carefully enough before posting and we understand why some found it insensitive or offensive. We regret that mistake.”
The image which the party posted contained an image which appeared to show a copy of the preamble of the Constitution hanging on a wall in a classroom. Instead of “We the people,” the document seemed to say “We Jew people.”
“There was never any intent to reference Jewish people in a negative way, diminish the seriousness of antisemitism or create division,” the party stated. “We understand the importance of language and historical sensitivity, and we pledge to do better.”
‘At the same time,” the party said in the statement, “we hope this mistake is addressed with consistency and good faith. Opposition to antisemitism cannot be situational or invoked only when politically convenient.”
“Real leadership means speaking out against antisemitism regardless of where it appears or who is responsible, including when it comes from one’s own supporters, allies or elected officials,” it added.
The town’s Democratic Party stated that “we want to be clear about what this is: it is antisemitic and it is embedded in a political attack on our schools.”
“It is open hate speech, distributed by an official political party committee in a community where Jewish families and children live and learn every day,” the party said. “We have reported this to Facebook and the Anti-Defamation League and urge the community to do the same.”
“‘Bad AI’ and ‘bad eyesight’ are easy outs. AI use needs to be responsible, it needs to be truthful and it must be free of hateful rhetoric and imagery,” the party stated. “We call on every Republican elected official to condemn this by name and for the Trumbull Republican Town Committee to offer more than a half baked ‘whoops.’”
Vicki Tesoro, a Democrat and the town’s first selectman, its chief elected official, stated on Friday that “last evening, the Trumbull Republican Town Committee posted an antisemitic image on their Facebook page within a statement about the town budget.”
“Whether the posting of that image was intentional or not, it is abhorrent and unacceptable,” Tesoro said. “It does not reflect the values of respect, inclusion and dignity that should guide civic dialogue in our town.”
“Trumbull residents can disagree on budgets, taxes and public policy. Healthy debate is part of a strong community,” she said. “What should never be part of that debate is language or imagery that invokes religious identity in a way that can be viewed as stereotyping, mocking or diminishing others.”
“It is not enough to claim this was a mistake,” she added. “If you posted it, you are responsible for it. Just removing the image from the post is not sufficient. The Trumbull Republican Town Committee owes every Trumbull citizen an apology.”
