The White House demanded an apology from Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) for telling Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff for policy, on social media to “go back to 1930s Germany.”
“What an absolutely disgusting comment from a congressman to a Jewish White House official,” said Anna Kelly, White House deputy press secretary. “Mark Pocan must apologize, not just to Stephen but to his constituents, and then seek professional help.”
“This crazed antisemitic hatred from Democrats emboldens radicals to target Jewish Americans,” Kelly said.
Miller wrote on social media, after the anti-Israel New York state representative Zohran Mamdani secured the Democratic nomination for city mayor, that “New York City is the clearest warning yet of what happens to a society when it fails to control migration.”
Some Congress members, including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), agreed with Miller. Others accused him of being racist.
Pocan, emeritus chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, directed an expletive at Miller and wrote, “go back to 1930s Germany.”
It wasn’t clear if he knew that Miller is Jewish, although the White House official, an immigration hardliner, has discussed his religious identity, Israel and Jew-hatred often on social media.
“Eric, I’m Jewish. My Jewish brothers and sisters were murdered in the Nazi Holocaust. Your Hitler jokes, delivered on behalf of Kamala, are beyond sick,” Miller wrote to Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) in October. “They are sinister. Vile. Hateful. You dishonor the memory of 6 million murdered Jews with your venom and lies. Shame on you.”
Others interpreted Pocan’s response to Miller as an antisemitic attack on the Jewish official. “Telling a Jewish American to ‘go back to 1930s Germany’ is just the latest in a long line of outrageous, disgusting antisemitism from Democrat Mark Pocan,” the National Republican Congressional Committee stated. “Wisconsin Democrats must denounce Pocan’s vile rhetoric or be complicit.”
Bob Donovan, a Wisconsin state representative who is a Republican, stated that “these comments are disgusting and are utterly beneath the high office you hold. Shame on you.”
In response to a journalist who said that Pocan hadn’t addressed criticism of his post, Pocan wrote that it is “very clear what I was saying. His comments and actions toward immigrants are similar to 1930s Germany. His analysis of the New York City election was racism-xenophobia at its purest.”
“The pushback is highly partisan,” the congressman added. “As a journalist, you should know better.”
Pocan’s response to Miller remains public. The day after he posted it, Pocan wrote: “Anyone saying the New York City election is due to migrants, including many Jewish migrants, is raising racist and xenophobic tropes.”
“Rounding people up to deport without due process is like a time in history that cannot be duplicated,” he wrote. “Any other interpretation is an intentional distraction.”
