If Trump owes us an apology for ‘Nazi’ reference, so does NJ ‘equality’ activist

Don't ask how what made me read this New York Times article yesterday. I loathe every page, but, I follow the "grey lady" on Twitter cause well, you know, my job requires me to hear what the left is saying, no matter how misguided it is.

I don't ever expect The Times to be soft on Trump or on anything or anyone that espouses conservative values. But yesterday's article, "Trump Under Fire for Invoking Nazis in Criticism of U.S. Intelligence" was laughable.

One of the people quoted in the article, is even more laughable. I'm speaking of the inimitable Steven Goldstein, gay militant and provocateur par excellence. Goldstein, the head of some Jewish organization hilariously called "The Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect" just loves to see his name in print.

Supported by that other ultra-leftie groups of whiners, the Anti Defamation league, Goldstein's grievance du jour is Trump's tweet which contained a Nazi reference. Specifically, he tweeted about US intelligence agencies' bogus Russia witch hunt asking, "are we living in Nazi Germany?"

This upset Poor Goldstein to the core. He, along with his cohorts, use their platform as defenders of Judaism to slam Trump yet again, just for the fun of it. For those of you who don't remember, Mr. Goldstein, the one time civilly-united, one time gay-married, one time rabbinical student, founded the specious Garden State Equality Organization in order to champion gay rights.

This "job" was apparently of such import that it enabled him to rub elbows with such Statehouse luminaries as the similarly misguided Loretta Weinberg. Never one to avoid the spotlight, the self proclaimed "Harvey Milk of New Jersey" (a reference to the California gay rights activist who was killed in the 70s) has admitted that he's got a pretty sizable ego. He's said it himself.

When he taught Rutgers law classes, which focused on activism, he breathlessly described his teaching as "training a bunch of 'mini-me's' who have the chutzpah to change the world." So it's understandable that a media enthusiast like Goldstein would be thrilled to be quoted in the venerable NEW YORK TIMES!

It may also be understandable that in his lust for attention, he'd forget that while demanding an apology from Trump for the Nazi comparison he didn't realize that he himself has made Nazi comparisons in the past. Back in June, on jta.org, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency Website, Goldstein opined that while he finds constant Hitler and Nazi comparisons offensive, "there is a parallel between Trump and pre-World War II racism in Germany."

He went on to say that "while it’s not always fair to compare every act of hate to the Holocaust, it’s always appropriate to invoke the lessons of the Holocaust. The language that emerged in Germany in the ’20s and early ’30s has an unmistakable parallel to the language Trump uses today.”

Sounds like a comparison to me, Steven. Hmmm. So, he has a problem with "constant" comparisons, but I guess he feels it's okay to drop 'em in every once in a while, as long as you're a liberal. In fact, in politics, "Nazi" as an accusation and an epithet gets tossed around pretty frequently. It ain't pretty, but it's low-hanging fruit and a pretty common trope. In fact, ironically, that very JTA article links to another which reports that Anne Frank's own sister-in-law, Eva Schloss, in no uncertain terms, compared Trump to Hitler in a Newsweek Magazine essay.

So if Trump owes us an apology, so does Goldstein, and for that matter, so does Schloss. I don't know about you, but I think I'll give the 86 year-old-Holocaust survivor a pass. But a 54 year-old self-involved professional rabble rouser? Not so much.

Hey, I live in New Jersey. I'm used to self important ego-maniacs, and I've heard Steven Goldstein's braying before. But the distressing part of all of this is that Goldstein's "outrage" over Trump's tweet (in the name of defending his Jewish brethren) overlaps uncomfortably with his overt outrage at Trump's election.

I wish Mr. Goldstein wouldn't sully his obvious concern for our Jewish families with the frivolity of his self-promotion and petty political vendettas.

Correction: Due to an error in the editorial process, the headline on an earlier version of this post suggested Goldstein continues to compare Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler. Judi Franco's column above references a single comparison between Trump and pre-World War II racism in Germany." The headline has been updated.

More from New Jersey 101.5: