Legislative candidates involved in bigotry scandal play the victim instead of owning their actions
MINOT, N.D. — Two Republican legislative candidates, rather than owning their own words and actions, are busy portraying themselves as victims.
According to a news release put out by NDGOP District 11 chair Susy Oliver, on behalf of her district, state House candidate Carter Eisinger is a victim of cancel culture.
At issue is my reporting about a messaging group organized by the North Dakota Young Republicans, a group affiliated with the North Dakota Republican Party of which Eisinger and many other Republican lawmakers, candidates, and activists are members. This group routinely saw bigoted messages posted — including homophobic slurs, white supremacist tropes, and anti-Semitic content — while people like Eisinger, and Oliver herself, looked on.
Per Oliver, her candidate Eisinger doesn’t deserve criticism for this. Allegedly, Eisinger doesn’t condone bigotry, and yet is experiencing the “destructive forces of cancel culture.”
“If he can be publicly held to account for the private comments of others, what might the future hold for the rest of us?,” Oliver’s news release asks , breathlessly, with the question in bold.
