Reading this story reminded me of a creepy encounter I had with two HVAC contractors in Salem, Oregon back in 2005 or so. Guy walks into the house and the first thing he says, in October, is "what a great Christmas house." Ok, that seemed weird... beta.washingtonpost.com/religion/2019/…
Then he noted that my name was an Old Testament name. I said "yep." Then he noted that my wife's name was NOT an Old Testament name. I said "yep." "So, are you Jewish?" the contractor with the Christian fish on his truck asked. "Yep," I said....
"Whoa, I'll bet he's one of the 144,000!!!" the contractor's co-worker chimed in from up in my attic. At the time I had no idea what that meant. Now I know it's a reference to a portion of Revelations that informs how many evangelicals think about Jews. Yeah, it's not great.
In 2005 this just seemed creepy and inappropriate, because such antisemitism was a) old as the hills and b) not as fully intertwined with a far right political movement with eliminationist ideologies that had taken over one of the nation's two major parties.
I don't think I was naive to think those contractors were relatively harmless bigots in 2005. I also don't think it would be hyperbolic to regard that same exchange as far more ominous in the context of 2019. That's 100% on the GOP and the bigotry to which it's given permission.
On this theme of Trump's GOP giving people permission to act upon their most bigoted impulses, see this story about Greenville, NC where he led the "send them back" chant. beta.washingtonpost.com/national/after…
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