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Some of Mastriano’s best friends blew a shofar

How can he be an anti-semite?

“Pastor Don” blowing the shofar

This is so absurd:

The Republican nominee for governor of Pennsylvania is pushing back against Jewish criticism over his association with Gab, a social media platform rife with antisemitism, by highlighting his campaign announcement, where a man donned a tallit and blew a shofar. 

At  a campaign stop in New Castle, northwest of Pittsburgh, on Tuesday, the nominee, State Sen. Doug Mastriano called it “bizarre” that he was “lambasted” by Democrats and journalists  for, as he put it, “having too much Jewish symbology in our announcement.” 

“We had a shofar, a prayer shawl,” Mastriano said in remarks that were livestreamed on Facebook, ”and then suddenly … you’re an antisemite. Like, make up your mind! You know, you have too much Jewishness in your events, now you’re antisemitic.” 

Blowing a shofar at political events has become something of a trend for far-right Christian nationalists like Mastriano to signal that they see their campaigns as a spiritual quest. But many Jews take issue with such appropriation of their ritual objects.

The person who blew the shofar at the Mastriano event was identified by the emcee as “Pastor Don” and wore a Lion of Judah Messianic prayer scarf. 

Rabbi Seth Frisch of the New Shul of America in Rydal, Pennsylvania, for example, pointed to the use of the shofar during an interview with the Forward last week decrying Mastriano’s entanglement with Gab.

Mastriano, a leader of the “Stop the Steal” movement aiming to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, is running against Pennsylvania’s Jewish attorney general, Josh Shapiro. Democrats and Jewish Republicans alike criticized Mastriano after it was reported that he paid Gab and its founder, Andrew Torba, a $5,000 consulting fee in April and maintained an active account on the site. 

Amid mounting pressure, Mastriano last week condemned “antisemitism in all forms” and disassociated himself from Torba, who frequently shares his antisemitic beliefs online. But he stopped short of denouncing the site or asking for a reimbursement. Following that, Gab users stepped up their antisemitic postings — including death threats and calls for violence against Jews. 

He fits the perfect profile of a Gab user. He is one of them. And any members of an American minority religion should be alarmed by him because he is a true blue Christian Nationalist. He’s even been involved with that loon Sean Moon (son of Sun Myung Moon of Moonie fame) who runs a cult called the the “Rod of Iron Ministries” at which adherents perform ceremonies wearing bullet crowns and carrying AR-15s.

He’s also a moron.

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