CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Lifelong Republican voter Travis Andrews remains puzzled after not being able to determine if the Nazi imagery featured in a new ad for a local GOP candidate is supposed to be positive or negative, sources confirmed.
“I was watching Newsmax and this commercial for Tom Kelley comes on,” said Andrews, referencing an ad for a House candidate. “It’s got this real scary voice saying ‘Tom Kelley is ready to serve President Donald Trump’ and then it shows a video of a Hitler speech with Nazi soldiers marching next to a pic of Kelly shaking hands with Trump. I know the libs like to compare Trump to Hitler, but now Trump likes to compare himself to Hitler too. So I don’t know what the hell to think. I’d always thought Nazis were bad, but maybe I was wrong and I was just brainwashed by the liberal media and their biased World War II analysis.”
To add to the confusion, the ad was reportedly paid for by the ambiguously-named Save America Now PAC.
“I just want all the voters to know I stand fully behind President Trump like a good general should,” Kelley blurted out nervously after being shown the ad in question. “Whether or not you support what Adolf Hitler stood for, you have to admit that President Trump is this century’s Hitler–if we’re talking about the good stuff Hitler did. Or the bad stuff, because everyone has a different point of view.”
“And maybe Hitler wasn’t as bad as the Democrats have made him out to be after all,” Kelley added before proceeding to scroll through X for five uninterrupted minutes, a bead of sweat forming on his upper lip.
Political scientist Arthur Ledesma says this confusing messaging involving Jews and antisemitism isn’t a new phenomenon for Republican voters, but it has become more pronounced in the era of Trump.
“For years Republicans have presented as being blatantly pro-Israel while also subtly dog–whistling Jewish code words about things like globalism and George Soros for years,” Ledesma said. “But with Donald Trump’s penchant for stream-of-consciousness speaking paired with clear signs of severe cognitive decline, the messaging on the party’s official stance regarding the Jewish people is getting muddied. Nervous down-ballot Republicans are struggling to keep up and dutiful right-wing podcasters have devoted entire episodes to positively reframing the Nazis. It’s no surprise we’ve seen an uptick in the licensing of Hitler stock footage from both sides for use in these home-stretch campaign ads.”
At press time, Kelley had just re-tweeted an AI-generated image of himself goose-stepping behind Donald Trump that was originally tweeted by his Democrat opponent.