Saikat Chakrabarti, chief of staff to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.), has come under fire for wearing a t-shirt that depicts the Nazi collaborator Subhas Chandra Bose.
When Ocasio-Cortez won her race after a long-shot primary battle in 2018, Chakrabarti wore the the t-shirt in "Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Chief of Staff on Acting Fast in Congress," a NowThis News video featuring his role in the freshman Congresswoman's campaign.
Since I’ve only lost eight followers for pointing out who the Justice Democrats are, I thought, 'fuck it." pic.twitter.com/CkN2FuRXrv
— Dean Haddix (@doctor_eon) July 8, 2019
Bose was an Indian dissident who, in 1935, met with Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and gave him a copy of his book, The Indian Struggle, which advocated for fascism as a political model.
Bose met with Hitler in 1942, later praising Hitler's rule in 1944, saying that India's government "should be a synthesis between National Socialism and Communism." According to the Times of India, Bose "fancied himself as a world leader like Hitler and Mussolini."
Ocasio-Cortez has also recently come under fire for positively quoting Eva Perón, the former first lady of Argentina, and Nazi sympathizer. Under Perón's husband's rule, former Nazis such as Holocaust architect Adolf Eichmann and Nazi eugenicist Josef Mengele were granted sanctuary in Argentina.
"I know that, like every woman of the people, I have more strength than I appear to have," Ocasio-Cortez tweeted, soon adding, "I had watched for many years and seen how a few rich families held much of Argentina's wealth and power in their hands. So the government brought in an eight hour working day, sickness pay and fair wages to give poor workers a fair go."
'I had watched for many years and seen how a few rich families held much of Argentina's wealth and power in their hands. So the government brought in an eight hour working day, sickness pay and fair wages to give poor workers a fair go."
- Evita Perón
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 7, 2019
Chakrabarti called moderate Democrats "New Southern Democrats" in a now-deleted tweet in late June.
"Instead of ‘fiscally conservative but socially liberal' let's call the New Democrats and Blue Dog Caucus the ‘New Southern Democrats,'" Chakrabarti said. "They certainly seem hell bent to do to black and brown people today what the old southern Democrats did in the 40s."
After Chakrabarti deleted his tweet, he doubled down on his point in more tweets.
"Didn't realize this needed to be said, but: you can be someone who does not personally harbor ill will towards a race, but through your actions still enable a racist system," he wrote. "And a lot of New Democrats and Blue Dogs did that today."
"This is in reference to my comparing Blue Dogs and New Democrats to 1940s Southern Democrats," he continued. "Southern Democrats enabled a racist system too. I have no idea how personally racist they all were. And we're seeing the same dynamic play out now."
This is in reference to my comparing Blue Dogs and New Democrats to 1940s Southern Democrats. Southern Democrats enabled a racist system too. I have no idea how personally racist they all were. And we're seeing the same dynamic play out now.
— Saikat Chakrabarti (@saikatc) June 27, 2019