This Republican Apologizes For His Offensive Tweets, Says He Made A 180 — And Blames Fox News
In March, we published a story about a young man who was planning on running for office. The Trump-supporting Republican, who had yet to file for elections, insulted black people, Mexican-Americans, and said Muslims belong in “internment camps.”
A few hours after the article surfaced on social media, Earl Blumenfrucht deleted his Twitter account, @jewishright (where he made those offensive statements). And a few months later, he reached out to us — he apologized and said his views had changed. What made him believe the offensive statements he said before? He blames Fox News for swaying him in that direction.
“Social media is a dark place,” Blumenfrucht said. “I didn’t realize how viral the article would go and friends called me saying these types of opinions I expressed (some in jest) don’t represent me fully. I realized trolling and social media posts can have implications.”
At the time, Blumenfrucht was very serious about running. But now he tells us he never got the signatures to be on the ballot. After our story was published, he said people discouraged him from running in Congressional District 9.
To see exactly how much his views had changed, we asked him about the same tweets we asked him in March.
To the Emma González tweet, he says, “I might not 100 percent agree with everything she says, but she suffered a tragedy and her sexual preference is irrelevant to the (justified) arguments against guns.”
In October of last year, he tweeted that Obama was a Muslim born in Kenya. In March, he defended himself by saying, “There are a lot of folks with expertise on documentation who claim BHO birth certificate was forged and our president is under that impression.”
Now, he believes otherwise. “Yeah, obviously the president was born in America. Although I think birtherism is a cringe-worthy conspiracy, I don’t believe it’s rooted in racism or I hope it’s not.”
At the beginning of this year, he said transgender people should be classified as “mentally ill.” Now, though he doesn’t support changing his own gender, he says, “I believe everyone is entitled to live the way they want to.”
He made misogynistic statements about women saying they belonged “in the kitchen.” Now, he says, “They’re definitely better cooks than their male counterparts in my situation especially, however, the statistics show otherwise. I think they can do both.”
Does he support equal pay? Yes, for equal work.
He was a very big supporter of putting Muslims in “internment camps.” When he made those statements, it was just an idea roaming in his head. Now, he believes otherwise. We told him China was putting Muslims in internment camps at this very moment. He replied, “China is committing selective genocide against a religion. As a Jew, I find it repulsive.”
It’s hard to believe how a person with such radical views could make a 180 in a few short months. Was this a stunt?
No, Blumenfrucht says, but nobody has to believe him. He is not the person he was before and wants to put that on the record, he says. He credits immigrant children being put into detention camps as changing his views.
“It brought back haunting memories of Holocaust images,” he said. “And the fact the Republicans defended it made me lose all respect.”
He said he never actually believed those offensive ideas, rather, he was saying them for laughs.
“I was easily swayed by Fox News and just said incendiary things for attention and laughs.”
He’s currently still registered as a Republican, though he plans on switching to an Independent for the 2020 elections. He will definitely be voting this November — for Governor Cuomo.
Is he still a staunch Trump supporter?
“He’s done some good things and bad things. Unfortunately, every positive thing he does doesn’t negate the offensive tweets, child detention, and lack of care for civility.”
He wouldn’t describe himself as a Progressive, though. “I’m still pro-business, believe in tax cuts, a strong foreign policy favoring Israel’s interest, small government, and a strict interpretation of the Constitution. I oppose free trade and I’m a huge believer in the Second Amendment.”
The 25-year-old realizes his comments were hurtful. “I now understand that words can inflict pain on people.”
Blumenfrucht apologizes to everyone that found his comments offensive. “I do not plan on running for any political office. The views I expressed before don’t fully represent me. I am sorry to those offended.”