Mayor Donna Deegan, you got some ‘splaining to do.
Jacksonville’s mayor is taking some heat after making a not so smart comparison during a British radio show.
And rightly so.
During the mayor’s annual trek across the pond, she sat down for an interview with journalist John Pienaar of London’s Radio Times. Listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6g1In3AwCnU
The topic of American immigration came up.
The clip begins with Deegan saying, “… to put people in what would, um, really amount to a concentration camp type situation to, to, to round them out of the country doesn’t seem to me to be a very American thing to do.”
The host even offered the mayor the chance to clarify asking, “the use of the term concentration camp is loaded. You consider this completely justified?” She snapped back asking and answering her own question by channeling her inner Kamala Harris.
Deegan said, “If you’re rounding people up and putting them in camps, what, what would we call those? It’s a concentration of people, that are in a camp.”
So, Ukraine is a country in Europe…
Once the clip hit the internet, it didn’t take long for local politicians to react. Not too many are on the mayor’s side on this one.
Council Member Ron Salem said, “Comparing illegal immigration policies to the mass annihilation of our Jewish brothers and sisters is grossly inappropriate and should be apologized for.”
Hear, hear Salem.
Sheriff T.K Waters released a strongly worded statement calling Deegan’s comment “shocking and reckless.” Waters wrote, “As the Sheriff of Jacksonville, it is disappointing to see our mayor equate a commonsense immigration policy with one of the most horrific atrocities of the 20th century.” Waters’ statement ended with; “The people of Jacksonville expect more from our mayor than knee-jerk responses about President Trump’s policies. It is downright shameful.”
Councilman Rory Diamond told First Coast News, “Nobody likes that kind of language. The holocaust is a big deal. Six million people exterminated and just to say that’s the same as a border policy in the United States when you’re in the United Kingdom, it just doesn’t make any sense.”
“The Sheriff is right. Mayor Deegan’s comments are deeply troubling. Lying about President Trump’s policies, particularly while representing Jacksonville overseas on a taxpayer-funded trip, is incredibly disappointing. I hope @DonnaDeegan will apologize and issue a retraction,” Councilman Terrance Freeman posted on X.
Councilman Nick Howland also posted to the socials he agrees with Waters. As well as the Florida Republican Party and the Republican Party of Duval County.
Florida’s Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson posted to X, “The audacity of Donna Deegan to reduce the atrocities of the Holocaust to a political cheap shot is disgusting and beneath the people of Jacksonville.”
Brian Hughes, one of Trump’s senior advisors, is quoted as saying, “The mayor’s comments on the commonsense policies of President Trump are outrageous, dishonest and horrendously irresponsible for an elected official.”
But who cares what all those other guys said when Deegan has council members Mr. Baby Face Peluso and the gray-haired Carlucci for back up.
Councilman Jimmy Peluso, Deegan’s No. 1 fan, defended the comment. “It’s fake outrage day in Jax! Our mayor answered a question truthfully; Trump’s immigration plan feels like Japanese internment & local Rs claim it’s a good idea,” Peluso tweeted or X-ed, or whatever it’s called.
Councilmen Matt Carlucci, who pretends to be a republican, shamelessly told First Coast News, “I agree with Mayor Donna Deegan. When Trump was president, I watched children being tragically separated from their mothers and fathers and put in cages while Trump was president. To me this is a modern version of a concentration camp,” Carlucci said.
Carlucci’s statement is not only redundant, it’s also so inept, the only politically savvy question to ask the masquerading republican councilmen: Who built the cages, Matt? Who built the cages?
While the right-on-queue political outrage is entertaining, it is also revealing. Jacksonville’s mayor, Peluso, and Joe Carlucci’s dad are on the wrong side of history on this one.
Whether or not you like our former president is irrelevant. It is never a good idea to compare anything to a Nazi death camp unless it actually is one.
