BAY CITY, Wis. — A former Congressional candidate apologized for a Twitter message that made a Nazi reference to a Jewish political figure. Derrick Van Orden said that former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich should change his last name “Reich” to “Third Reich,” the term that Nazis uses for their anti-Semitic German regime in the 1930s and 1940s. The tweet had been deleted by the time news media tried to check it out, but the LaCrosse Tribune turned up a timestamped screenshot. Pressed to explain himself, Van Orden said: “If this tweet in anyway insulted the memory of the millions of the Jewish people, they have my most humble apology,” Reich, a Democrat, was an economist in President Bill Clinton’s cabinet and later an adviser to President Barack Obama.
Van Orden profile
Van Orden, of Bay City, a retired Navy SEAL, ran unsuccessfully for Wisconsin’s Third Congressional District in 2020 against 12-term Democratic incumbent Ron Kind, D-La Crosse. Van Orden has hinted that he will run again. In 2020 Van Orden was outspoke as an advocate for President Trump and calculated, wrongly, that Trump’s coattails would carry him into Congress. He lost 51% to 4%.
Verbatim
Van Orden’s defense: “I am an ardent supporter of Israel and the Jewish people. I have taken my children and fellow service members to Auschwitz so that they would understand the horrors of the Shoah and to make sure this never happens again.”
