A Democratic candidate for the North Carolina House is facing intense backlash after resurfaced social media posts showed her suggesting that supporters of President Donald Trump should be sent to concentration camps.
Shelly Headen, a Democrat challenging Republican State Rep. John Blust for his seat in the North Carolina House, made the shocking comments alongside a photograph of herself at the Dachau concentration camp memorial in Germany. According to Western Journal, Headen wrote the remarks as a caption to the image, which has now reemerged in the midst of her campaign and raised serious questions about the rhetoric tolerated within the Democratic Party.
Visiting Dachau Concentration Camp in Germany..This is where Trump supporters belong, Headen wrote, per a Sept. 11 report from Real Truth Media. The outlet published a screenshot circulating online that showed Headen smiling in front of the cremation ovens at Dachau, a setting that underscores the disturbing nature of her comparison between American voters and victims of Nazi atrocities.
Historical records indicate that as many as 188,000 prisoners were held at Dachau between 1933 and 1945, including tens of thousands who died there under the brutal Nazi regime. For many Americans, especially conservatives who have long warned about the lefts escalating dehumanization of political opponents, invoking such a site to target Trump supporters crosses a moral line.
Headens Dachau comments, however, were not the only inflammatory statements to resurface from her social media history. Another post showed her suggesting that any potential attack on American soil should occur in Alabama or Louisiana because that is where the stupid people live, a remark that disparages entire states often associated with conservative, traditional values.
Local Democrats have now scrambled to distance themselves from the candidate as the controversy has grown. WFDD reported that the Guilford County Democratic Party has withdrawn its support for the Headen campaign, an extraordinary step that highlights the severity of her rhetoric even within her own party.
The party said that her remarks violate everything our party represents, a statement that attempts to draw a line between official Democratic positions and the extreme hostility expressed in Headens posts. Headen, for her part, told WFDD that she did not recall making the posts, but nonetheless issued an apology for them as pressure mounted.
Theyre doing whats best for the party, and thats what they should do, Headen remarked, acknowledging the political fallout from her own words. At the end of the day, we just need to get back to normalcy. Whatever it takes. If, you know, one person gets sacrificed which is me, thats fine.
Despite the uproar, the mechanics of the election process now limit what can be done to remedy the situation. Ballots for the election have already been sent, meaning she cannot withdraw from the race, and Democrats are also unable to replace her, leaving voters to decide whether such rhetoric has any place in public office at a time when President Trumps supporters continue to face open contempt from segments of the left.
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