November 09, 2017 11:33 AM UTC

Throwback Thursday: Michelle Malkin and Swastika Guy!

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• by: Colorado Pols

It was February 17, 2009, and President Barack Obama had just signed the first major piece of legislation of his administration: the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, a.k.a. “teh failed stimulus bill” in Denver–notably declared a “failure” by the then-GOP minority before it even had a chance to stimulate anything. Despite the ample evidence that the ARRA did indeed reduce the impact of the Great Recession, that Obama’s stimulus package was a total failure is an article of faith in the GOP today.

On that chilly February morning as Obama signed ARRA at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, right-wing pundit Michelle Malkin, who had recently moved to Colorado Springs, held a boisterous proto-Tea Party protest on the steps of the Colorado Capitol. Malkin pulled up with a roasted whole pig to “celebrate” the passage of “Porkulus.”

And then things got a little off kilter:

It might almost seem quaint after all these years of hyperbole, but in February of 2009 at the Denver “Porkulus” protest you could see signs–literally–of the ugly future that lay ahead. The photo above of Malkin with an unnamed protester holding a sign with the “O” in Obama stylized into a swastika made national news, and Malkin claimed the whole thing was a “transparent attack ploy”–even suggesting that the protester may have been a “ringer” sent by leftists to discredit her.

That was February of 2009. In November of 2017, “Swastika Guy” doesn’t seem very shocking at all, does he? Certainly the discourse in American politics has evolved, or more accurately descended, enough to make this once-outlandish comparison par for the course.

Which could be in part because it actually can be made to fit now.

With Malkin back in the news again as a backer of hard-right GOP gubernatorial candidate Tom Tancredo, this seemed like a fun trip back down memory lane. Perhaps “Swastika Guy” will finally reveal himself after all these years, joining Based Stickman in the alt-right annals of greatness?

It seems like the narrative has finally caught up with him.