White Supremacist/Nazi Richard Spencer Invoked ‘Cabaret’ On Twitter And Received Swift Comeuppance

Getty Image

White Supremacist/Nazi Richard Spencer’s continuing misfortune sparked a few Internet celebrations last week. First, he lost tax-exempt status for his National Policy Institute (NPI) “think tank,” which complicates any future “Heil Trump!” parties for the group. He also earned the ire of Depeche Mode’s Dave Gahan, who referred to him as “a very educated c*nt.” Yet these indignities were lukewarm compared to how Spencer tried to invoke a Cabaret song and earned serious comeuppance from one of the composer’s relatives.

Everything started innocently enough when Bloomberg View Columnist Eli Lake tweeted a link to a story about how Western unity can defeat Russian tactics. Spencer was itching to start a fight and asked, “Who is ‘we’?”

Lake wasn’t interested and delivered the barest of answers: “Patriots.”

Spencer then tried to accuse Lake of political impropriety, and this effort went nowhere productive.

However, Talking Points Memo Editor Josh Marshall was ready to pick up the baton. He tweeted, “You’re a Nazi & a stain on this country’s greatness.”

In response, Spencer only had a lame porn joke to offer.

Marshall was armed and ready to fire back. He told Spencer to “take your trash philosophy back to the 1930s.”

So, Spencer invoked a song that’s often mistaken for an actual Nazi anthem. This would be “Tomorrow Belongs To Me,” which hails from the Cabaret musical (both the 1972 movie and Broadway productions). Spencer insisted, “1930s? No, tomorrow belongs to us.”

Spencer may have thought he hit a home run, but Jason Kander — CNN contributor and nephew of composer John Kander — informed Spencer of the song’s origins: “Hey buddy, that song you love was written by my uncle. He’s been married to my other uncle for 40 years. And he’s a Jew.”

Well, Spencer failed to come back from that remark, and how could he? That’s a knockout, and arguably even better than the time Spencer was literally punched in the face during an Inauguration Day interview.

×