aNewDomain — Will Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) personally apologize for an aide’s email that used a Rape Ewok meme to joke about Afghani refugees and immigrants?
Before January 20 — that is, way back when, in normal times — a personal statement of apology would’ve arrived as soon as news got out.
The email, after all, was sent via official House email — by a legislative director to a congresswoman. And it was the talk of Twitter for a few hours today.
Those days are no more.
Here’s a case in point: A full day after Stefanik’s legislative director Courtney L. Carrow’s message began circulating on Twitter — and several days after Carrow apologized for it — Stefanik has yet to personally respond.
Even the media’s been mostly mum.
“I think that’s one of the most worrisome things,” one Washington insider who asked to remain unnamed told us today. “Essentially, (the media) are now normalizing racism in Congress. That’s scary.”
A representative from 
her office did, at least, verify the message, according to one of the few reports that covered it.
“The message was in no way representative of Representative Stefanik or her views,” Stefanik spokesman Tom Flanagin wrote in an email to Capital Confidential, which published it late Monday.
“This was a misguided personal message sent from our legislative director, herself a Navy reserve officer who has deployed to Afghanistan … and she has apologized to the group that it was sent to.”
But will Stefanik or Carrow directly apologize to Americans for the misstep?
We are awaiting comment from Stefanik and her representatives.
“DT: Take me to Hawaii.”
Carrow’s email, according to screenshots that made the rounds on Twitter on Monday, was sent Feb. 2. Here it is:
Now here’s Carrow’s apology, reportedly leaked to a Twitter user by a woman who was mistakenly cc’ed.
In it, she apologized “to anyone I offended with this meme” and said she was a “combat veteran who served in Afghanistan.” After adding that she has “worked diligently” to make sure “our Afghan friends and interpreters who have risked their lives beside out U.S. forces receive U.S. visas.”
In the apology, she said she hadn’t intended to “mock or ridicule any nation, state or people,” but stopped short of apologizing for using a pornographic rape meme that is instantly recognizable to many.
What was she thinking when she decided to mock Afghanis over official House email and use a Rape Ewok meme to do it?
And what, you may wonder, was Carrow’s role in securing Afghani visas anyway?
That’s still unclear. However, on Oct. 28, 2016 she did post a photo of herself with Afghani ambassador Dr. Hamdullah Mohib on Facebook. According to her post, the shot was taken after what she wrote was “insightful conversation with some truly inspiring people” during an “afternoon at the Afghan Embassy.”
Stefanik, it’s worth noting, came under fire in October for not objecting more to Trump’s lewd commments about women.
Back in October, when a recording of Trump making lewd comments about women’s body and his delight in “grabbing them by the p&&&y” without permission, she used Facebook to decry Trump’s statements as “inappropriate, offensive” and “wrong.”
“I hope his apology is sincere,” she wrote.
But Stefanik, the youngest female lawmaker in Washington, surprised many by not withdrawing her support altogether.
Stefanik, pictured at left, told Forbes last year that she believed she’s become a role model for young girls and young women.
“Moms and dads started bringing their young daughters to campaign events,” the PostStar reported. “It still happens. Every single week, women from New York state, young women from across this country reach out to my office to get advice about how they can make a difference in their community.”
For aNewDomain, I’m Gina Smith.
