A Trump Labor Department official resigned over accusations of anti-Semitism. Here's why some analysts think that's unfair.

U.S. Department of Labor.
(Image credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Leif Olson, a recently-appointed Labor Department official, resigned after the revelation of posts on his Facebook account from 2016. In the posts, Bloomberg Law reports, Olson appeared to make anti-Semitic comments, suggesting the "Jewish-controlled media 'protects their own.'" But some observers argue that Olson was actually being sarcastic and should not have lost his job over the three-year-old comments.

In fact, Olson may have actually been criticizing anti-Semitism, as the subject of his post, Paul Nehlen — who challenged former House Speaker Paul Ryan in the 2016 Wisconsin Republican primary — has been accused of harboring such viewpoints.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More
Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.