Shortly after ProPublica reported that GOP mega-donor Harlan Crow had spent more than two decades treating Clarence Thomas to lavish vacations, trips on his superyacht, and rides on his private jet, the Supreme Court justice put out a statement explaining that the reason he hadn’t disclosed any of this was that Crow and his wife are among the Thomases’ “dearest friends,” and the justice had been told after he first joined the Court that such “personal hospitality from close personal friends” did not need to be reported on annual disclosure forms. Yet, curiously, Thomas does not appear to have anything to say about the news that Crow, one of his best buddies, has a thing for collecting Nazi memorabilia.
Yes, as the Washingtonian reported Friday, Crow’s “historical collections” at his Dallas home include two paintings by none other than Adolf Hitler, a copy of Mein Kampf signed by the führer, and “assorted Nazi memorabilia.” As one person who attended an event at Crow’s house a few years ago told the outlet: “I still can’t get over the collection of Nazi memorabilia. It would have been helpful to have someone explain the significance of all the items. Without that context, you sort of just gasp when you walk into the room.” This person said that the paintings were on view alongside one by George W. Bush—whom we assume Crow holds in high regard, given that he sits on the board of the George W. Bush Presidential Center—and another by Norman Rockwell. The same person told reporter Sylvie McNamara that it was also “startling” and “strange” to see Crow’s garden full of dictator statues, which reportedly included Lenin, Stalin, and various other very bad people. (Speaking to The Dallas Morning News in 2014, Crow said of his creepy collection: “We all, collectively—whether we’re a little bit blue or a little bit red, or a lot—owe a huge debt,” he said. “We need to understand how we all got here and to try to do in our own time what we can do for our future.”)
As of Monday afternoon, Thomas had not publicly commented on Crow’s collection—because what is he going to say? “Yes, one of my ’dearest friends’ fills his home with Nazi keepsakes, and I don’t have a problem with it”? “If you think I’m going to end a friendship because of some Nazi artifacts, you don’t know me very well”? “Ginni and I have long admired Mein Kampf, and touching a copy signed by the author himself sent tingles down both our spines”?
Of course, some people have jumped into comment on the matter: a bunch of conservative commentators who’ve weirdly felt the need to defend Crow and insist he obviously doesn’t subscribe to any of the viewpoints espoused by a guy who murdered six million Jews. One New York Times columnist tweeted: “I know Harlan…. The idea that he’s a Nazi sympathizer is utterly ludicrous. He abhors tyranny, from fascism to communism to everywhere in between.” (No explanation was provided for Crow’s long and enduring friendship with Ginni Thomas, who really, really, really wanted to overturn the 2020 election, which some might call pretty undemocratic and fascist-esque.) A guy whom the Southern Poverty Law Center literally identifies as a white nationalist (a label he very much rejects) wrote: “Harlan Crow surely has enemies but, as far as I can tell, they consist exclusively of people who don’t know him. Everyone who does know him may disagree with him on some issue, but they universally recognize his decency, integrity, and kindness. Including people of the left.”
Crow himself does not appear to have commented on his collection. But as Senator Brian Schatz put it:
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