Opinion: The problem with Ted Cruz’s defense of a Nazi salute

Editor’s Note: Frida Ghitis, a former CNN producer and correspondent, is a world affairs columnist. Frida Ghitis CNN “My God!” he exclaimed as he slammed his desk, railing at Attorney General Merrick Garland during a hearing Wednesday over the Justice Department’s attempt to address harassment and threats of violence at public school board meetings. “A parent did a Nazi salute at a school board because they thought the policies were oppressive!” Then he asked Garland, “Is doing a Nazi salute… protected by the First Amendment?” Garland responded calmly, “Yes, it is.” Of all the constitutionally-protected expressions of dissent we see and hear in America today, the Nazi salute is the one Cruz chose to defend? During the most important holiday period in Judaism, two swastikas and “Hail Hitler,” graffiti was found in a high school boy’s bathroom in Cobb County, just outside Atlanta, Georgia. After attacking journalists, he explained on Twitter, “The parent was doing the Nazi salute because he was calling the authoritarian school board Nazis – evil, bad & abusive,” adding, “calling someone a Nazi is very much protected by the First Amendment.” Again, no one is disputing that, certainly not the attorney general.