Bethany Mandel, the controversial right-wing pundit, home-schooling advocate, and prolific social media poster, is running for county school board — as a Democrat.

Though the school board race in deep-blue Montgomery County, Maryland, is technically nonpartisan, Mandel’s campaign published a graphic on Tuesday listing her as a Democrat. The move quickly raised eyebrows online, and prompted a community note on X (formerly Twitter) stating, “Bethany Mandel has identified as a Republican numerous times on her personal Twitter account.”

Those who know Mandel recognize her for writing molten-hot takes and far-right political commentary. The most infamous was a column, published in the wake of the violent white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, titled “We Need to Start Befriending Neo Nazis.” (Mandel is Jewish.) Her content can be cringey, like her column defending Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ wife: “If Casey DeSantis is a Karen, she’s our Karen.” She’s posted dehumanizing rhetoric, too. “Not nuking these fucking animals is the only restraint I expect and that’s only because the cloud would hurt Israelis,” she’s written about Palestinians.

    • LeadersAtWork
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      39 months ago

      Substance wasn’t really my focus. We all have the capacity to look things up ourselves. How the other user said it, the snarkiness and better-than-thou feel, it felt like a bit much. I’m all for opinions, they get conversations going and usually someone learns something or at least has a good time. You’re right though, I should have asked for the same from the original comment and not gotten stuck on the one.

      Have an upvote, I deserve the call out here.

      • @lennybird
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        9 months ago

        My god, man.

        you provide surprisingly little substance in your argument.

        Substance wasn’t really my focus

        The double-standard is palpable. So I’m “snarky,” but you’re a liar.

        I matched snarkiness with snarkiness; the previous user literally called what I went through and what I do for my kids “child abuse” and you don’t fucking object to that? I’m not supposed to get passionate about that? Should I have written more typos, kissed their ass more? What would’ve received your blessing, exactly?

        Give me a fucking break and grow up.