UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — A vote for my opponent was a vote for “suicide,” says the losing candidate in one Upper East Side City Council race, who also declared that his family will now flee the “Nazi” city in the wake of Tuesday’s election.
Brian Robinson, a 40-year-old former financial worker, let the city know that because its voters didn’t vote for him, that “the city has blindly chosen its own suicide,” he declared on social media.
“Jews, get out while you can,” Robinson wrote on X, the website formerly known as Twitter. “My family will be.”
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Robinson also claimed that a “Nazi machine machine [sic]” had “killed a great city” and that “NYC is irredeemable” just a day after seeking higher office in the aforementioned city.
An earlier version of the post included the phrase “Go f— yourselves. Soulless bastards.”
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While the re-elected council member did not directly respond to Robinson’s outburst, many others on social media did.
“This is the ‘consession’ [sic] from the Republican who thankfully lost the Upper East Side City Council race to @keithpowersnyc last night,” wrote Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine.
“NYC Democrats need to wake up: The fully Trumpified GOP has come to our doorstep,” he said. “No more ignoring general elections here.”
Upper East Side political strategist and former City Council candidate, Chris Sosa, wrote that “Voters rejected bizarre lies” in re-electing Powers.
“What Brian tried to do in our community, the tensions he tried to inflame, was disgraceful,” Sosa wrote. “Real leaders don’t weaponize the deep pain our Jewish and Muslim neighbors are experiencing right now.”
Just last week, Robinson had accused his opponent, incumbent City Council Member Keith Powers, who won Tuesday night’s election by a nearly 50-point margin, of “coddling Hamas supporters,” in a widely condemned political mailer sent to District 4 voters.
During the early morning hours of Wednesday, Robinson remained on social media, commenting “kapo” on posts made by Jewish officials and left-aligned Jewish groups — a word referring to Jews who collaborated with Nazis.
Patch asked Robinson if he wished to clarify or add anything to his post but he did not respond.
But on the website X, formerly Twitter, Robinson posted another treatise which began with what at first seemed to be an apology for using the word “Nazi.”
“Perhaps Nazi was not the word,” he wrote. “‘Terrorists’ is more fitting.”
Another former Upper East Side City Council candidate offered the fellow loser a few words of advice.
“I’m sorry that desperately trying to paint Keith as pro-Hamas didn’t work out for you, but this is a bit much,” wrote Billy Freeland.
Freeland lost a 2021 Democratic primary race to Julie Menin, who was also re-elected Tuesday night.
“Take it from someone who has run and lost: better to do it with grace and humility than anger,” Freeland wrote.
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