{"id":28032,"date":"2026-08-05T02:55:28","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T21:55:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=28032"},"modified":"2026-08-05T02:55:28","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T21:55:28","slug":"colorado-republicans-attack-jewish-candidate-with-ai-cartoon-devil-horns-graphic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=28032","title":{"rendered":"Colorado Republicans Attack Jewish Candidate With AI \u2018Cartoon Devil Horns\u2019 Graphic"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"article-content\">\n<p>Colorado Republicans are using an image showing Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Weiser with \u201cdevil horns\u201d to mock him on social media. While a top Democrat blasted the move as a \u201cplainly antisemitic\u201d attack, the GOPer who created the graphic <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sean.m.pond\/posts\/pfbid0WYLXCVaoZNoy1KmvsYd3Huf2JfaXYH6qCxf3tHUTN6MWVt7DvjQ7pcRYN1Mj9XYSl\" target=\"_blank\">doubled down<\/a> on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>On Facebook, Sean Pond, a Republican county commissioner and former Senate candidate who posted the image, dismissed the furor and called it a \u201csilly picture\u201d of \u201ctwo cartoon devil horns.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSometimes devil horns just mean the devil. That\u2019s why they show up in cartoons, church lessons, haunted houses, Halloween costumes, emojis, and every costume aisle in America,\u201d Pond wrote in a post on Tuesday afternoon.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Pond\u2019s graphics, which were posted on both <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/victormarx\/status\/2084301489552388545\" target=\"_blank\">X<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sean.m.pond\/posts\/pfbid0frVQYtW7GzXVDgY8hRFhMeb4NGVPF2n6NjQcSmeWKvu1z9535dxcN7zmh6YFAtXGl\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook<\/a> on Sunday and Monday, showed Weiser, who is Jewish, standing in front of fiery skies with red horns atop his head. Depictions of Jews with horns are widely recognized as <a href=\"https:\/\/brandeiscenter.com\/tag\/anti-semitic-tropesanti-semitismfact-sheets\/\" target=\"_blank\">one of the most common types of antisemitic imagery<\/a>. They have been used to associate Jews with evil and the devil since the Middle Ages. Pond used them to promote Colorado\u2019s Republican gubernatorial nominee, Victor Marx.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Pond\u2019s pictures featured all caps text declaring Weiser \u201cTHE NEXT THREAT TO COLORADO.\u201d One of Pond\u2019s images touted the GOP candidate and said: \u201cCOLORADO NEEDS STRENGTH. COLORADO NEEDS FAITH. COLORADO NEEDS VICTOR MARX.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Marx, a self-described \u201chigh-risk missionary and evangelist\u201d who has <a href=\"https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/the-brief\/the-brief-trump-seizes-on-scotus-decision-to-mess-with-the-midterms\" target=\"_blank\">made questionable claims<\/a> about having performed exorcisms by phone and having saved as many as 45,000 women and children from abusive situations, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/victormarx\/status\/2084301489552388545\" target=\"_blank\">responded positively<\/a> to one of Pond\u2019s posts on X that featured the \u201cdevil horns\u201d graphic. He said Pond\u2019s point about Colorado Republicans needing to unite against the \u201cTHREAT\u201d of Weiser was \u201cexactly right.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe do have to remember what\u2019s at stake. Colorado can\u2019t afford more division. It\u2019s time to unite, stay focused, and win,\u201d wrote Marx on Monday.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div class=\"GalleryImageWrapper\">\n<h2 class=\"GalleryImageWrapper__Title\"\/>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"598\" height=\"1138\" src=\"https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-04-at-3.03.41-PM.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1554002\" title=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Pond\u2019s Facebook defending the graphics was directed at Kyle Clark, a journalist with 9NEWS in Denver who had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DboCk_pFh7Q\/\" target=\"_blank\">raised alarms<\/a> about the images and noted \u201cWeiser is outspoken about his mother\u2019s birth in a Nazi concentration camp, his family members killed in the Holocaust, and the threat posed by antisemitism today.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDepicting Jewish people with horns is a centuries-old, dehumanizing, antisemitic trope,\u201d Clark wrote in an Instagram post on Tuesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Pond had made <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sean.m.pond\/posts\/pfbid0S73CkF4tA9BYG2zHhrgtYhxAdb5qvxtdEuCvQGSqS68wDhvqEWsy2z7sXE64VKGYl\" target=\"_blank\">an earlier Facebook post<\/a> in the wee hours of Tuesday morning, announcing that Clark had asked him about the graphics and sharing a lengthy statement. In it, Pond said he made the images \u201cusing AI\u201d with a \u201cdirection \u2026 to portray Phil Weiser as evil and as the next threat to Colorado.\u201d Pond also insisted he was unaware that Weiser, who has been Colorado\u2019s attorney general since 2019, was Jewish.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHis religion was never considered because I did not know it,\u201d wrote Pond. \u201cThere was no reference to Jewish people, no religious message, no dog whistle, and no hidden meaning.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Pond further argued \u201cJewish politicians are subject to the same fierce political criticism as Christian politicians, Muslim politicians, atheist politicians, and everyone else seeking public power.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPhil Weiser does not receive immunity from political satire because of a personal fact I did not even know,\u201d Pond added. \u201cI will not apologize for opposing him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Both Marx and Pond did not immediately respond to requests for comment. TPM also reached out to Weiser\u2019s campaign and received a statement from Colorado Democratic Party Chair Shad Murib.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is absolutely disgusting from Victor Marx,\u201d Murib said. \u201cThat he calls this plainly antisemitic imagery \u2018satire\u2019 makes him an even bigger fool than everyone thinks.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n    window.fbAsyncInit = function() {\n      FB.init({\n        appId: \"101800829865996\",\n        xfbml: true,\n        version: ' v2.6'\n      });\n      window.fbAsyncInit.__didInit = true;\n    };\n    (function(d, s, id) {\n      var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];\n      if (d.getElementById(id)) {\n        return;\n      }\n      js = d.createElement(s);\n      js.id = id;\n      js.src = \"https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js\";\n      fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);\n    }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));\n  <\/script><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Colorado Republicans are using an image showing Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Weiser with \u201cdevil horns\u201d to mock him on social media. While a top Democrat blasted the move as a \u201cplainly antisemitic\u201d attack, the GOPer who created the graphic doubled down on Tuesday. On Facebook, Sean Pond, a Republican county commissioner and former Senate candidate&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28033,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/weiser-horns-victor-marx.png?w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}