House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanikcalled for the resignation of a local New York official in her district who allegedly compared the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump to “putting down a rabid dog” in a since-deleted social media post.
Stefanik (R-NY) called on Potsdam Town Council member Christine Paige to step down amid the blowback over the incendiary remarks that were made last month.
“Far Left Democrats supporting political violence and the assassination of President Trump are shameful and do not deserve to represent the great people of the North Country,” Stefanik said in a statement obtained by The Post.
Elise Stefanik rebuked Christine Paige, a local official in her district.Jasper Colt-USA TODAY
“Potsdam Town Board Member Christine Paige must be condemned by the NY Democrat State Party and she must resign in disgrace after she said shooting President Trump would be like ‘putting down a rabid dog,'” she added.
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Paige’s comments came in a Facebook conversation after the assassination attempt against Trump in Butler, Pa. that killed one person and severely injured two others took place.
“I have seen no credible proof that [Trump is] a human being. Maybe you know something we don’t. To me, it would be akin to putting down a rabid dog,” Paige wrote, according to screenshots.
The gunman’s bullet nicked Trump’s right ear, drawing blood from the president in a first since the 1981 assassination attempt against former President Ronald Reagan.
Paige, who joined the council in 2023, declined to apologize for her attack against Trump and cited her right to free speech as an excuse, the North Country Now reported.
Local politicians rebuked her in response. Potsdam Town Council Supervisor Marty Miller, a Democrat, issued a lengthy denunciation.
“I can tell you firsthand this selfish act of one person’s satisfaction has been a nightmare for me and the rest of the Board the last couple of weeks,” Miller said in a statement.
“Even the staff at the Town Hall has had to put up with phone calls, voicemails, and emails, taking us all away from our daily duties as representatives of the Town of Potsdam,” the town supervisor added.
Donald Trump pumped his fist defiantly after surviving the attempt on his life.AP But Miller acknowledged that the town lacks the authority to jettison one of its own members.
“It is not within the power of the Town Government to remove a current Elected Official. The law prohibits the Board from ousting someone,” he explained.
The Post has contacted Paige for comment. Fox News first reported Stefanik’s response.
Barnard College is embroiled in a controversy after a social media post depicted a liberated Palestine, then deleting it in an attempt to quell backlash — and outraging both pro-Israel and pro-Palestine advocates in the process.
On Monday, the women’s college, which is a part of Columbia University, posted a photo on Instagram highlighting a student’s recent experience interning at “Arablit Quarterly” magazine. The picture showed her holding the latest issue, with a cover illustration of what appears to be the map shape of Israel covered in either pink flower petals or wing feathers, with Gaza highlighted in yellow.
After outcry from the pro-Israel community — some of whom said they saw it as “a map showing the entire state of Israel taken over from a starting point in Gaza” — the school ended up deleting the post. But, to some in the Columbia community, it was a slap in the face after a semester of antisemitic chaos on campus.
The cover of ArabLit Quarterly depicts a map of Israel with Gaza highlighted.
“Whether deliberately or unintentionally, Barnard College’s social media team posted content that was deeply offensive to the Jewish community,” Ari Shrage, a member of the class of 2001 and cofounder of the Columbia Jewish Alumni Association, told The Post.
“Social media mistakes happen. However, it is deeply concerning to note that this incident follows a larger pattern at Columbia of gaslighting the Jewish community by denying that antisemitism is occurring,” Shrage added.
Shrage’s organization was among many whocalled out the schoolon X, posting of the student in the photo: “That smile has GOT to be her thinking that she cannot BELIEVE she duped the dummies at Barnard College to publish a map showing the entire state of Israel taken over from a starting point in Gaza.”
Barnard College (above) is part of Columbia University, which was taken over by anti-Israel protesters in the spring.Shutterstock
Amidst growing pressure, the school pulled down the post later the same day, citing concerns over the featured student’s safety and “offensive” content.
“Yesterday, we removed a post highlighting a student’s summer internship that included an image that was offensive to some in our community,” the school posted on its official X account on Monday. “Out of respect for those views and for the safety of the student, the post has been removed from all Barnard social media.”
Barnard College declined to comment further when reached by The Post.
On X, Barnard said the image was “offensive to some in our community.”@BarnardCollege/X
On the other side, the censorship of the post also had pro-Palestine activists incensed.
“I hate how Barnard pretends to care about uplifting women’s voices,” one student complained on X. “I hate how the slogan is ‘Bold Beautiful Barnard’ as if they haven’t been silencing the most bold voices for Palestinian liberation since October. I’m so incredibly fed up with the hypocrisy.”
Students for Justice in Palestine tweeted on Monday that “Barnard College caved to the outright racism of Zionists instead of defending their own student against absolutely disgusting attacks against her identity.” The group could not be reached for comment.
The inflammatory post is just one of a string of recent controversies at Barnard.
Barnard students were among those in the encampment at Columbia University last semester.James Keivom
In February, the women’s college was hit with a lawsuit alleging “particularly severe and pervasive” anti-semitism on campus and “abject failure and refusal to lift a finger to stop [it].”
Barnard students were among the pro-Palestine demonstrators who illegally encamped in the Columbia University quad during the last weeks of the spring 2024 semester and subsequently violently occupied Hamilton Hall on April 30.
Also during last semester, tensions in Barnard dorms over the Israel-Palestine conflict became so intense that the college banned dorm room decorations with political messaging.
The post came as the university is preparing for a new semester of classes, starting September 1.
Barnard banned all political decor last semester in the dorms, to bring down tensions. The school isundertaking effortsto quell conflict, after the pro-Palestine protesters who demonstrated last year pledged to return.
According to a July statement, the university is promoting “community-building” seminars, adding a new component to student orientation and facilitating mediation between activist groups.
But, for Shrage and his alumni organization, the controversial Barnard post is a betrayal ofthat commitment to fostering community: “We continue to call on Columbia’s leadership to treat bigotry against Jews with an equal level of seriousness as they would apply to bigotry against any other group.”
