New Yorker Critic Wins Twitter With Jason Chaffetz/Passover Pun
Utah Congressman Jason Chaffetz, the formerly-Jewish college football star who now chairs the House Oversight Committee, declared Wednesday that he would not be running for any office in 2018, surprising his Republican allies and delighting many on Twitter. The New Yorker’s television critic, Emily Nussbaum, may have had the best reaction:
During Passover, it is traditional to remove all the Chaffetz from the House.
— emily nussbaum (@emilynussbaum) April 20, 2017
Chametz is the Hebrew word for leavened bread products that are forbidden on Passover. Many Jews make a ritual of sweeping their homes free of every leavened crumb.
Chaffetz’s Twitter handle, @Jasoninthehouse, will presumably have to be changed after he leaves office. That day may come sooner than expected: He reportedly texted a Utah news radio station host on Wednesday evening to say that he “may depart early” from Washington before his term expires in January 2019.
Contact Aiden Pink at [email protected] or on Twitter at @aidenpink.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30