Bureau of Verbal Forensics · open file
Troy Jackson
File 013 · 2025 · Motive kept · motte-and-bailey
Two sentences. The interview assigns a motive. The apology keeps the charge and withdraws only the motive.
Exhibit A · Only because they’re Jewish
Verdict · Motive kept · motte-and-bailey
News Center Maine · recorded Monday, posted Tuesday 29 September 2026
It's unfortunate that there are people here in Maine that don't like to use that term only because they're Jewish and what that means to them, with the Holocaust.
Rhetoric · The term is genocide, said of Israel’s war in Gaza. “Unfortunate” puts the speaker on the side of the word and the refusers on the side of a reluctance. “Only because they’re Jewish” is the motive, delivered as if it were already known. The Holocaust is brought in as the reason the reluctance does not count. The fillers — “you know” — ask the room to supply the charge.
Logic · A refusal of the word can be an argument about the elements of the crime: a protected group, the acts, and specific intent. “Only because” asserts a cause. It does not show one. Jewish identity is not a premise that entails a false use of the word, and the Holocaust is not a premise that entails the Gaza conclusion. The sentence removes the objection by assigning an ethnic reflex. That is a motive substituted for an argument. The genocide charge, which he also made in the interview, still needs its own premises. They are not in this clause.
Source · News Center Maine, interview posted 29 September 2026.
Exhibit B · Misspoke, and kept the charge
Verdict · Motive kept · motte-and-bailey
Written statement · 30 September 2026
I believe what's happening in Gaza is genocide, and I also understand that word carries particular weight for many Jewish families given the Holocaust — the genocide of six million Jews. In trying to acknowledge that, I misspoke and made a generalization about Jewish Mainers' views that doesn't reflect what I meant to say. I apologize for the pain that caused.
Rhetoric · The apology opens by repeating the charge, then grants the weight of the word, then names the error as a misspeaking and a generalization. “Pain” is what is apologized for. The audience is asked to hear care, and to leave the finding in place.
Logic · “Misspoke” covers the motive he assigned: that Jewish Mainers refuse the word only because they are Jewish. It does not retract “I believe what's happening in Gaza is genocide.” A generalization withdrawn is not a conclusion withdrawn. The apology therefore edits the reason and keeps the sentence. The charge remains what it was in the interview: a label whose elements are not supplied.
Source · Statement, 30 September 2026, CNN and News Center Maine. Newsweek carried it 1 October.