Marjorie Taylor Greene's anti-Semitic spewing spree
Marjorie Taylor Greene isn't an aberration. Republicans are happy to embrace anti-Semitism when they think it gives them an electoral advantage.
It’s time to call out Republicans for pandering to anti-Semites.
I’m talking about QAnon kook Marjorie Taylor Greene, and the Republican party’s long history of using anti-Semitic tropes come election time.
I assume you’ve heard the latest on what QAnon’s favorite congresswoman did this time around. Taylor Greene decided this would be a good week to rant about the Holocaust, and tie the murder of 6+ million Jews, gays, people with disabilities, Roma, political prisoners and more to masks.
Yes, according to Taylor Greene, wearing a mask is just like the ovens (if the ovens were intended to save you rather than kill you).
Here’s where it all started, with Taylor Greene doing an interview with Pat Robertson’s own David Brody. Note how Brody nods in agreement to every crazy thing Taylor Greene says.
Then, we have Taylor Greene doubling down one day later:
I’m going to wager that Jews feel a little more strongly about the Holocaust than simply “not liking it,” the way I don’t like brussels sprouts.
Also, that last comment by Taylor Greene contains the implication that any Jew who supports mask mandates clearly isn’t rational, and thus had no problem with the Holocaust.
A few days later, Taylor Greene does it again. It’s clear that she knows what she’s doing. She intentionally using the deaths of 6 million Jews to help enrage and build her crazy followers:
And again, another comment that same day:
Then, suddenly, Taylor Greene tried to claim she never said what she said:
Never compared masks to the Holocaust? Really? Let’s go back to that first interview with Pat Robertson’s own David Brody:
You know, we can look back at a time in our history where people were told to wear a gold star [sic], and they were definitely treated like second class citizens, so much so that they were put into trains and taken to gas chambers in Nazi Germany. And this is exactly the type of abuse that Nancy Pelosi is talking about [by requiring masks on the House floor].
Yes, she outright compared masks to the Holocaust. Nice try, cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.
Of course, that same day she denied invoking the Holocaust, Taylor Greene couldn’t keep track of her lies, and retweeted a woman admitting that Taylor Greene made a “Holocaust comparison”!
Republicans forced to condemn Taylor Greene’s anti-Semitism, but it’s not enough
After Republicans realized the growing uproar over Taylor Greene’s comments was hurting them politically, the House’s top two Republicans, both of whom have a bad history with bigotry themselves, weigh in. First, GOP House leader Kevin McCarthy, who issued this statement five days after Taylor Greene went on her anti-Semitic spewing spree:
"Marjorie is wrong, and her intentional decision to compare the horrors of the Holocaust with wearing masks is appalling. Let me be clear: the House Republican Conference condemns this language."
And while it’s all well and good that suddenly Kevin McCarthy thinks anti-Semitism is wrong, he didn’t think so two years ago when he tweeted an incredibly anti-Semitic ad about rich Jews trying to buy the 2018 election. (Soros, Steyer and Bloomberg are all rich Jews (technically, Steyer is half, but he has a Jewish name, so it works)).
Next up, #2 House Republican, Steve Scalise, who couldn’t be bothered to issue his own statement, but rather had a staffer issue a lukewarm condemnation of Taylor Greene:
"Rep. Scalise does not agree with these comments and condemns these comparisons to the Holocaust.”
Now, Scalise’s tepid criticism of Taylor Greene might carry more weight had Scalise not once called himself “David Duke without the baggage.” You’ll recall that David Duke is a racist anti-Semite who was once the Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. Here’s Scalise invoking Duke:
Donald Trump also trafficked in anti-Semitism
As an aside, Trump also had his own embrace of anti-Semitic stereotypes when he thought it would help his election. First, there was Trump’s tweet showing Hillary Clinton in front of a pile of money and a Star of David:
Then there was Trump’s final ad before the 2016 election, in which he assailed the Washington establishment and its ties to “global special interests,” while flashing pictures of famous rich Jews across the screen, like George Soros, then- Federal Reserve chairwoman Janet Yellen, and Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein.
Like I said, the GOP is happy to demonize Jews when they feel it serves their purposes.
Touching
This had me laughing out loud
CNN reporter deliciously calls out Trump-luvin’ OAN
The longer video is here, it’s worth a watch.
High school kids do “Thriller”
Ohio Republicans try to ban even talking about vaccines
Trampoline fun with dog and girl
Oh, we also did a podcast episode yesterday with Salon writer Amanda Marcotte, talking about Republican efforts to steal the upcoming elections, and our collective concerns about the future of Roe v. Wade in the Supreme Court. You can check out that interview here.
We’ve got a holiday weekend coming up here in the states, but I think we’re still on track for a week in review wrap up come this Friday. So chat with you all then.
JOHN
PS My dog is cute.
