WASHINGTON — Never, ever compare anything to the Nazi Holocaust, a singular horrific event in human history.
I’ve written that before and need to do it again because of the latest from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. The outrageous Georgia Republican is comparing pandemic mandates for masks and vaccinations in some places to the Nazi genocide of the Jewish people.
It’s time for the House Republican leaders — who dumped Rep. Liz Cheney from leadership because she would not embrace ex-President Trump’s lies — to do something about Greene.
Last week, Greene, in an interview on the podcast “The Water Cooler with David Brody,” slammed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi after the California Democrat decided to continue masking mandates on the House floor because she was not convinced all members were vaccinated.
“This woman is mentally ill,” Greene said, referring to Pelosi. “You know, we can look back in a time in history where people were told to wear a gold star and they were definitely treated like second-class citizens — so much so that they were put in trains and taken to gas chambers in Nazi Germany, and this is exactly the type of abuse that Nancy Pelosi is talking about.”
On Saturday, Greene, in Arizona, was asked if she stood by her comment by Bianca Buono, a reporter for Arizona’s 12 News.
“I stand by all of my statements. I’ve said nothing wrong. And I think any rational Jewish person didn’t like what happened in Nazi Germany and any rational Jewish person doesn’t like what’s happening with overbearing mask mandates and overbearing vaccine policy,” Greene said.
Buono asked Greene if she understood why some people would be “upset and offended” by her comment.
Greene, never one to disappoint, of course did not.
She told Buono in reply, “Well, do you understand how people feel about being forced to wear masks or being forced to have to take a vaccine or even have to say whether they have taken it or not. These are just things that shouldn’t be happening in America.”
Greene is fixated on Jews.
Last February, House Democrats, with only 11 Republicans joining them, stripped Greene of her committee assignments because she claimed, among other things, that Jewish space lasers caused the California wildfires.
The U.S. Holocaust Museum in D.C. reopened last week after a COVID-19-imposed closure. I wish I had the power to send Greene there for Holocaust education — perhaps meet with survivors and listen to their stories — because her ignorance is more that appalling. It is dangerous.
The Holocaust museum on Tuesday sent out a tweet about the danger of Holocaust analogies. “Simplistic comparisons to the Holocaust don’t help us understand the past or the present. These kinds of analogies demean the memory of the victims.”
We are in a bad place now, with anti-Semitic incidents hitting a “historic high” in 2020, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
I’m torn about giving any attention to Greene. But to ignore her totally is to risk normalizing her noxious behavior and her promotion of anti-Semitism and lies, especially the big one about Trump winning the election.
The Big Lie is taking hold.
A new national Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll taken May 17-19 shows 53% of Republicans — compared to 3% of Democrats — believe Trump won the 2020 election and President Joe Biden only won, they believe, because of illegal voting.
On Tuesday, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy condemned Greene, saying in a statement, “Marjorie is wrong, and her intentional decision to compare the horrors of the Holocaust with wearing masks is appalling. The Holocaust is the greatest atrocity committed in history. The fact that this needs to be stated today is deeply troubling.”
The words of McCarthy, a California Republican, were not matched by any disciplinary action against Greene.
McCarthy led the charge to get rid of Cheney, the Wyoming Republican.
Greene’s sanction so far is a rhetorical slap on the wrist.
Rep. Brad Schneider, an Illinois Democrat, on Tuesday was drafting legislation to censure Greene. He said in a statement, “It is shameful that the Republican Conference continues to let her define their party, and dangerous that they refuse to expel her. There should be no room for such unapologetic hate and anti-Semitism in our politics or our government.”
Rep. Adam Kinzinger, the Illinois Republican who is one of the few in the GOP party fighting against Trump-inspired denialism and McCarthy’s fealty to Trump on Tuesday, at a POLITICO event, said House Republicans should kick Greene out of their organization.
Said Kinzinger “What we can do as a party is take a stand and say you don’t belong in our conference.”