Republican leaders forcefully condemned Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-G.A., on Tuesday, calling her comments comparing COVID-19 vaccine card requirements to the treatment of Jews in Nazi Germany “appalling.”
The latest incident has brought a growing rift within the GOP to the public spotlight.
It resulted in a clash between her and House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.
He swiftly condemned the Capitol Hill newcomer, who is a fierce loyalist to former President Donald Trump.
“Marjorie is wrong, and her intentional decision to compare the horrors of the Holocaust with wearing masks is appalling,” McCarthy said in a statement.
“The fact that this needs to be stated today is deeply troubling.”
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.
My full statement: https://t.co/KnliN3YbJ2
— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) May 25, 2021
Greene responded in a rather subtle way.
According to some reports, she “liked” a post on Twitter referring to McCarthy as a “moron” and a “feckless c***.”
https://twitter.com/AndrewSolender/status/1397234393400369163
Greene, a conservative firebrand, has thrived on stirring controversy and forcefully confronting her colleagues since taking her seat in the House in January. But, until now, establishment Republican leaders have proven hesitant to criticize her and refused to join with Democrats earlier this year when they voted to strip her of committee assignments.
Their rebuke Tuesday came after Greene made an appearance on a conservative podcast, “The Water Cooler with David Brody,” released last Thursday. In her interview, Greene excoriated COVID-19 protocols adopted by House Democrats, including a requirement that masks be worn on the House floor. She also called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “mentally ill” and suggested that the rules were comparable to the treatment of Jews during the Holocaust.
“You know, we can look back in a time and 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,” Greene said on the podcast. “This is exactly the type of abuse that Nancy Pelosi is talking about.”
After her remarks sparked a firestorm of online criticism, Greene leaned into the comparison further.
On Tuesday, she tweeted out a news story about a grocery store chain that plans to allow vaccinated employees to go maskless. Those who do would have a logo on their name tags indicating they had been vaccinated.
“Vaccinated employees get a vaccination logo just like the Nazi’s forced Jewish people to wear a gold star,” Greene tweeted.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., called Greene’s comments one of her “frequent outbursts that are absolutely outrageous and reprehensible.” Still, he said any disciplinary action against her would have to come from the House.
Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, the No. 3 House GOP leader, said “equating mask wearing and vaccines to the Holocaust” minimized “the most significant human atrocities ever committed.”
Democrats demanded more than just condemnation — they want revenge.
Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Ill., proposed censuring Greene. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., called on her to “change her rhetoric and behavior if she intends to remain a Member of the House.” Pelosi, who previously suggested that Greene could face an ethics inquiry, called her comments “so beyond reprehensible” that they should have “no place in our country.”
The furor is just the latest provocative chapter in the activist-turned-lawmaker’s first tenure in the House.
Earlier this month, Greene followed Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., off the House floor, shouting that the Democrat supported “terrorists” and doesn’t “care about the American people.”
She also appeared in Facebook Live video filmed outside Ocasio-Cortez’s office, taunting the congresswoman through the mail slot of a locked door to “get rid of your diaper and come out and be able to talk to the American citizens.”
The Associated Press contributed to this article