Marjorie Taylor Greene draws criticism after comparing House mask mandate to the Holocaust
CINCINNATI (WKRC) - A Republican member of the House of Representatives is facing harsh criticism after she recently compared a decision to continue requiring masks in the House to the steps Nazis took during the Holocaust to control Jewish people.
Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene drew the comparison during a chat on the conservative podcast"The Water Cooler."
She was critisizingHouse Speaker Nancy Pelosi's decision to continue the mask requirement in the House, and also accused Pelosi of being a hypocrite for asking members of the GOP to prove that they have been vaccinated against the coronavirus before allowing them to go without masks in the House.
"You know, we can look back at 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," Greene said. "And this is exactly the type of abuse that Nancy Pelosi is talking about."
Greene's remarks drew swift criticism.
"You can never compare health-related restrictions with yellow stars gas chambers and other Nazi atrocities. Such comparisons demean the Holocaust and contaminate American political speech," the American Jewish Congress said. "Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene must immediately retract and apologize."
CNN reported a recent survey taken by members of the United States government shows a disparity across party lines when it comes to vaccinations:
A CNN survey of members of Congress discovered that every Democrat of Congress in both the House and Senate are fully vaccinated. In the Senate, 92% of Republicans say they are vaccinated, but only 44.8% of House Republicans would say if they have received the necessary shots. More than 100 Republicans in the House still won't disclose their vaccine status. That prompted Pelosi to leave the mask mandate in place, despite new guidance from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that said vaccinated people can safely be indoors without wearing masks.
"We have a responsibility to make sure that the House of Representatives' chamber is not a petri dish because of the selfishness of some not to be vaccinated," Pelosi said.