Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.) has revealed that he is preparing a resolution to censure Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) over her comparison of wearing face masks to the horrors inflicted by the Nazis. It’s unclear whether his resolution might pass, although the House did already vote to remove Greene from her committee assignments over incendiary past rhetoric, so there’s seemingly a chance.
Helping kick off the latest controversy, Greene insisted during a recent right-wing media appearance that a push for members of Congress to wear masks or get vaccinated against COVID-19 is “exactly the type of abuse” that Nazis inflicted when in power in Germany, which is obviously — in a very basic sense — just not accurate.
Where’s the line here? Is there any mild inconvenience that Greene is unwilling to say is “exactly” the same as Nazi terror? Will she be coming for requirements for restaurant workers to wash their hands next? What about requirements for parked cars to be inside of their spaces’ lines? How about requests from grocery stores for shoppers to stand in line at checkout counters instead of rushing to the front and cutting people off? Basic — and easily fulfilled! — behavioral requirements in an orderly society are not Nazism.
On Tuesday, Schneider commented as follows:
‘Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene continues to debase not only the memory of 6 million Jews murdered by the Nazis, but all those who fought and died defending Democracy against Hitler and his evil. 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 antisemitism in our politics or our government. Therefore, I am drafting a resolution to censure Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene. I hope that if Leader McCarthy truly believes that what Rep. Greene said was ‘appalling,’ he will join our effort to censure her.’
A censure resolution is a formal rebuke, signifying that the body issuing the censure — which in this case would be the House — has a majority united against the target of the move. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has, as Schneider noted, called Greene’s comparison of mask-wearing to Nazi terror “appalling,” but so far, McCarthy has taken no substantive step to hold Greene reasonably accountable for her behavior. Greene’s just not competent — she consistently shows a failure to meaningfully engage with the basic governmental and societal processes playing out around her. Instead, she rants and sounds like she has no idea what she’s talking about.
