Rep. Thomas Massie was condemned Tuesday by top Democrats and the White House for sharing a Drake-inspired meme that suggested Congress embraces Zionism more than American patriotism.
The Kentucky Republican’s post on X featured a photo of the rapper raising his hand and looking away with the captions “Congress these days” and “American patriotism.”
In another photo, Drake is seen smiling and pointing to another caption that reads, “Zionism.”
The meme, which has been viewed more than 3 million times, earned the scorn of the Biden administration.
“All Americans, including @HouseGOP leadership, should condemn this virulent anti-Semitism from a sitting member of Congress,” White House communications director Herbie Ziskend tweeted.
Massie was the only Republican to vote against a GOP-backed resolution condemning anti-Semitism that passed the House Tuesday 311-14.
Thirteen Democrats also voted against the resolution, and 92 Democrats voted present over concerns that the resolution stated that “anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism.”
The meme posted online by Massie Tuesday.
A House Democrat who supported the resolution, Rep. Ritchie Torres, also criticized Massie.
“Thomas Massie, a House Republican, is pitting American patriotism against Zionism,” Torres tweeted. “Most Americans are both pro-US and pro-Israel and see no contradiction between the two.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer also criticized Massie and urged him to remove the post that received 26,000 likes.
“Reps. Massie, you are a sitting member of Congress,” the New York Democrat said on social media. “This is anti-Semitic, disgusting, dangerous and exactly the kind of thing I was talking about in my speech on the Senate floor.”
The Kentucky Republican was criticized by Democrats for the position. fake images
Schumer addressed the US Senate last week, where he sounded the alarm about a disturbing rise in anti-Semitism since the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, which prompted the Jewish state to launch a military campaign in Gaza.
But Massie was defiant in a follow-up tweet to Schumer.
“If you only cared half as much about our border as I do about my tweets,” he said.
House Speaker Mike Johnson’s office told NBC News that “the White House would be better spent condemning the more than 100 Democrats who refused to support a resolution condemning anti-Semitism in the House today.” in response to the Biden administration urging Republican leaders to condemn Massie.
Jewish Democratic Reps. Dan Goldman and Jerry Nadler of New York and Jamie Raskin of Maryland encouraged their fellow Democrats to vote present-only on the resolution Tuesday.
“Today’s Resolution… is just the latest half-hearted attempt by Republicans to weaponize Jewish pain and the serious problem of anti-Semitism to score cheap political points,” the trio said in a statement.
“Among other problems with this resolution, H. Res. 894 fails to take into account the complexity of Judaism itself and ignores nuanced examples such as the Satmar sect, a Hasidic Jewish movement, which remains staunchly anti-Zionist and is obviously not anti-Semitic.” .
The House overwhelmingly passed a resolution last week affirming Israel’s right to exist. Massie and Democrat Rashida Tlaib were the only votes against that resolution.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn