House minority leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) and Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) spoke out on Monday after Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene (R., Ga.) and Paul Gosar (R., Ariz.) appeared at a white-nationalist event over the weekend.
After Greene and Gosar spoke at the America First Political Action Committee’s conference on Saturday, McCarthy told Punchbowl News: “Last week I was just in Israel. When I come back I see two colleagues who went and participated with a group that has a leader that many times gives antisemitic views, and led a chant for Putin. For me it was appalling and wrong.”
McCarthy reportedly said the pair’s appearance at the event was “unacceptable” and that he plans to meet with Greene this week.
McConnell, meanwhile, said there is “no place in the Republican Party for white supremacists or antisemitism” when asked about the issue.
The white-nationalist conference was organized by Nick Fuentes, whom the Justice Department has labeled a white supremacist. Fuentes found an audience after he left Boston University over “threats” that he said he received after attending the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in 2017, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
Greene attended the conference in person. When Fuentes introduced Greene, he told the audience, “Now they’re going on about Russia and Vladimir Putin is Hitler — they say that’s not a good thing,” before asking the crowd to “give a round of applause for Russia.” Attendees responded by chanting, “Putin! Putin!” to which Fuentes replied, “Absolutely.”
As Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene and Rep Paul Gosar speak at this white supremacist, anti-Semitic, pro-Putin event, silence by Republican Party leaders is deafening and enabling.
All Americans should renounce this garbage and reject the Putin wing of the GOP now. pic.twitter.com/6fgpV6ohZ8
— Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) February 26, 2022
Greene then addressed the crowd, telling them they were “canceled Americans,” according to HuffPost.
“You’ve been handed the responsibility to fight for our Constitution and stand for our freedoms, and stop the Democrats, who are the Communist Party of the United States of America,” Greene said.
Gosar, who also attended the event last year, addressed the conference in a 30-second prerecorded video.
Greene defended herself on Sunday in a statement to CBS News, accusing her critics of partaking in “identity politics” and attempting to “cancel” her.
“It doesn’t matter if I’m speaking to Democrat union members or 1,200 young conservatives who feel cast aside and marginalized by society,” Greene told CBS News. “The Pharisees in the Republican Party may attack me for being willing to break barriers and speak to a lost generation of young people who are desperate for love and leadership.”
Many Republicans spoke out against Greene’s and Gosar’s attendance at the event, including Senator Mitt Romney (R., Utah), who said during an appearance on CNN on Sunday that he was “reminded of that old line from the Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid movie, where one character says: ‘Morons. I have got morons on my team.’”
Source: National Review
