Republican leaders blasted Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Tuesday for continuing to compare COVID-19 vaccinations to the Holocaust, with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy slamming the remarks as “appalling.”
“Marjorie is wrong, and her intentional decision to compare the horrors of the Holocaust with wearing masks is appalling,” McCarthy, a California Republican, said in a statement. “Let me be clear: the House Republican Conference condemns this language.”
The right-wing Georgia lawmaker — who ignited a firestorm last week with the outlandish comparison — doubled down on her opinions early Tuesday, tweeting that vaccine mandates are “just like the Nazi’s forced Jewish people to wear a gold star.”
Matt Brooks, executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition, slammed Greene as “an embarrassment to yourself and the GOP.”
“(It’s) absolutely wrong and inappropriate ... to compare proof of vaccination with the 6million Jews who were exterminated by the Nazis,” Brooks wrote in a retweet of Greene’s post.
Contrary to the Georgia congresswoman’s claims, vaccination against other diseases are already commonplace requirements in the U.S. and worldwide for school attendance and international travel.
Former President Donald Trump issued a new statement Tuesday claiming credit for pushing the “miracle” of the vaccines, even as his supporters like Greene have continued to oppose the jab.
More than 50% of American adults are now fully vaccinated. But resistance is strong within Trump’s base and many red states are among those lagging behind in vaccinations.
“Without the vaccine the world would be a much different place right now,” Trump said in an email statement. “Operation Warp Speed ... has been ‘One of the greatest miracles of the ages,’ according to many.”
