McCarthy Raises Temperature on Democrats
Republican’s Greene Problem
House minority leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) decried Democratic moves against Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA). Greene is a new Congress member who was given a committee assignment by McCarthy even though she has advocated numerous insane conspiracy theories, including: Parkland school shooting wasn’t real, California wildfires were caused by a space laser controlled by wealthy Jews, and Muslim immigration to Europe is a Jewish plot. Green has also encouraged fantasies about murdering Democratic leaders Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi.
Speaking in private with Republicans, Greene was “expressing contrition for some of her most outrageous comments,” but as far as I know has not made a public apology for them. Lacking support for Republican leadership, Democrats are now moving to unilaterally strip Greene’s committee assignment. McCarthy tried an “I Know You Are But What Am I?” on Democrats:
“they continue to do nothing about Democrats serving on the Foreign Affairs Committee who have spread anti-Semitic tropes, Democrats on the House Intelligence and Homeland Security Committee compromised by Chinese spies, or the Chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee who advocated for violence against public servants.” –Kevin McCarthy.
What is he talking about? It’s hard to be sure since he did not name any names, but here is what I found with a little internet searching:
Chinese Spies?
McCarthy referred to “Democrats” on the Intelligence and Homeland Security committees compromised by Chinese “spies”. I found one Democrat, Eric Swalwell, who was targeted by one suspected Chinese spy and who has served on both committees.
Here’s the whole story: Fang Fang, aka Christine Fang, help fundraise for Swalwell’s 2014 re-election campaign, “interacted with Swalwell at multiple events over the course of several years,” and “helped place at least one intern in Swalwell’s office.” Fang is a Chinese national who came to the US for school but who was suspected of working as an agent for the Chinese government. In 2015, federal investigators warned Swalwell of security concerns about Fang, leading Swalwell to immediately cut all ties to Fang, who then “left the country unexpectedly in mid-2015”, never to return.
As far as I can tell, that’s about it.
Fang also “appeared in photos” with several other Democratic House members, including Ro Khanna, Judy Chu, and Mike Honda (all from CA) and helped with a fundraiser for Tulsi Gabbard in 2014. I don’t know if McCarthy was referring to any of these Democrats.
Based on what I have read, once Swalwell cut ties with Fang, House Democrats took appropriate action regarding the matter: they did nothing.
Advocating Violence?
McCarthy’s charge of “advocating violence against public servants” refers to Financial Services Committee Chair Maxine Waters. On 23 June 2018, in response to Trump administration policy of taking children away from their parents at the border, Waters said:
“Let’s make sure we show up wherever we have to show up. And if you see anybody from that Cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd. And you push back on them. And you tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere. We’ve got to get the children connected to their parents,” –Maxine Waters.
Within 2 days, then-Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) tweeted a link about Waters’ quote with the message:
“Trump’s daily lack of civility has provoked responses that are predictable but unacceptable.” [Same link as Waters quote]
The Democrats’ Senate leader, Chuck Schumer (D-NY), also made a statement against Waters, saying her call for “harassment of political opponents” was “not American.” As far as I know, Waters did not apologize for her statement.
Waters did not literally advocate violence, though the quote was objectionable and the Democratic leader did in fact object. I leave it to the reader to decide what further action, if any, Democrats should have taken in response to this statement.
Anti-Semitic Tropes
It’s interesting to see Kevin McCarthy is urging action against a Representative for “anti-semitic tropes.” One such trope is that Rich Jews Control the World. Here is a 2018 tweet in which McCarthy warns against three rich Jews who often figure in Republican as well as anti-semitic conspiracy theories:
“We cannot allow Soros, Steyer, and Bloomberg to BUY this election! Get out and vote Republican November 6th,” –Kevin McCarthy.
McCarthy deleted the tweet the next day, though as far as I know he never apologized.
His recent statement probably refers to Ilhan Omar, who implied that US support for Israel was “all about the Benjamins” (meaning financial pressure on politicians from AIPAC). She later apologized for the statement, saying
“Anti-Semitism is real and I am grateful for Jewish allies and colleagues who are educating me on the painful history of anti-Semitic tropes. My intention is never to offend my constituents or Jewish Americans as a whole. We have to always be willing to step back and think through criticism, just as I expect people to hear me when others attack me for my identity. This is why I unequivocally apologize.” -Ilhan Omar.
I also found some of Omar’s statements to be disturbing because of pushing buttons about Jewish money and power. She was talking about legitimate issues – the influence of pro-Israel lobbyists and the US relationship with Israel – in a harmful way. However, as the McCarthy quote shows, it would be wrong to single her out for this kind of language, and it is significant that she apologized.
Back to Greene
Added later in the day: Marjorie Taylor Greene speech on House floor.
Green disavowed Q-anon, declared that the 9/11 attacks and school shootings are real, and claimed that she had not made any statements about Q-anon while she was running for office. She also claimed that the mainstream media is just as bad as Q-anon, and that unnamed Democrats had encouraged rioting and property destruction (a presumed reference to riots last summer). She did not disavow her encouragement of statements promoting violence against Democratic leaders.