GOP lawmaker: Greene’s comments comparing mask policy to Holocaust are ‘beyond reprehensible’

Republican Rep. Peter Meijer (Mich.) denounced comments made by fellow GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.), who compared the mask policy on the House floor to the Holocaust, calling them “beyond reprehensible.”

“Any comparisons to the Holocaust, it’s beyond reprehensible. This is, I don’t even have words to describe how disappointing it is to see this hyperbolic speech that frankly amps up and plays into a lot of the antisemitism that we’ve been seeing in our society today, vicious attacks on the streets of New York and in Los Angeles that should be, and I do condemn that in the strongest terms. There’s no excuse for that,” Meijer told host Dana Bash on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Greene, during an appearance on Real America’s Voice on Friday, likened the mandatory mask mandate on the House floor to the treatment of Jews during the Holocaust.

“You know, we can look back at a time in history when people were told to wear a gold star, and they were definitely treated like second-class citizens, so much so that they were put in trains and taken to gas chambers in Nazi Germany. And this is exactly the type of abuse that [Speaker] Nancy Pelosi [D-Calif.] is talking about,” she said.

Greene also called Pelosi “mentally ill” during the interview.

The remarks were part of a crusade among Republicans against House regulations that require all individuals in the chamber to wear masks, despite guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that allows people who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to unmask in most settings.

Democrats, however, have said the mandate should remain in place because a number of GOP House lawmakers have not been inoculated.

Greene’s comments received broad pushback, with Jewish advocacy groups and current and former lawmakers denouncing her remarks.

The Georgia lawmaker has made previous comments that have been panned as antisemitic, including one claiming that the Rothschild banking firm was behind a supposed corporate conspiracy.

Earlier this year, she was ousted from her House committees after previously amplifying conspiracy theories such as QAnon and social media posts that appeared to advocate for violence against Democrats, including Pelosi.