GOP congressman under fire for violent video meme

US Republican Paul Gosar of Arizona has raised the ire of Democrats in the White House and in Congress by releasing a violent meme video depicting himself as a sword-wielding Japanese anime character flying through the air to brutally murder New York Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

"This should not be happening, and we should be condemning it," said White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre.

The 90-second video features other right-wing Republicans such as Lauren Boebert of Colorado and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, both close associates of Gosar's in the US House of Representatives. In the clip, Gosar attacks the progressive Democrat Ocasio-Cortez — a favorite target of conservatives — before threatening President Joe Biden.

Speaker of the House Democrat Nancy Pelosi called on the House Ethics Committee and law enforcement to open an investigation into the incident. "Threats of violence against Members of Congress and the President of the United States must not be tolerated," she wrote on Twitter.

Pelosi also called on House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy to condemn the video. McCarthy has repeatedly deferred taking disciplinary action against such actions by members on the far-right of the party.

What did Twitter say about the video?

Twitter flagged the video, which also featured blood-stained images of immigrants at the southern US border and border agents on horseback, as "hateful," though it remained online as the company said, "it may be in the public's interest for the tweet to remain accessible."

Ocasio-Cortez, often referred to by her initials AOC, commented on the incident via Twitter: "A creepy member I work with who fundraises for neo-Nazi groups shared a fantasy video of him killing me and he'll face no consequences because [McCarthy] cheers him on with excuses … well, back to work because institutions don't protect women of color."

"White supremacy," said Ocasio-Cortez, "is for extremely fragile people and sad men like him, whose self concept relies on the myth that he was born superior because deep down he knows he couldn't open a pickle jar or read a whole book by himself."

Ocasio-Cortez also listed a number of other incidents in which she has been verbally abused by GOP representatives.

Who is Paul Gosar?

Gosar is a fervent supporter of former President Donald Trump and has continued to propagate the lie that Trump in fact won the 2020 US presidential election. He spoke on the floor of the House of Representatives in objection to the certification of the results of that election on January 6, 2021, shortly before Trump supporters violently entered the Capitol, delaying the certification of the votes.

Gosar described those who stormed the Capitol on January 6 as "peaceful patriots." He is among those whose phone records are being sought by the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack.

The former dentist refused to back down in light of criticism of his tweet, saying "I will always fight for the rule of law, securing our borders and defending the America First agenda" and then following that with another tweet inferring Democrats are oversensitive and have no sense of humor.

House Democrat Ted Lieu of California, tweeted: "In any workplace in America, if a coworker made an anime video killing another coworker, that person would be fired."

js/nm (AP, Reuters)