The Congressional Black Caucus is leading the call for sanctions against Rep. Paul Gosar after he tweeted a video depicting him striking Democratic colleague Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez with a sword.
The Arizona Republican’s fantasy of butchering the New York congresswoman continues as he appears to attack President Joe Biden in the reimagined video physically.
“[A] creepy member I work with who fundraises for Neo-Nazi groups shared a fantasy video of him killing me,” Ocasio-Cortez shared on Twitter, while also noting that institutions “don’t protect” women of color.
During the 90-second video, Gosar shares an altered version of a Japanese anime series, shots of border patrol officers and migrants.
The animated characters’ faces are replaced with Gosar and Republican Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert are pictured fighting other characters. Gosar’s character viciously attacks and strikes Ocasio-Cortez in the neck with a sword.
“This dude is just a collection of wet toothpicks anyway,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “White supremacy 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.”
Twitter flagged the tweet with officials noting that it violated the platform’s rules concerning hateful conduct. They declined to remove the tweet but placed a “public interest notice” on the message.
“[Twitter] determined that it may be in the public’s interest for the Tweet to remain accessible,” a spokesperson stated.
But Congressional Black Caucus members said they would seek harsh discipline for Gosar.
“This man should not serve in Congress,” Rep. Ilhan Omar stated. “Fantasizing about violently attacking your colleagues has no place in our political discourse and society.”
Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) called Gosar’s action “sick.”
“In any workplace in America, if a coworker made an anime video killing another coworker, that person would be fired,” Lieu tweeted.
Noting that Gosar and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy are ardent supporters of former President Donald Trump, California Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell called the Republicans “bloodthirsty.”
“These bloodthirsty losers are more comfortable with violence than voting. So keep exposing them,” Swalwell said.
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) also weighed in.
“Rep. Paul Gosar has no business being in Congress. [Republicans] are repeatedly glorifying violence,” Schiff said in a national television interview.
Activist Barbara Malmet also expressed outrage.
“Gosar must be removed from Congress right now,” Malmet said. “Hopefully [Ocasio-Cortez] has extra protection from the crazies.”
Writer and producer Matthew Sheffield called Gosar a racist and Christian supremacist and denounced the media’s coverage of the foolishly contrived “Sen. Ted Cruz vs. Big Bird” faux controversy.
“America’s elite media is obsessing over fake anger at Big Bird” instead of Gosar’s actions, Sheffield wrote.