On Wednesday, the House voted to censure Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ), making him the 24th House member to face such a form of reprimand. As Cristina Marcos reported for The Hillthe 223 to 207 majority vote was almost entirely along party lines. Republican Dave Joyce of Ohio voted “present.” Not surprisingly, Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois voted to censure Gosar. This decision comes after Rep. Gosar published a photoshopped anime video of him killing Republican Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).
The member who has been censured must then stand in the middle of the House floor while the Speaker of the House reads the resolution aloud.
According to Marcos, the resolution raised the issue around January 6 and “[v]violence against women.”
.@SpeakerPelosi: “The House has resolved to censure Republican Paul Gosar of Arizona… and is hereby removed from the Committee on Natural Resources and the Committee on Oversight and Reform.” pic.twitter.com/YoHGlmeZrU
— CSPAN (@cspan) November 17, 2021
During the House debate on the no-confidence vote, Rep. Gosar discussed his decision to delete the now-deleted tweet, as well as what he called the “mischaracterizations… that the cartoon from my office was dangerous or threatening. It was not and I categorically reject this false narrative.”
The congressman also stated that “I do not advocate violence against anyone, I have never done it” and that “it was not my intention to upset anyone. Emphasizing how he claims he is not violent, Gosar further explained: “The cartoon was voluntarily removed not because it was a threat in itself, but because some people thought so. Of those who felt offensive in general, I self-censored.” As Gosar mentioned, Twitter itself did not remove the tweet.
Gosar also took the time to explain the broader context of what he thought the video was about. “The cartoon directly contributes to understanding and discussion about the real battle arising from this administration’s open borders policy.” He then criticized the spending bill, which he called “reckless”, “socialist” and “Marxist”, with particular emphasis on illegal immigration.
He began calling illegal immigration a “plague.” Gosar emphasized, “I will not stop paying attention to this and I will not stop,” and later similarly said, “No matter how hard the left tries to silence me, I will continue to speak out against amnesty for undocumented immigrants and the rule of law and support American First.” ” Returning to the film, he noted: “I said strongly that there is no threat in the cartoon other than the threats that immigration poses to our country. Neither my staff nor I intended to make any threats.”
In his final words during the floor debate, Gosar seemed to have accepted his fate. “If I have to join Alexander Hamilton, the first person to attempt to be censured by this House, so be it. It happened.
Many pointed out hypocrisy on the part of the Democratic Party. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) in her remarks referred to Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), who made particularly disparaging remarks about Israel, including claims that “Israel has hypnotized the world.”
Boebert also clashed with Rep. Eric Swalwell (R-Calif.), who was associated with a Chinese spy.
That doesn’t mean Twitter won’t fact-check, because it does.
Good job, @laurenboebert. https://t.co/qDDsOl40PL
— Dave Rubin (@RubinReport) November 17, 2021
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) has made particularly disturbing comments about the Trump administration over the years, as she did in 2018. In April 2021, she crossed state lines and broke curfew to speak out against Derek Chauvin that night in the middle of a war. , as the jury was considering whether to find him guilty of George Floyd’s death, which they ultimately did.
“If you see someone from this cabinet at a restaurant, a department store, a gas station, you get out, you create a crowd, you push them away and you tell them they are no longer welcome, anywhere,” Waters told the crowd in 2018.
“I know this, we have to stay on the streets,” Waters told a group of activists. “We expect a guilty verdict,” Waters said in April. “If nothing happens, we will not only have to stay on the streets, but also fight for justice,” she continued. “I am hopeful and I hope that we will get a verdict of guilty, guilty, guilty, and if we don’t do that, we won’t be able to leave.”
Shortly after Rep. Waters’ remarks, National Guardsmen were shot at in Minnesota.
Even Senator Chuck Schumer in March 2020, then Senate Minority Leader, warned Supreme Court Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch that they would “pay a price” if they did not vote a certain way on the abortion case.
Leah provided other examples here from her reporting on Waters’ remarks.
The House Minority Leader (R-CA) also pointed out this hypocrisy and the potential for a slippery slope in his remarks.
Gosar, from his personal account, began tweeting thanks to other Republicans, including and especially members of the House Freedom Caucus.
I was surrounded by members of Congress who rejected the kabuki theater we had seen. This was the first time in history that members surrounded the Well Chamber in solidarity with a mob of censors. Everyone knows this rebuke was theater. https://t.co/WUl0QkastO
— Paweł Gosar (@DrPaulGosar) November 17, 2021
I thank my conference for supporting me in the fight against the hysterical mob ruling the circus; my colleagues @GOPLeader @SteveScalise @RepAndyBiggsAZ @Jim_Jordan @RepWesterman @mtgreenee @mattgaetz @laurenboebert @CawthornforNC so many others pic.twitter.com/juwVjWjchY
— Paweł Gosar (@DrPaulGosar) November 17, 2021
CNN’s Manu Raju tweeted that other members of the Republican Party stood next to him. Gosar referenced and thanked these members in tweets and retweets as well.
For @AnnieGrayerCNN @MSanona: A vote of no confidence was read among the GOP group standing with Gosar in the well:
MTG
Clyde
Biggs
Rosendale
Gaetz
Roy
Clay Higgins
Miller— Manu Raju (@mkraju) November 17, 2021
I was surrounded by members of Congress who rejected the kabuki theater we had seen. This was the first time in history that members surrounded the Well Chamber in solidarity with the censors crowd. Everyone knows this rebuke was theater. https://t.co/WUl0QkastO
— Paweł Gosar (@DrPaulGosar) November 17, 2021
Biggs, Rosendale, Greene, Gaetz, Clyde and Miller are some of the best members of Congress.
It’s good to hear that they bravely stood up for themselves @DrPaulGosar. https://t.co/ZvYLpkCVBp
— Republicans for National Renewal (@RNRenewal) November 17, 2021
Additionally, Gosar will be removed from his positions on the House Natural Resources Committee and the House Oversight Committee, with AOC also serving on the latter.
