Video Shows Marjorie Taylor Greene Saying She Wouldn't Tear Down Statues of Satan, Hitler During 2020 Meeting
Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has been embroiled in several different controversies over past statements involving Nazi Germany, with a 2020 video resurfacing late Monday which shows her telling city council members she wouldn't tear down a statue of Adolf Hitler or even Satan.
Greene, already dealing with bipartisan criticism over a Friday comparison between House mask rules and the Holocaust, is shown in the newly resurfaced video from a 2020 Dalton, Georgia city council meeting. Greene, then a GOP candidate for Congress, spoke to the council addressing the move by protesters to tear down the statues of historical figures. In the weeks which followed the May 25 death of George Floyd last year, activists renewed calls to tear down Confederate statues alongside several people tied to racist ideologies.
Many conservatives and then-President Donald Trump characterized the removal of such statues as a "radical left" attack on U.S. history.
Greene, in the 2020 video uncovered by Punchbowl News this week, said American kids should be exposed to hypothetical statues as evil as Satan or Hitler "to teach others about who these people are and what they did."
"We're seeing situations where Christopher Columbus, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, all kinds of statues are being attacked, and it seems to be just an effort to take down history. And whether I see a statue that may be something that I would fully disagree with like Adolf Hitler, maybe a statue of Satan himself, I would not want to say 'take it down,'" Greene said in the resurfaced video.
Greene has made several recent references to Nazi Germany that have prompted her critics to accuse her of antisemitism, hyperbolic "lunacy" and an ignorance of historical events. Last Friday, she said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's continued COVID-19 mask requirement is similar to the gold stars pinned on Jews during the Holocaust.
Several Change.org petitions have emerged regarding Greene and demands skyrocketed last week for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to expel Greene over her Holocaust remarks, which she has since adamantly defended.
And Facebook posts which emerged earlier this year appeared to show Greene expressing her belief in "Jewish space lasers" which she believed were somehow tied to California wildfires.
Greene appeared to ignore criticism over her most recent controversy Tuesday, instead tweeting out a series of photographs taken at pro-Israel rallies. She also retweeted several supporters who shared articles describing her as a leading figure in the domestic fight against antisemitism in the U.S.
Newsweek reached out to Greene's congressional office Tuesday afternoon for additional remarks.
