Republican Congressman Thomas Massie said Wednesday night that he voted to table the censure of Democratic Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib because he opposed the language similar to how Congress pursued those involved in the Capitol Hill protest on January 6, 2021.
Tlaib had been threatened with censure, a type of formal punishment for House members, in a resolution introduced by Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene over Tlaib’s controversial comments and actions related to the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Greene appeared to want a tit for tat with Tlaib, blaming her for a protest last month that saw hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators arrested after they took over the Cannon House Office building.
Greene called out the 23 Republicans who voted against her censure including Massie.
Massie emphasized that not only did he disagree with how the J6 protesters were treated by Congress, the same principle applied to those who voice pro-Palestinian views.
In the name of free speech – because protecting speech you don’t like is key to how free speech works.
Massie’s point highlights how calling the pro-Palestinian protesters and Tlaib “insurrectionists” is absurd, but it’s also how the Democrats treated those present in the Capitol on January 6th 2021.
Acknowledging that would be in the name of standing up for free speech. Greene and most other Republicans seemed too happy to simply replicate Democrats and their authoritarian behavior.
But on free speech, Massie, for one, appears to have never lost the plot.
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