Marjorie Taylor Greene Grilled On Comparing Mask Mandates To Holocaust

NBC’s Kristen Welker grilled Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) on Sunday for likening COVID-19 mask mandates during the coronavirus pandemic to the treatment of Jews in Nazi Germany.

On “Meet the Press” a day before Greene’s last day in Congress, Welker mentioned the Georgia lawmaker’s highly condemned appearance at the America First Political Action Conference.

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“In 2022, you did speak at a conference organized by Nick Fuentes. He’s a white nationalist. He recently said that Hitler is, quote, ‘Cool,’” Welker began. “Let me ask you about your perspective right now. Do you believe there is room in the Republican Party for Nick Fuentes and anyone who shares that ideology, that Hitler is cool?”

Greene, who announced her resignation from Congress in November following a public falling-out with President Donald Trump, totally dodged the question. 

“Here’s my situation, and here’s my belief on people’s speech. I will always defend the First Amendment and free speech, no matter what kind of speech it is,” she replied. “Even speech that I find abhorrent or I disagree with, because I think that makes us uniquely American.” 

“What concerns me is that when we move towards censorship, and we saw that happen during COVID, I myself had my own Twitter account permanently banned because I spoke out against FDA rushed approval of the COVID vaccines,” she said. “And I spoke out against lockdowns and forced masking. And, you know, when I look at people saying that certain types of speech needs to be censored, and we have been hearing that lately, that raises great concern for me.” 

Greene’s Twitter and Facebook accounts were suspended in January 2022 for spreading COVID-19 misinformation. 

Several months before her online suspension, Greene faced backlash for comparing then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s decision to continue requiring masks on the House floor to the Nazis’ persecution of Jewish people during the Holocaust.

Greene, who has a record of making racist and Islamophobic remarks and peddling antisemitic conspiracy theories, later apologized for her comments.

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Noting that she thinks censoring speech is “something that we have to take seriously as Americans,” Greene told Welker, “we don’t have to agree with each other, and we certainly can disagree, but we should overwhelmingly agree that free speech must be protected.”

Welker then directly confronted Greene.

“During COVID, you did compare lockdowns to the Holocaust,” she said. “I understand your point about free speech, but let me press you there, because Nick Fuentes has said on his podcast, quote, ‘Hitler was awesome. Hitler was–’”

Greene interrupted to say that she had been misquoted.

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“No, that’s a misquote. Kirsten, that’s a misquote. That’s a misquote. That’s not correct,” she said. “I compared vaccine cards, being forced to take a vaccine in order to be able to keep a job or buy or sell, or be able to be admitted to restaurants. I compared that.”

She then backtracked further, saying, “I was not comparing. The Holocaust was horrible. I’m not comparing anything to that.”

Elsewhere in the interview, the Republican doubled down on her previous claims that she doesn’t know Fuentes, but she did not denounce his remarks.

“I don’t even have his phone number. He doesn’t have my phone number,” she added before alleging that she spoke at the event “because it was largely attended by young Americans, and I care about that generation.”

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“I’m not going to engage in weighing in on who deserves to be where,” she later added.

Watch Greene’s appearance on “Meet the Press” below.

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