Republican Congressman Under Fire for Agreeing with ‘Clearly’ Anti-Semitic Post: ‘This Is Disgusting’
(Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP Images)
Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) is under fire for his reply to an anti-Semitic post about a reporter’s Jewish heritage on X (formerly Twitter) Sunday.
The anonymous account responsible for the original post, @GarbageHuman23, had quote-tweeted a New York Post article headlined “Washington Post reporter says shoplifting not a big deal because US built on ‘stolen land'” and written “In case you were wondering, yes she is.”
Collins replied, “Never was a second thought.”
Never was a second thought.
— Rep. Mike Collins (@RepMikeCollins) March 3, 2024
The original post appeared at first glance to be about the reporter’s Jewish heritage. @GarbageHuman23’s account, which boasts nearly 127,000 followers, is littered with bigoted posts about Jews and African-Americans.
One such post depicts an Orthodox Jew saying “I make porn using your children and then make money distributing it under the banner of women’s rights while flooding your nation with demented lunatics who then rape your children because they assume you’re all sluts and cucks,” and then a man in MAGA hat replying “Ur my greatest ally.”
Online, a number of journalists took note of Collins’s seeming point of agreement with the post as well as the account’s bigotry.
Here we have GOP Congressman Mike Collins agreeing with an antisemitic tweet by a known Neo-Nazi account. pic.twitter.com/wSsJE9Tnv9
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) March 3, 2024
Georgia Rep. Mike Collins (R) responding approvingly to a very racist and antisemitic Twitter account’s tweet that’s pretty clearly about a reporter being Jewish. pic.twitter.com/hQpyUtI6oe
— Jacob Rubashkin (@JacobRubashkin) March 3, 2024
These are some tweets from the racist account Georgia Congressman Mike Collins responded to https://t.co/yuuKdbnWAG pic.twitter.com/WAC7V0DmkU
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) March 4, 2024
This is disgusting, @RepMikeCollins. pic.twitter.com/rORxTrhpl3
— Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) March 4, 2024
The account Rep. Collins was responding to is clearly anti-semitic and racist. (Take a look at what else @GarbageHuman23 tweets.)
The reply guys overwhelmingly understood a sitting congressman to be referring to her being Jewish. They’re calling him “based.”
His response: https://t.co/dvMQXRIVGQ
— Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) March 4, 2024
Collins responded to the controversy obliquely online, posting a GIF with the caption “Some of y’all having a rough time wanting to see something that ain’t there. But don’t give up!”
Some of y’all having a rough time wanting to see something that ain’t there. But don’t give up! pic.twitter.com/7LPOKIfvpj
— Rep. Mike Collins (@RepMikeCollins) March 4, 2024
But while Collins’s response seemed to suggest that he had no anti-Semitic intent, @GarbageHuman23 confirmed that he had in fact been referring to the reporter’s Jewish heritage.
Take note. It’s antisemitic to point out somebody is Jewish when they actually are indeed Jewish. https://t.co/pY2uf07oaM
— Garbage Human (@GarbageHuman23) March 4, 2024
Collins has still not clarified what he meant by his reply, but he did lash out at Georgia State Sen. Josh McLaurin for condemning him.
“I guess pointing out that a Washington Post journo excusing crime because she believes USA is on ‘stolen land’ makes her a garbage human is anti-Semitic? Y’all just see stuff that ain’t there,” remarked Collins.
