Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) on Monday tore into his Republican colleagues during a House Rules Committee meeting to advance legislation codifying a definition of anti-Semitism. Massie accused Republicans of laying performative “sticky traps” for Democrats on the issue and slammed his colleagues for advancing “xenophobic” bills sanctioning foreign countries.
“So, you know, I didn’t vote for one of these resolutions that came to the floor. That’s why I’m reluctant. I mean, I intend to vote for the rule, but we’re just getting worn out by these resolutions,” Massie said of House resolutions on anti-Semitism following the brutal Oct. 7th attacks in Israel.
“We’ve done three dozen now since Mike Johnson became speaker, and we’ve sliced it and diced it every way you can do it. Everybody’s introduced, almost, at this point, a bill to deal with something along these lines since October 7th,” he continued, adding:
None of them actually get to anything real. I think it’s a political ping-pong game. Of course, we get to serve every time. And, a lot of these are just political traps. I call them sticky traps designed to split the Democrat Party and get them stuck in the sticky trap. And I’ve gotten stuck in almost every one of them myself, because I believe absolutely in the First Amendment. And I don’t vote for foreign aid.
And I actually think a lot of, people here are a little bit xenophobic with all of their, resolutions against other countries and all of the sanctions against these other countries. So I’ve never voted for sanction. So every one of these bills that comes forward, we hope to get the Democrats in the sticky trap. And, I always end up there. And then I ended up with, for voting no against one of these $90,000 of ads run against me in my district by AIPAC, by the Super PAC, because I didn’t vote for one of these resolutions. And I think it’s ridiculous.
Massie has regularly voted with progressive Democrats, including the so-called “Squad,” in recent months on issues related to the Israel-Hamas conflict and rising anti-Semitism in the U.S.
Watch the clip above.
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