House Republicans are facing an internal reckoning over their harsh rhetoric toward immigrants after a racist mass shooter killed 10 people in Buffalo, N.Y.
Elise Stefanik released an early morning statement saying she’s “heartbroken and saddened” by the assault.
What happened: House Republicans are facing criticism from two of their own for past messages attacking immigrants after a mass shooter in Buffalo, N.Y., took 10 lives over the weekend at a supermarket — leaving behind an alleged manifesto that cited the racist “great replacement” theory.
House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) released a statement early Monday saying she’s “heartbroken and saddened” by the shooting. A senior advisor, Alex DeGrasse, said: “Despite sickening and false reporting, Congresswoman Stefanik has never advocated for any racist position or made a racist statement.”
But her own colleagues are grappling with whether past Republican rhetoric has signaled alignment with “great replacement”-style ideas by stoking public fears that white people would be overtaken in American society. Here’s Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), whose spot in leadership Stefanik took last year:
The House GOP leadership has enabled white nationalism, white supremacy, and anti-semitism. History has taught us that what begins with words ends in far worse. @GOP leaders must renounce and reject these views and those who hold them.
— Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) May 16, 2022
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy “should be asked about this.”
Stefanik’s home-town newspaper, The Times Union, penned an editorial in September blasting her ads which warned Democratic immigration policies would “overthrow our current electorate.” The paper wrote that Stefanik isn’t “so brazen as to use the slogans themselves; rather, she couches the hate in alarmist anti-immigrant rhetoric that’s become standard fare for the party of Donald Trump.”
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House Republicans are facing an internal reckoning over their harsh rhetoric toward immigrants after a racist mass shooter killed 10 people in Buffalo, N.Y. https://t.co/TJhNrEbbbi
— Congress Minutes (@politicongress) May 16, 2022
Did you know: @EliseStefanik pushes white replacement theory? The #3 in the house GOP. @Liz_Cheney got removed for demanding truth. @GOPLeader should be asked about this.
Stefanik Blasted for 'Despicable' Facebook Ads Pushing 'Replacement Theory' https://t.co/RcuzJ37BiE
— Adam Kinzinger (@AdamKinzinger) May 14, 2022
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