A GOP lawmaker has deleted an ill-conceived tweet that compared COVID vaccine mandates to the Holocaust.
As pointed out by the Daily Beast, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky) removed the post Wednesday night, following widespread backlash. The post in question featured a meme that suggested vaccine passports were similar to the identification tattoos forced upon prisoners in concentration camps.
“If you have to carry a card on you to gain access to a restaurant, venue of an event in your country … that’s no longer a free country,” the post read.
The post reportedly went up at around 3 p.m. and was removed by 11 that night.
A number of political leaders and activists slammed the GOP representative for the post.
“Once again, Massie has made a fool of himself on the national stage and embarrassed the commonwealth,” said Colmon Elridge, the chair of the Kentucky Democratic Party. “Denigrating the victims and survivors of the Holocaust just to score cheap political points is ignorant, shameful, and has no place in our politics or American society. Trying to quietly delete his tweet without apologizing for his ignorant and offensive behavior? That’s rock bottom pathetic.”
Andrew Zirkle, who reportedly interned with Massie’s office, announced he had left the internship in light of the congressman’s offensive tweet.
On Thursday morning, Massie responded to the allegations that he was spreading anti-vaccine propaganda, claiming he was not against vaccines, but rather vaccine mandates and passports.