Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) has never shied away from expressing her opinions on various issues or making controversial statements about Democratic platforms. However, she quickly made waves when she took time during the week to slam the mask mandate that is still in effect in the House of Representatives—and the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi.

Though CDC guidance last week stated that vaccinated Americans could safely gather indoors and outdoors without using masks, due to GOP members of the House who remain unvaccinated against COVID-19, Pelosi kept the mandate in place. This led to Greene, a freshman rep, receiving a warning earlier in the week when she appeared on the floor without a mask—something she responded to on Twitter by shredding the warning letter in a video.

Following that, she made an appearance on Christian Broadcast Network’s “The Water Cooler”, where she compared the mandate to the Holocaust and also referred to Pelosi as “mentally ill.”

“This woman is mentally ill,” Greene said. “You know, we can look back at a time in history where people were told to wear a gold star, and they were definitely treated like second-class citizens, so much so that they were put in trains and taken to gas chambers in Nazi Germany. And this is exactly the type of abuse that Nancy Pelosi is talking about.”

The comments were not only quickly condemned by groups like the American Jewish Congress, but many on social media, who not only condemned Greene for the comments and trying to compare a mass genocide event with rules set in place because of the pandemic, but also for getting facts wrong—including about the color of the star that Jews were forced to wear during the Holocaust, which was not gold, but yellow.

Pelosi has not responded to Greene’s comments but left the mandate in place due to all members of Congress not being vaccinated. A CNN survey found that every Democrat in both the House and the Senate are fully vaccinated, while 92% of Republican Senators are. However, 44.8% of Republican reps wouldn’t answer and reveal their status—including Greene.

Following the CDC guidance, several states rolled back their mask mandates, including the New York, New Jersey and Connecticut Tri-State area, as did many retailers around the United States.

marjorie taylor greene
US Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, stands alongside fellow first-term Republican members of Congress on the steps of the Capitol in Washington, D.C., Jan. 4, 2021. SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images
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