Numerous Republicans on Wednesday defended their colleague, Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ), in the hours before he was censured in a bipartisan House vote for posting an anime video that depicts him murdering U.S. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and attacking President Joe Biden.
Gosar never even came close to apologizing for posting the video – he even defended it – but some Republicans, like Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL), falsely claimed he had apologized – using that as an “excuse” to vote against censuring him.
Others, like Rep. Louie Gohmert, who wants to become the next top law enforcement officer of Texas, expected to throw his hat into the ring to run for state attorney general, just “couldn’t see” what everyone was talking about in the video, so he voted against censure also.
And in speaking to his House colleagues on the floor before the vote, Congressman Gosar appeared pleased, declaring that by censuring him the House was placing him among the nation’s greatest icons, like Alexander Hamilton:
Apparently, Gosar also wants to be among others, less well-known, like John W. Reid, Henry C. Burnett,, Michael J. Myers, and James Traficant. All were expelled.
So Gosar, apparently within a few hours, at most, of being censured, retweeted that very same video he had posted, as journalist Aaron Rupar noticed, which led to him being censured.