(Washington) In a vote illustrating the growing political polarization in the United States, congressmen on Wednesday imposed an official censure on a Republican elected official, Paul Gosar, after this close to Donald Trump published a parody video showing him in the process to kill an elected Democrat and attack President Biden.
The motion presented to the House of Representatives was adopted, during this rare procedure, by 223 votes to 207. The Democrats have the majority in the hemicycle and only two elected Republicans, already marginalized by the Republican bloc, voted in favor.
The scandal over Arizona’s elected official Mr Gosar erupted after he tweeted a Japanese-style animated video, where he is seen killing left-wing elected official Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and attacking Joe Biden with a saber.
Paul Gosar removed the video, which had racked up millions of views, but did not express remorse in public or apologize to those targeted.
PHOTO ALASTAIR GRANT, ARCHIVES ASSOCIATED PRESS
Democrat elected Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, during a panel at the United Nations Climate Summit in Glasgow, Scotland, Tuesday, November 9, 2021. Ms. Ocasio-Cortez condemned Republican Paul Gosar, stressing that he has made “a video where he fantasizes about killing me”.
“Representations of violence can incite real violence and endanger the safety of elected officials, as we observed in this chamber on January 6, 2021,” said the Democratic Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi.
The leader of the Republicans in the House, Kevin McCarthy, for his part retorted that the vote at the initiative of the Democrats was not intended to prevent hypothetical violence but illustrated their desire for “control”, which he has. assimilated to an abuse of power.
Close to the extreme right, Paul Gosar is not removed from his seat but will have to leave his functions within the parliamentary committees where he sits.
This procedure of public blame known as “censorship” is the most severe punishment to which elected officials can be subjected in the House of Representatives, and only a handful of members have suffered this sanction in the past century, the last example dating back to 11 years.
Unconditional support of Donald Trump, Paul Gosar regularly echoes the baseless accusations of electoral fraud in the 2020 presidential election launched by the former Republican president. He is also seen as close to white nationalist circles and praised the January 6 rioters.