On Monday, Kentucky Republican Congressman Thomas Massie came under criticism for the second time. He criticized Anthony Fauci with a quote attributed to Voltaire but coined by a white supremacist convicted on charges related to child abuse images.
Thomas Massie Is Under Heavy Criticism For Tweeting The Quote
On Sunday, Thomas Massie shared it on Twitter, saying that no one should doubt Fauci since he is a scientist.
For his part in the US government’s response to Covid-19, President Joe Biden’s main medical adviser has faced right-wing criticism and death threats.
Thomas Massie is a fervent right-wing agitator who released a Christmas card photograph of himself and his family with assault firearms last month.
Massie isn’t the only individual to be duped by the purported quotation from Voltaire, the French philosopher.
It was used in a tweet by actor John Cusack in 2019, for which he apologized after being accused of antisemitism.
In May of last year, as the statement gathered popularity on Facebook, USA Today fact-checked the credit. It discovered no use of the word in Voltaire’s correspondence from 1742 to 1777, which is preserved in the digital library of the University of Southern California.
According to USA Today, Barry Popik, an etymologist, tracked the phrase — with slightly modified wording — back to a 1993 radio interview with white supremacist Kevin Alfred Strom.
Strom, who formed the neo-Nazi party National Vanguard, claimed responsibility for the phrase in 2017, according to the source.
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Strom was arrested in Virginia in 2007 and charged with possessing and receiving child pornography, soliciting a juvenile to conduct sex acts, and intimidating a witness.
According to the SPLC, he pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography and was sentenced to 23 months in jail, prompting National Vanguard to disband.
While Thomas Massie has not responded to or withdrawn Strom’s comment. He has added new messages to his Twitter account, including a link to a newsletter on liberal censorship and a post of congratulations to the Cincinnati Bengals on their playoff victory.
Request for a response from Massie’s representatives was not immediately returned.
