Washington (AFP) - Republican leaders were scrambling Monday to contain nativist rhetoric emerging from their party after some US House conservatives prepared to launch a congressional group that upholds "Anglo-Saxon" traditions.
Controversial congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who once publicly embraced QAnon conspiracy theories and is a fierce defender of former president Donald Trump, was reportedly co-launching the America First Caucus in a move that has outraged Democrats and Republicans alike.
According to Punchbowl News, Greene and fellow House conservative Paul Gosar began circulating the new group's policy platform that calls on members to "follow in President Trump's footsteps and potentially step on some toes" as it promotes policies that serve the American people.
"America is a nation with a border, and a culture, strengthened by a common respect for uniquely Anglo-Saxon political traditions" that are threatened "when foreign citizens are imported en-masse," the platform reads in its section on immigration.
At least one Republican, Matt Gaetz, said he would be "proud" to join the caucus.
But Democratic congressman Ted Lieu, an immigrant from Taiwan and a US military veteran, was irate, tweeting to Greene and Gosar to "take your nativist crap and shove it."
Greene has already backpedaled from launching the caucus, saying in a weekend statement that "liars in the media are calling me a racist by taking something out of context."
Her spokesman Nick Dyer told CNN Saturday that the Georgia Republican "is not launching anything."
But the mere potential for creating such a group as the party aims to win back Congress next year appears to have infuriated top House Republican Kevin McCarthy.
"The Republican Party is the party of Lincoln & the party of more opportunity for all Americans -- not nativist dog whistles," he tweeted recently.
But McCarthy and Greene have united on one front: accusations that a prominent Black Democrat in the House, Maxine Waters, incited violence when she used provocative language during a weekend protest against police brutality in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Waters, a frequent target of Trump rhetoric when he was president, told protesters that "we've got to get more confrontational."
Greene has called for Waters's expulsion from Congress, while McCarthy has pledged to "bring action," likely in the form of a censure. Neither move is expected to succeed.
