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Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, urged Republicans to force far-left Democrats to defend their own ideas during a Tuesday appearance on “Hannity,” arguing that many of their positions are impossible to justify when subjected to scrutiny.
“We have gone so long letting the left say the most crazy, outlandish things,” Gill said.
“I think it’s time that we call the left out on this stuff and put them on the spot and make them answer for this, make them explain to the American people what they really mean whenever they say that being polite is somehow evidence of White supremacy, and that’s what we tried to do there,” he added.
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Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, leaves the House Republican Conference caucus meeting at the Capitol on Tuesday, May 6, 2025. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Gill was referring to his recent viral exchange with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History Director Anthea Hartig, whom he questioned over museum materials that associated traits such as politeness with “White supremacy culture.”
Gill said the exchange illustrated why Republicans should force progressives to publicly defend their beliefs, suggesting that many of their ideas lose support once they’re fully explained to voters.
“These things are genuinely insane and objectively offensive, I think, to a lot of Americans,” he said.
SOCIALISM’S RISE INSIDE THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY NOW THREATENS THE AMERICAN DREAM
Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks at a rally in New York alongside 1199SEIU members and immigration advocates. Mamdani, a self-described Democratic socialist, is allegedly the product of years of mainstream Democrats criticizing capitalism and police, Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, said Tuesday. (Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)
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Gill broadened his criticism beyond self-described Democratic socialists and progressives, arguing that mainstream Democrats have allowed far-left ideas to become normalized by refusing to challenge them.
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“I think your average rank-and-file Democrat in the House right now recognizes that the Democratic socialists are no longer the fringe in their party. That is the mainstream. That’s where their base is, and they’re not going to speak out against that, because they don’t want the backlash from their base,” he said.
Gill added that mainstream Democrats are now facing the consequences of years spent elevating increasingly progressive ideas such as anti-capitalism and criticism of police, arguing many leftist lawmakers are now “reaping what they’ve been sowing for so long.”