Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) on Wednesday called on GOP Rep. Mark Meadows (N.C.) to “finally do the right thing” after a gun shop put up a billboard in his district calling Pressley and other minority congresswomen “idiots.”
{mosads}In a message to the Republican lawmaker who serves as chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, Pressley noted that the gun shop is in the district he serves.
“Cherokee Guns is in your district & you and I serve on a committee together,” Pressley wrote to Meadows. “Here’s your chance to finally do the right thing.”
Cherokee Guns, a store in Murphy, N.C., put up the advertisement that included pictures of Pressley with other members of the so-called “squad” — Democratic Reps. Ilhan Omar (Minn.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.) and Rashida Tlaib (Mich.).
It refers to the progressive freshman as “idiots” and calls them the “4 Horsemen” of the apocalypse.
The sign featured the signature “the Deplorables,” a nickname some Trump supporters have embraced after 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton coined the phrase.
The Hill has reached out to Meadows’s office for comment.
The billboard comes after the squad was repeatedly attacked by President Trump earlier this month.
Trump sparked an uproar by tweeting for the House Democrats — all of who are U.S. citizens — to “go back” to the “crime infested places” they came from before speaking out about U.S. policies. Omar is the only one of the four born outside the U.S.
The remarks, as well as a “send her back” chant targeting Omar at a Trump rally in North Carolina, sparked widespread outrage from Democratic — and a few Republican — lawmakers.
The House last week voted to condemn Trump’s tweets as racist.
Meadows, an ally of the president, denied that Trump is a racist following his attacks on powerful House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) and his Baltimore district.
“I am friends with both men, President Trump and Chairman Cummings. I know both men well. Neither man is a racist. Period. Both love America,” Meadows said Monday in a statement.
“I think if we put aside partisanship with investigations we can find bipartisan solutions that will benefit not only Chairman Cummings’ district but the country as a whole. I’m committed to working to that end with both of them.”