Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) tore into a new GOP caucus promoting “Anglo-Saxon political traditions,” describing it as “hatefulness.”
The rebuke from Buck, a member of the hardline Freedom Caucus, marks the first signs of internal division among some of the most conservative House members. Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), two other Freedom Caucus members, are heading up the newly-formed “America First Caucus.”
“The hatefulness of this statement is only surpassed by its ignorance of American history and values,” Buck tweeted, referencing the caucus’s allegiance to “Anglo-Saxon political traditions.”
Buck is the latest Republican to come out swinging against the new group’s platform, which has been panned as nativist and racist.
The America First Caucus’s platform maintains that “a certain intellectual boldness is needed” in order to “follow in President Trump’s footsteps, and potentially step on some toes and sacrifice sacred cows for the good of the American nation.”
“America is a nation with a border, and a culture, strengthened by a common respect for uniquely Anglo-Saxon political traditions. History has shown that societal trust and political unity are threatened when foreign citizens are imported en-masse into a country, particularly without institutional support for assimilation and an expansive welfare state to bail them out should they fail to contribute positively to the country,” the caucus’s platform states.
Greene and Gosar have both faced pushback over past remarks, including racist and anti-Semitic comments Greene made before her election and Gosar’s appearance at a conference whose organizer has expressed white nationalist views.
While Buck is the first Freedom Caucus member to rebuke the new group, other more establishment Republicans have criticized Greene and Gosar.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) said earlier Friday that anyone who becomes a member of the caucus should lose their committee assignments, while Republican Conference Chairwoman Liz Cheney (Wyo.), the third-ranking House Republican, also condemned “racism, nativism, and anti-Semitism” in a tweet apparently aimed at the new group.