A controversial new caucus expected to be launched in the House will promote the “Anglo-Saxon political traditions” and work on infrastructure that reflects the architectural, engineering and aesthetic value that befits the descendants of European architecture, according to a document that appears to describe the caucus.
The document was first reported by Punchbowl News on Friday, saying representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar were behind the ‘America First Caucus’.
In an apparent reference to Punchbowl News’ coverage, Greene claimed Saturday Twitter that the document was a draft proposal from a staff member that I had not read. ‘
In a statement to CBS News, Nick Dyer, communications director of Greene, said the caucus platform “will be announced to the public soon.”
Greene is a controversial figure who was deprived of her committee allocations earlier this year in response to her previous promotion of conspiracy theories, racist social media messages and apparent endorsement of violence against Democrats.
GOP representative Louie Gohmert, a permanent ally of former President Trump who was allegedly invited to join the caucus, told CBS News on Friday that he was watching the language but had not yet made a decision to to join and was unaware of other potential. members. He said he did not know when the caucus would be launched.
“Well, I’ve not seen it yet, but it’s not supposed to be about race at all,” Gohmert said when asked about the specific language. “I’ll have to go back and look.”
Earlier Friday, he described the goals of the prospective caucus to reporters as ‘not selfish’.
“If we let our country go without caring for America and making sure we are viable for the future, we will not be able to help the other countries, and that will be a tragedy for the world. “So it’s not selfish. It’s just getting our country in order so that it’s sustainable and sustained so we can help other countries, ” Gohmert said.
Gosar’s office did not respond to requests for comment.
Representative Matt Gaetz, another ally of Mr. Trump, tweeted Friday that he was ‘proud’ of the caucus.
Republican House minority leader Kevin McCarthy has implicitly criticized the draft caucus platform a tweet Friday, although he did not mention Greene or Gosar by name.
“America is built on the idea that we are all created equal and that success is earned through honest, hard work. It is not built on identity, race or religion. The Republican Party is Lincoln’s party and the party of more opportunities. for all Americans – not nativist dog whistles, ‘McCarthy wrote.
A document on the caucus entitled “America First Caucus Policy Platform” states that it exists “to promote congressional policies that benefit the American nation in the long run.” It says “a certain intellectual boldness is needed ‘among its members’ to follow in President Trump’s footsteps, possibly stepping on some toes and sacrificing sacred cows for the sake of the American nation.”
The document uses the nativist language to discourage illegal as well as legal immigration, arguing that ‘we can not ignore the impact that mass immigration has on reducing jobs and reducing wages for Americans.
“America is a nation with a border and a culture, strengthened by a common respect for unique Anglo – Saxon political traditions,” reads the draft caucus platform. “History has shown that societal trust and political unity are threatened if foreign nationals are massively imported into a country, especially without institutional support for assimilation and an extensive welfare state to save them if they do not make a positive contribution to the country. . “
The platform discourages birthright citizenship, claiming that immigrants who came to the United States before 1965 were ‘more educated, earned higher wages and did not have an extensive welfare state to which they could fall back if they could not get it in America, and so do not stay in the country at the expense of the natives. ‘
Since 1960, there has been a major shift in the countries of origin for immigrants to the United States. According to the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute, the shift has taken place from mostly European countries to mostly Latin American and Asian countries, with recent large contingent of immigrants also coming from Africa. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the United States implemented a series of racist immigration policies aimed at restricting immigration from non-European countries, such as the Chinese Exclusion Act.
The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 – the year explicitly mentioned by the caucus platform as a turning point for immigration – ended the national origin quotas that ensured that immigrants came mainly from European countries. According to the Migration Policy Institute, the quotas, which have existed since the 1920s, were ‘designed to benefit Western and Northern European countries and drastically restrict the admission of immigrants from Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Southern and Eastern Europe. . ‘
The platform also calls on American infrastructure to be based on ‘European architecture’, which is described as ‘classically beautiful’.
The focus on ‘Anglo-Saxon’ and European terminology can be read as a veiled analogy for ‘White’. The term “White Anglo-Saxon Protestant”, or WASP, is traditionally used in American culture to denote affluent White families, typically of British descent. The Anglo – Saxons were a group that inhabited England before the Norman invasion in 1066.
American white nationalists also relied heavily on medieval, Viking, and Anglo-Saxon images to justify their prejudice. During the White Army rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, some marchers wore banners with Anglo-Saxon runes, iconography also used by the Nazis.