Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas, and members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus denounce the fiscal year 2024 appropriations process as they decry so-called "woke" spending by Democrats and President Joe Biden, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, July 25, 2023. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
During the hearing, Self defended his comments by claiming his words were taken out of context.
Rep. Keith Self (R-TX) sparked outrage this week during a congressional hearing Tuesday when he quoted Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels.
“A direct quote from Joseph Goebbels: ‘It is the absolute right of the state to supervise the formation of public opinion,’ and I think that may be what we’re discussing here,” said Self during Tuesday’s House Foreign Relations subcommittee meeting.
The GOP-led hearing was intended to investigate an alleged “censorship industrial complex” established by the Biden administration to suppress conservative viewpoints on social media platforms.
Rep. Julie Johnson (D-TX) immediately condemned Self’s reference to the Nazi propagandist.
“When you’re quoting Joseph Goebbels about the role of state in the public debate, we have a big problem,” Johnson said in disbelief.
“I mean, that’s as alarming as hell to me, when that becomes the gold standard of Hitler, and all that was going on in Russia, I mean, in German atrocities during World War II, when that becomes the quote of this hearing.”
Johnson later took to social media to slam the 72-year-old congressman again by writing, “Joseph Goebbels was a literal Nazi and one of Hitler’s closest allies. To my Republican colleagues, it is probably best not to quote him during a congressional hearing.”
During the hearing, Self defended his comments by claiming his words were taken out of context.
“I was referring to the philosophy of Nina Jankowicz, the former head of Biden’s Disinformation Governance Board,” he said.
“Probably best not to throw stones when your party supported funneling millions of dollars through Biden’s State Dept. to shape public opinion.”
DOGE leader Elon Musk, who himself has come under controversy for Nazi references, later called Jankowicz and her colleague “evil people.”
According to the Huffington Post, this isn’t the first time Self has turned to Goebbels for rhetorical ammunition.
While running for reelection as Collin County Judge in 2010, he quoted, “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.”
At the time, Self claimed he was only using the quote to show that his opponent “was using the method.”
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