'Gazpacho police': Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's word soup launches social media frenzy

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is cooking up controversy again in Washington with a familiar recipe: references to Nazi Germany.

This time, though, the Georgia Republican mixed her metaphors and confused the Nazi police for cold soup.

On Wednesday, Greene claimed during an appearance on One America News that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was using U.S. Capitol Police for her own political purposes. Rep. Tom Nehls, R-Texas, accused Capitol police of investigating his office last year at Pelosi’s direction. Capitol police denied any investigation.

When Greene compared the situation to Nazi secret police, the Gestapo, she chose an entirely different word.

“We have Nancy Pelosi’s gazpacho police spying on members of Congress, spying on the legislative work that we do, spying on our staff and spying on American citizens that want to come talk to their representatives,” Green said.

Gazpacho is a cold, vegetable-based soup from Spain.

Greene has evoked Nazi Germany and the Holocaust since she was sworn into Congress last year. She has compared COVID-19 safety protocols, including mask wearing and vaccinations, to the Nazi regime, drawing a rebuke from her caucus.

Weeks after she was sworn in, the House stripped Greene of committee assignments in a bipartisan vote, after news outlets unearthed a trove of social media posts, including questioning whether the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks happened and claims that school shootings were staged by Democrats, among others. Eleven Republicans voted to remove Greene from committees.

During her appearance on OAN on Wednesday, Greene mixed metaphors as well. She compared the holding of people accused of rioting at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington to the “gulag,” the system of Soviet labor camps.

“This government has turned into something it was never meant to be, and it’s time to make it end,” she said.

Greene’s misstep sparked delight among her critics and thousands of jokes on social media. New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a frequent Greene target, tweeted in response: “At least she leads by example. She clearly banned all books from her house years ago.”

“Maybe that should be goulash in the DC jail to go with the gazpacho police?” former Obama administration U.S. Attorney Joyce Alene quipped.

Contributing: The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Gazpacho police': Marjorie Taylor Greene's confuses Nazis and soup