Rep. Paul Gosar, Republican of Arizona, posted an absolutely unhinged video on Twitter yesterday, that spliced the Attack on Titan anime together with footage from the U.S. border with Mexico, and showed characters attacking Democratic lawmakers, including President Biden.
āAny anime fans out there?ā Gosar tweeted from his Congressional account with the video attached. The 90-second mashup shows Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, and Rep. Lauren Boebert, Republican of Colorado, as the apocalyptic animeās heroes, protecting a city from giant invaders. One of the invaders has Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortezās face on it, and is killed by a character bearing Gosarās face. At another point, President Joe Bidenās face appears, and once again Gosarās head is transposed onto the Attack on Titan hero, lunging at Biden with two swords drawn.
āThe creativity of my team is off the hook,ā Gosar wrote from his personal Twitter account while retweeting the video. Itās now been viewed over 3 million times, and while flagged by Twitter with a warning for āhateful conductā it remains up.
https://twitter.com/embed/status/1457514264739024896
āThis Tweet violated the Twitter Rules about hateful conduct,ā reads the warning. āHowever, Twitter has determined that it may be in the publicās interest for the Tweet to remain accessible.ā
Ocasio-Cortez responded later in the day calling Gosar ācreepyā and criticizing Republican leadership for condoning it.
āSo while I was en route to Glasgow, a creepy member I work with who fundraises for Neo-Nazi groups shared a fantasy video of him killing me And heāll face no consequences bc @GOPLeader cheers him on with excuses,ā she wrote. āFun Monday! Well, back to work bc institutions donāt protect woc.ā
Read More: Attack on Titan 2 Is As Brutal As The Show And A Bit More Personal
Gosar, who has been representing Arizona constituents since 2010, has never found a crackpot right-wing conspiracy or white nationalist group he didnāt like. Earlier this year, he voted to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and called the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol the work of āpeaceful protesters.ā Over the summer, he attended a rally with commentator Nicholas Fuentes, who the Justice Department has labeled as a white supremacist. His own siblings have called for him to be removed from office.
Attack on Titan has always had a fascist subtext, and its surface level conflict of a city being overrun by monsters makes it an obvious choice for demagogues trying to foment xenophobia and bigotry. That doesnāt make the anime bad, but it has given the hyper-violent series a huge fanbase among the alt-right. Meanwhile, last year, ABC News reported 54 cases of real-world violence connected to then-President Trumpās bashing of immigrants and minorities.
Twitter finally banned Trump in January of this year, two days after the assault on the Capitol, because it was afraid he might urge his followers to do it again.
