Republican Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene accused California Governor Gavin Newsom of “mansplaining” after he tweeted about her “dangerous rhetoric” on Democratic colleague Rep Jamaal Bowman.
Mr Newsom became the latest Democrat to rally around his colleague Mr Bowman, suggesting that Ms Greene’s recent characterisation of him was “racist” and adding: “This is the kind of dangerous rhetoric that led to Emmett Till’s death.”
His comments came after the Georgia representative addressed the media about a confrontation on the Hill in which Mr Bowman referred to her as a white supremacist.
“Jamaal Bowman shouting at the top of his lungs, cursing, calling me a horrible … calling me a white supremacist which I take great offense to that,” she said on Thursday.
“It’s like calling a person of color the n-word which should never happen. Calling me a white supremacist is equal to that. That is wrong.”
“His physical mannerisms are aggressve,” she added. “I think there’s a lot of concern about Jamaal Bowman, and I am concerned, I feel threatened by him.”
Mr Bowman and Ms Greene went toe-to-toe outside the Capitol on Wednesday, with the pair shouting at one another after Republicans managed to successfully avoid a vote forcing them to expel Rep George Santos from Congress over allegations of embezzlement.
Ms Greene and Mr Bowman became involved in the altercation after Mr Bowman yelled to Mr Santos that he should “resign”, prompting Ms Greene to engage.
Her comments were slammed as racism by Mr Bowman himself, and have prompted a huge outpouring of support for Mr Bowman from his colleagues, but Ms Greene hit out at Mr Newsom over his support, retweeting a message that suggested the governor was “mansplaining”.
“Shame on you, @GavinNewsom. When women say they feel threatened you should not be mansplaining to them,” wrote Richard Grenell, who was retweeted by the congresswoman.
Mr Bowman had accused Ms Greene of using a racial “bullhorn” when she characterised him as threatening.
“Unfortunately, this country has a history of characterising Black men who are outspoken, who stand their ground and who push back as being threatening or intimidating,” he told reporters on Capitol Hill. “So she’s not even using a dog whistle. She’s using a bullhorn to put a target on my back to the people she refers to as MAGA people out there who might want to cause harm.”
