GOP Rep Wants To Throw A Bedsheet Over The Statue Of Liberty

Watching MAGA conservatives crash out over the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to uphold birthright citizenship has been interesting in a comical sort of way, because it’s like they just discovered this century-and-a-half-old constitutional amendment when President Donald Trump made it his mission to end it, and they talk about it like it’s some new liberal agenda run amok.

Basically, the Supreme Court decision has resulted in a bunch of white people — and wannabe-white-adjacent folk like Clarence Thomas — claiming everyone hates “America” except them, when, in reality, it’s them who hate the “America” that currently exists, because it’s just too diverse racially and culturally, which, in their white nationalist minds, weakens the nation.

Anyway, one Republican lawmaker wants to throw a “bedsheet” over the Statue of Liberty, presumably because of the “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free” message that comes attached to it.

On Tuesday, Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas) told a reporter in response to the SCOTUS decision that the Statue of Liberty needs to go into hiding for about the next decade, essentially, because he fears the message on its plaque is false advertising and is sending the message that foreigners are welcome. (And by foreigners, I mean the Black and brown ones. So far, I’ve yet to hear a single MAGA Republican vocally denounce Trump’s welcoming party for white refugees fleeing a non-existent “white genocide” in South Africa.)

“You have to love our country. This is what we gotta do. We gotta put a big bed sheet over the Statue of Liberty. Ten-year moratorium on immigration. She gotta go to sleep for a while. I’m not saying she’s dead. Instead of having a torch, maybe it needs a stop sign,” Nehls said.

A bedsheet, huh? Sounds like qu-white the idea. How about we poke a couple of holes in the sheet so Lady Liberty can still see? Maybe fashion the top of the sheet into a nice pointy hat. Instead of replacing the torch with a stop sign, how about a cross? We could even keep the fire from the torch included in the new design. Oh, and that book she keeps clutched in her other arm? That could be a noose — you know — to symbolize Americans’ love for fancy tree ornaments.

Seriously, though, let’s go back to the part where Nehls declared, “You have to love our country.”

I’ve addressed this before, but, in truth, MAGA conservatives hate “America.” Oh, they love the version of the country that exists in their minds, where whiteness reigns supreme but is still not referred to as white supremacy — because that makes it racist. They love “America,” the Christian nation and white ethnostate, where the Blacks and browns either know their place or know their place is on the other side of a border.

But these people don’t love real “America” — the “America” that exists — because that “America” is full of Democrats, socialists, “leftists,” immigrants, Black Lives Matter advocates (and/or Black lives in general), Muslims, the LGBTQ community, feminists, critical race theorists, pro-choice advocates, and the rest of the ubiquitous “woke.” How can you possibly love “America” when you hate most of the people in it?

The people are the fabric. People like Nehls want to bleach the fabric and, apparently, throw it over the head of Lady Liberty.

SEE ALSO:

Why The Supreme Court’s Birthright Citizenship Case Is Bigger Than Immigration

Supreme Court Upholds Transgender Athlete Ban, Birthright Citizenship

The History Of Birthright Citizenship And Its Connection To Slavery