Earlier this week, my staff produced a short anime for Twitter causing many on the Left to purposefully mischaracterize its meaning. I find the faux outrage infantile and the hyperventilating and shrill accusations that this cartoon is dangerous to be laughable or intentionally hyperbolic. Either way it, is wrong.
After Twitter defamed me and called the cartoon “hateful” we took it down. There is nothing “hateful” in the video, but the democrats and left-wing media were screaming at Twitter to take action against me.
The focus in anime is intended to be thematic and storytelling through cartoon. The video from my office tells the story of the evil of illegal immigration and those who support it. The evil wind is illegal immigration and the open borders we now have. Official estimates are that 2.2 million illegal aliens will be let into the United States this year by the Biden administration. This number does not include the hundreds of thousands who escaped detection and were not counted.
The cartoon hero in this anime is set on a mission to stop the evil that is plaguing the people. The cartoon hero can fly. He carries a saber in each hand. It is a memetic, fictitious cartoon in the anime tradition and style.
There are anti-heroes in the short story represented a Titan, or a humanoid that attacks humans. The Titan is obviously not human. The anime ends where the hero stops short in front of an image of Joe Biden--ready to do cartoon battle. Superimposed, rather crudely, is my face as the cartoon hero, and the face of Rep. Cortez as the Titan. As a proud member of the open borders caucus, she is representative of the plague of illegal immigration. Her penchant for amnesty is well known, as is my opposition. The depiction of Mr. Biden pertains to his administration’s decision to leave the border open while illegal aliens invade from all points.
The cartoon hero symbolically smites the evil. As heroes are thematically required to do.
This anime was released ahead of Congress’ discussion on Mr. Biden’s reckless $4 trillion Build Back Better Act, a bill that Congress will take up next week and includes plans for massive amnesty for criminals. Millions of criminals would be granted amnesty resulting from illegal immigration. This video addresses that scourge.
This is a cartoon. It is not a documentary. It is not real life.
For this cartoon some in Congress suggest I should be punished in some fashion.
For a cartoon.
While the degree of punishment differs, this is the same sentiment expressed against the Charlie Hebdo magazine in France in 2015 that was punished for publishing a cartoon—resulting in a real-life massacre of 12 real live people. Indeed, the former deputy director of the CIA concluded that those who attacked Charlie Hebdo were “trying to shut down a media organization that lampooned the Prophet Muhammad.”
And now here, in the United States, six years later, the motive by some of my colleagues in Congress is the same: to shut down media that lampoons those who support the dangerous open border policies of the Biden administration.
In this case, shut down my media and my messaging to people regarding the significant illegal immigration policy differences between Representative Cortez and Mr. Biden and me. I am entitled to speak to the people and to do so in a manner that is engaging. Further, I have a right to speak to the younger generation in this country. Those are the true fans of anime. I do not expect everyone to be a fan of anime but millions of people are. Nothing in that video uttered a single threat. Nothing in fact was threatening to any person. The Titans are symbolic. The heroes are mythic. The messaging is that illegal immigration and open borders is an evil that is plaguing our country. That entire message is delivered via a cartoon interspersed with graphics.
The threat that was addressed in this cartoon is very real: the threat of open borders. Millions of illegal aliens, all criminals, including many thousands of hardened criminals, are being let in and moved around our country. The border is not defended and the Biden administration is aggressively violating its duties to faithfully execute the laws.
The cartoon depicts the threat to America of open borders. The mass influx of drugs and drug cartels. The mass influx of welfare reliant mobs. The mass influx of people who have not been vetted and have not lawfully applied for a visa or lawful immigration status. It is no coincidence crime is increasing. It is no coincidence drug deaths and overdoses continue unabated. This all stems from this invasion along our open, southern borders.
The cartoon exposes the threats to America. It does not make any threat to anyone.
It is a meme—a meme apparently many don’t understand, and to be honest, I have to be debriefed by my young staff on the meaning of some memes. My staff is creative, talented and passionate. They are not dangerous. They are not violent. They do not incite violence or glorify violence. It is a cartoon intended to be entertaining while making a point that the open borders our country suffers is an evil that plagues the land.
I do not think anyone reasonably thinks it promotes violence. Any more than one could assert that Tom and Jerry promote violence between cats and mice. Or that Peter Griffin actually fought a chicken. Or that Elmer Fudd truly hates rabbits. Or that Rick and Morty actually engage in combat with various space monsters. These are all fictitious works of fantasy. They work on a variety of levels of literary themes and entertainment.
Some people loved the anime from my office. Others took umbrage, or pretended to, and fell on their fainting couch exasperated. But I have the right to make my point about illegal immigration and our open borders. I have a right to do so in a way that can be entertaining and thought-provoking. This right is guaranteed by our First Amendment. I have said conclusively and decisively there is no threat in the anime other than the threat immigration poses to our country. It is disingenuous to say otherwise.
I cannot control those who deliberately lie about this and claim it is a real-world attack and a call for violence against any person. It is clearly not. One would have to have an insufferably low IQ to make that assertion with a straight face. Indeed, it is knowingly false to portray the anime as a call for violence.
I don’t pretend to control, or even care about, the messaging from other offices. Anyone can make their own message touting their belief that open borders are good and just. In a world of competing ideas, the messaging too will compete.
Thank you to the hundreds of people who phoned or wrote my office to offer words of support. And to those who called to express their disagreement, thank you as well. I am grateful to each and every one of my constituents.
