Incoming congressman complains it's hard to get Jews to stop being Jewish

House Republican leaders were silent on Monday after publication of an interview conducted by the Jewish Insider with Madison Cawthorn, a newly elected Republican congressman in North Carolina who made antisemitic comments about his failed effort to convert Jews to Christianity.

Cawthorn, an evangelical Christian who made headlines on Election Day for tweeting, “Cry more, lib,” after his victory over Democratic candidate Moe Davis was announced, had been asked by interviewer Matthew Kassel if he had ever tried to convert Jews.

“I have, unsuccessfully. I have switched a lot of, uh, you know, I guess, culturally Jewish people. But being a practicing Jew, like, people who are religious about it, they are very difficult,” he told the outlet. “I’ve had a hard time connecting with them in that way.”

The American Independent Foundation reached out to Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Minority Whip Steve Scalise, and GOP Conference chair Liz Cheney for comment; none immediately responded.

But all three were vocal in their condemnation last year after two Democratic congresswomen made comments they deemed antisemitic.

“Anti-Semitic tropes have no place in the halls of Congress,” McCarthy (R-CA) tweeted in February 2019 after Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) made comments suggesting the pro-Israel lobby was successful because it buys loyalty. “It is dangerous for Democrat leadership to stay silent on this reckless language.”

Weeks later, Scalise (R-LA) tweeted that there was an “alarming rise in anti-Semitism across the country & from some Democrats in Congress” while pushing legislation to prohibit some anti-Israel activity.

And Cheney (R-WY) lamented on Fox News that there were “so many anti-Semitic members of the House Democratic Caucus.”

Both McCarthy and Scalise made contributions to Cawthorn’s 2020 campaign.

This is not the first time Cawthorn’s bigotry has come to light.

In 2017, he posted excitedly on social media about visiting Adolf Hitler’s vacation home, a visit he said was on his “bucket list.”

Last month, he apologized for a website put up by his campaign that carried a charge that Davis had worked with a journalist who had “quit his academia job in Boston to work for non-white males, like Cory Booker who aims to ruin white males running for office.”

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.