It looks like there are more deplorable extremist MAGA Republicans in the current House GOP caucus than before.
So meet freshman Rep. Cory Mills of Florida who celebrated Kevin McCarthy’s victory in the balloting for House Speaker by tweeting a sick, offensive joke about the attack on former Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband: “Finally, one less gavel in the Pelosi house for Paul to fight with in his underwear.”
Mills represents centrall Florida’s 7th C.D. The seat had been held by Democratic Rep. Stephanie Murphy, a member of the House Jan. 6 select committee, who chose not to seek re-election. Her district was gerrymandered in the map pushed through by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, to turn it from a swing district into a solidly Republican one.
Mills, who served in the 82nd Airborne Division, was deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. He later worked as a security and risk management adviser and co-founded a private security company. He was appointed by President Donald Trump to serve as an adviser to the Pentagon on the Defense Business Board.
Mills’ company PACEM Solutions sells arms and riot-control gear and provides law enforcement training and private security consulting in the U.S. and around the world, Politico reported. That includes the tear gas used on Black Lives Matter protesters.
On his campaign website, Mills describes himself as “a husband, father, patriot, combat veteran, entrepreneur, foreign policy expert, and true American conservative.”
Mills supported McCarthy on all 15 ballots for the House Speakership. He even held a news conference with two other veterans from Florida’s congressional delegation who warned that the protracted Speaker battle could hurt national defense. For Mills that meant not getting started right away on conducting oversight on President Joe Biden’s “failed Afghanistan withdrawal.”
But once McCarthy had secured the Speaker’s gavel on the 15th ballot, Mills showed his true colors with his deplorable joke about the home invasion beating of 82-year-old Paul Pelosi.
Paul Pelosi was beaten in the middle of the night with a hammer at the couple’s San Franclsco home in October, allegedly by a Republican sympathizer out to get a list of Democratic targets.
Authorities have said the suspect, David DePape, had planned to kidnap Nancy Pelosi, who was in Washington at the time. Instead he severely beat her husband with a hammer. He has pleaded not guilty to charges that include attempted murder and elder abuse.
Mills got called out in a Tweet from Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell, who said he wanted the public to “see the indecency that makes up the House GOP.”
“He owes Speaker Pelosi an apology,” Swalwell said.
And how did Mills respond to Swalwell. He tweeted back: “You owe America an apology.”
The Huffington Post reported that Mills deleted the original tweet, although his reply to Swalwell remains on his profile.
California Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu demanded that Speaker McCarthy denounce Mills for his original Tweet.
MAGA supporters, of course, enjoyed Mills’ joke. But the overwhelming response was strongly negative.