Did Collins Get The Idea From Proud Boys Or Pinochet?
60% of the voters in Mike Collins’ district voted for Trump last time. It’s a very politically backward district that happens to include one very blue city, Athens. The rest of it includes 10 red counties and parts of 2 other red counties + blue Hancock, Henry, Newton (partial) and Taliaferro counties. When lunatic fringe Jody Hice decided not to run for reelection, Collins, the more establishment candidate, advanced to a runoff (with 25.6% of the GOP vote) with crackpot Democrat-turned-MAGA-Nazi Vernon Jones (with 21.5% of the vote). Collins beat him overwhelmingly but has been nervous about challenges from his right ever since. That’s made him go as extreme as one can go without donning actual Nazi regalia.
Maybe he’ll don one of those proto-Nazi uniforms Pinochet used to wear after Nixon and Kissinger helped him overthrow the democratic government in Chile and murder Salvador Allende. Pinochet used to disappear progressives by putting them in a helicopter or airplane and tossing them out over the Pacific Ocean. What a guy! Rep. Collins is a fan.
Yesterday, Nia Prater reported how Collins jumped into a deportation debate in New York. Gov. Hochul was calling to deport a violent migrant when right-wing Long Island Congressman Anthony D’Esposito (R-NY) “shared [on Twitter] a photo of Jhoan Boada , one of the suspects, who was pictured raising two middle fingers as he left court. ‘We feel the same way about you. Holla at the cartels and have them escort you back.’ Collins shared D’Esposito’s post, adding his own comment on his congressional account, ‘Or we could buy him a ticket on Pinochet Air for a free helicopter ride back.’”
Collins was not-so-subtly referring to the brutal regime of Chile’s Augusto Pinochet, which was known for its “death flights,” extrajudicial killings in which Chilean dissidents were thrown to their deaths. Christopher Mathias, a HuffPost reporter, said on Twitter that by referencing Pinochet, Collins was “parroting a meme that’s been popular among white supremacists & neofascists like the Proud Boys for the last 7 or so years.”
The post drew predictable backlash, which is probably what Collins was looking for. MSNBC anchor Chris Hayes wrote in response, “I think sitting members of congress calling for murdering people using the Pinochet regime’s preferred method of dropping them out of helicopters is really not great.”
Twitter itself removed the post for violating the platform’s rules on “violent speech.” The representative also found himself locked out of his account, sharing a screenshot of the message he got from the platform. He took to his personal account, writing “What is @elonmusk phone number? He’s apparently got a few more folks to fire! Help me #FreeCollins.”
Collins did receive support from some of his fellow Republicans. Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio wrote, “Call me crazy, but I’m more worried a person who shouldn’t be in our country assaulted a police officer.”
Collins’s account was eventually restored along with the offending post, though users have to intentionally click through to view it. The post now features a disclaimer that reads, “This Post violated the Twitter Rules. However, Twitter has determined that it may be in the public’s interest for the Post to remain accessible.”
Despite the criticism, Collins appeared unsurprisingly defiant upon his return to the platform.
Because of gerrymandering, the district’s partisan lean was R+28 and it was further gerrymandered in 2022 to give it an R+31 lean. Last cycle Collins beat Democrat Tabitha Johnson-Green 198,523 (64.5%) to 109,107 (35.5%). This cycle Lexy Doherty is the Democratic candidate. She may do a little better than Johnson-Green because it’s a presidential election year… but just a little. Georgia 10 has been drawn to elect conservatives. Collins well knows that the only way he can lose his job is if a more right-wing nut challenges him in a primary. That’s why he’s not leaving any room to his right.