Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) on Thursday drew an interesting lesson from the critically-acclaimed movie “Selma,” saying it reminded him of the importance of fighting radical Islam.
“I thought about the Egyptian peaceable revolution as I watched the movie ‘Selma,'” the congressman said during a speech on the House floor. “Thank God for Martin Luther King Jr.”
“People in Egypt know about Dr. King,” he continued. “He wanted a peaceful demonstration and they were part of a peaceful demonstration. Unfortunately, radical Islam did not like being removed. They burned churches. They went after Christians. They went after Jews.”
The observation came at the end of a long monologue, in which Gohmert interweaved words of support for Israel, condemnation of Boko Haram, and praise of the military takeover of Egypt’s Islamist government by the secular dictator Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
In particular, Gohmert complained that the Obama administration had frozen deliveries of Apache helicopters and tanks to the dictatorship. Gohmert visited Egypt last year.
“The military leaders are saying, ‘Does your President not understand that we use those Apache helicopters to keep the Suez Canal open?’ Does he want a tragedy at the Suez Canal?” Gohmert said.
Last week, Gohmert said he wished top U.S. leaders would take a page from the Egyptian military junta’s playbook against “radical Islamist terrorism” and praised al-Sisi’s “courage.”
