GOP rep. introduces resolution demanding the Democratic Party change its name or be barred from the House over past support for slavery and Confederacy

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) introduced a House resolution Thursday demanding that the Democratic Party change its name or be "barred from participation in the House of Representatives" due to its past public support of slavery and the Confederacy.

"That is the standard to which they are holding everyone else, so the name change needs to occur," Gohmert added tongue-in-cheek.

By introducing the legislation, the GOP lawmaker was hoping to make the point that "cancel culture" works both ways. Many progressives in recent weeks have voiced support for renaming or rebranding organizations and products deemed offensive.

For example, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) decided last month to remove portraits at the Capitol of four past House speakers who served as Confederate leaders — all four were Democrats.

Politico referred to the move "a symbolic step to rid the U.S. Capitol of pro-slavery relics amid a nationwide reckoning over race." Gohmert picked things up from there:

"Whereas on June 18, 2020, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ordered the removal from the Capitol portraits of four previous Speakers of the House who served in the Confederacy saying that these portraits 'set back our nation's work to confront and combat bigotry,'" Gohmert said during a speech on the House floor. "The men depicted in the portraits were Democrat Robert M.T. Hunter, Democrat Howell Cobb, Democrat James L. Orr, and Democrat Charles F. Crisp."

"Resolved, that the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall remove any item that named symbolizes or mentions any political organization or party that has ever held a public position that supported slavery or the Confederacy, from any area within the House wing of the Capitol or any House office building, and shall donate such item or symbol to the Library of Congress," Gohmert said.

"And two, that any political organization or party that has ever held a public position that supported slavery of the Confederacy shall either change its name or be barred from participation in the House of Representatives," the congressman concluded. "With that, I would yield back."

In a statement regarding the resolution, Gohmert added:

A great portion of the history of the Democratic Party is filled with racism and hatred. Since people are demanding we rid ourselves of the entities, symbols, and reminders of the repugnant aspects of our past, then the time has come for Democrats to acknowledge their party's loathsome and bigoted past, and consider changing their party name to something that isn't so blatantly and offensively tied to slavery, Jim Crow, discrimination, and the Ku Klux Klan.