Cornyn quotes Mussolini in tweet

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, ignited a social media firestorm after he quoted Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini on Sunday in an apparent critique of democratic socialism.

“We were the first to assert that the more complicated the forms assumed by civilization, the more restricted the freedom of the individual must become,” Cornyn tweeted, attributing it to Mussolini, who sided with Adolf Hitler in World War II.

The reaction was swift. “My grandfather didn't fight in WWII to defeat Mussolini for the @GOP to quote him in 2019,” wrote @itsmeCathi. Some even posted pictures of Mussolini’s dangling body after he was executed by Italian partisans in April 1945 as the war was ending.

President Donald Trump also quoted Mussolini during the 2016 presidential campaign: “It is better to live one day as a lion than 100 years as a sheep.” Trump said it was “an interesting quote.”

Cornyn's Mussolini reference was confounding to readers on social media and Fort Worth Star-Telegram columnist Bud Kennedy, who tweeted, “Sen. @JohnCornyn appears to be warning us against an overly powerful central government. But it’d help if he’d clarify.”

Cornyn responded to Kennedy by saying, “You nailed it,” and then wrote, “Since so-called Democratic Socialists have forgotten or never learned the lessons of history, and how their ideology is incompatible with freedom, I guess we have to remind or teach them.”

Linking the left wing of the Democratic Party to fascism brought even more outrage.

Cornyn, who has been mounting an aggressive re-election campaign, tweeted in response to the criticism: “Did I over estimate the intelligence of some in the twitter sphere?”

Academics, however, took issue with Cornyn’s interpretation of history.

Rice University professor Mark Jones told the American-Statesman that Cornyn was erroneously equating democratic socialism with national socialism, advocated by Hitler and Mussolini. “The noun ‘socialism’ is the same. But they mean very different things,” he said.

Democrats believe government should serve public needs, such as medical care, and the fascists instituted complete control over all aspects of the government and society.

Attacking Democrats through the most radical wing of the party, said Jones, is “smart politics,” but using Mussolini to so do is “dumb politics.”

Cornyn is seeking a fourth term in 2020 and is girding for a potentially competitive race after Democrats made gains in the November election.

“The aggressive push against progressive politics certainly tips his hand about his strategy for 2020," said Brandon Rottinghaus, professor of political science at the University of Houston. "Lining up with the chorus of conservatives decrying ‘socialism’ from the Democrats is a strong play to the Republican base.”