Mao Zedong was a horrible person. Terrible.
“Both Hitler and Stalin were outdone by Mao Zedong.” – Washington Post
“The Legacy of Mao Zedong is Mass Murder.” – The Heritage Foundation
“Mao’s Great Leap Forward ‘killed 45 million in four years.'” – Independent
“A bleak anniversary: Mao the mass murder.” – New York Times
So, it is pretty widely accepted that Chairman Mao was a mass murderer. Most Americans, and probably 97 percent of Iowans, would be hesitant to honor Mao Zedong in any sort of way.
But then there’s that pesky three percent that none of us can ever really understand.
Enter Democrat Andrea Phillips who is running for Iowa House District 37.
Late last week it surfaced that Phillips had a statue of Chairman Mao in her home through this Instagram post:
I have not been able to find that post on her Instagram feed, perhaps she deleted it. But this one is still there at the time of publication:
Mao, according to Wikipedia, ruled China as an “autocratic and totalitarian” regime that was to blame for “mass repression as well as the destruction of religious and cultural artifacts and sites.” The government was responsible for 40-80 million deaths.
Yet he is honored in the living room of a Democrat running for Iowa House. That’s nuts.
We reached out to Phillips for comment on Tuesday, but she has not responded.