Maddock’s post was quickly criticized on social media, with multiple accounts noting that an earlier post on the Gonzaga men’s basketball team’s social media page said they were traveling to Detroit on an Allegiant flight.
“Absolutely, a state representative sees a group of buses at the airport and immediately yells ‘invaders,’ which is a pretty rude (and also, frankly, dangerous) way to greet the Gonzaga Men’s Basketball Team arriving for March Madness,” he said. Democrat Mallory McMorrow wrote on the social network.
Maddock doubled down in his tweets Thursday, adding that hundreds of thousands of “illegals are pouring into our country” and into Michigan. In a text response to The Associated Press, Maddock refused to acknowledge that the buses were carrying basketball players.
“I haven’t heard a good answer yet,” Maddock said. “I took a hint and asked because it happens in many places and is well documented.”
Some Republicans who echoed Maddock’s claims in his initial post, such as Michigan GOP Chairman Pete Hoekstra, quickly pushed back.
Maddock, a Republican who represents parts of metro Detroit, has been endorsed by Trump in his 2022 re-election bid. In his endorsement of Maddock, Trump said Michigan needs leadership who will “investigate and document the 2020 voter fraud, the crime of the century.”
Her husband, former Michigan Republican Party co-chair Meshawn Maddock, is one of them. 15 Republicans versus eight In 2020, a criminal case was opened on charges of impersonating then-President Trump’s voters. All the defendants pleaded not guilty.