MAGA lawmaker shamed into deleting post after own words turned against him: report

Several Democratic lawmakers appeared to have successfully shamed Rep. Mike Lee (R-UT) into deleting an online post Sunday night after the MAGA lawmakers’ own words were used against him.

Amid ongoing chaos in Mexico sparked by the killing of a high-profile cartel leader, Lee took to social media in an effort to defend the use of masks by U.S. federal immigration enforcement officers, sharing a photo of masked Mexican cartel members to illustrate his point, according to screenshots shared by NBC News reporter Sahil Kapur.

“Cartel hitmen wear masks,” Lee wrote, according to the screenshots. “Leftists aren’t complaining.”

Lee’s post was immediately hit with rebukes from at least three Democratic senators, all of whom noted how Lee’s remarks appeared to undermine his own argument.

“Yes. Cartel hitmen wear masks,” wrote Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) in a social media post on X Sunday night. “That’s why ICE shouldn’t.”

“Oh dear Mike,” wrote Sen. Christ Murphy (D-CT). “I literally couldn’t make our argument better than you do. The bad guys wear masks. The good guys don’t.”

And Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii softly reminded Lee that he, likely without realizing, had appeared to advocate for immigration officers’ standards to more closely align with those of cartel members.

“Mike, I would like ICE to have the same standards as a local police department, not cartel hitmen,” Schatz wrote.

Lee has proven himself to be a fierce ally of President Donald Trump, and is no stranger to having social media blunders. He’s also deleted social media posts in the past after facing backlash, including one instance last year where he appeared to mock the murder of a Minnesota Democrat and her husband.