A congresswoman confused gazpacho with the Gestapo and ignited the internet over the Spanish chilled tomato soup

If you’ve been hiding under a rock for the last day and are now wondering why “soup Nazi” was trending many years after “Seinfeld,” U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) set Twitter aflame with a memorable example of food-related misspeaking. And it was a doozy even for her. The controversial legislator is known for floating wild conspiracy theories on social media, anti-Muslim and anti-Semitic comments, fetishizing guns, and supporting violence against those with whom she disagrees politically, among other things. So I wasn’t astonished when, in an interview, she accused Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi of spying on members of Congress. The part I couldn’t have anticipated: her accusation that Pelosi dispatched her dreaded “gazpacho police” to do the dastardly business of domestic espionage (an allegation for which she provided no evidence). She clearly meant the Gestapo, the much-feared German secret police who served as Hitler’s notorious henchmen. Historical accuracy is undervalued these days; making ridiculous claims and comparisons seems to be in vogue. Social media swiftly rose to the occasion with its trademark combo of mockery and memes. At least this gave us a moment of levity to debate the stunning “evil” of cold soup or whether gazpacho is best pureed or chunky. As for me, I’ve always been suspicious of what people were doing with cream of mushroom. —Cynthia R. Greenlee