Republican under fire for using ‘Voltaire’ quote actually coined by neo-Nazi

Thomas Massie tweeted: ‘To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticise’ – not, as he suggested, as quotation from Voltaire. Photograph: Susan Walsh/AP

The Kentucky Republican congressman Thomas Massie was under familiar fire on Monday, after criticising Anthony Fauci with a quote attributed to Voltaire but actually coined by a white supremacist convicted on charges related to child abuse images.

“To learn who rules over you,” the quote says, “simply find out who you are not allowed to criticise.”