Republican faces backlash for mocking LA district attorney’s Memorial Day tweet: ‘Are you a ghost?’

Both men are veterans

Rep. Mike Garcia, R-Calif., participates in a ceremonial swearing-in on Capitol Hill in Washington, on May 19, 2020. Garcia is defending his seat north of Los Angeles, in a Democratic-leaning district, in the November 2022 election. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File) (AP)

Political rivals apparently don't take holidays off.

A Republican congressman from California was apparently offended Saturday by the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Memorial Day greeting.

The DA, George Gascon, is a progressive Democrat who has faced criticism for trying to find a way to eliminate the cash bail system for defendants who have not yet gone to trial. He has also been outspoken about rooting out corruption and racism within the police departments operating within his system.

Mr Gascon is not well liked by his Republican colleagues.

Congressman Mike Garcia, for example, took an opportunity Saturday to suggest the DA couldn't tell the difference between a pair of military-centric bank holidays.

“When I was 18 years old, I joined the United States Army,” Mr Gascon tweeted. “I’d like to wish everyone a happy and safe Memorial Day weekend as we reflect on and remember those who have served our country.”

Mr Garcia, a former Navy pilot, asked Mr Gascon if he was "a ghost" before lecturing him about the difference between Veteran's Day and Memorial Day.

“If not, you have the wrong holiday @GeorgeGascon. Veterans Day is in November. This weekend we honor those who didn’t make it home. It’s not hard. Neither is recognizing the difference between felonies and misdemeanors,” Mr Garcia wrote.

Social media users picked up on the strangely aggressive response to an otherwise benign holiday greeting and confirmed that — outside of those with political axes to grind — few people really care that Mr Garcia thanked all service members rather than just the dead ones.

"Not sure why y’all are so hung up on this. As a vet I could care less about weekend holiday shaming people’s confusion, as long as they continue to care," one user wrote. "Most don’t even know the true reason why/ how either holiday started."

Another user accused Mr Garcia of twisting the holiday greeting to bolster his own political talking points.

"Garcia I don’t think anyone sees a point here the tweet is perfectly fine yours however is completely tactless and self serving. It reeks of opportunism a huge miss," a user by the name Adrian Leaks wrote.

Others commenters took a page out of Mr Garcia's playbook and jumped on his words in order to shoehorn an unrelated political complaint into the conversation.

"You know who else didn’t make it home? All the children killed in their schools — including here — because of unwillingness to protect them by you and your colleagues," the user wrote. "Get off Twitter and get on background checks, red flag laws, and banning assault weapons…just as a start."