A Republican congressman bungled a post mocking a Democratic senator’s visit to El Salvador by digitally vandalizing an office plaque belonging to a Republican colleague.
Georgia Rep. Mike Collins posted a photo on Friday that showed Sen. Chris Van Hollen’s name on a door plaque. In the place of the constituency was “El Salvador.”
It was a jab at Van Hollen for taking a trip to the Latin American country this week to speak with his deported constituent, 29-year-old father of three Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
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“Hey @ChrisVanHollen, I went ahead and changed your office plaque for you,” Collins wrote.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether the image was Photoshopped, or if Collins had actually vandalized Van Hollen’s plaque, but one telling detail gave the game away.
The photo shows the plaque with Van Hollen’s name on it, but the Democrat doesn’t occupy Senate office SH-110—he’s in SH-730, according to the Senate website. The plaque that Collins vandalized actually belongs to Republican hardliner Sen. Rick Scott.
The Floridian was the MAGAverse favorite to succeed Sen. Mitch McConnell as top Republican in the Senate, but he was beat out by South Dakota’s Sen. John Thune.
To add insult to injury, Collins and Scott have been allies in the past. In 2022, the two men appeared at a rally together in support of the failed candidate for Georgia’s Senate seat, Herschel Walker.
It’s unclear why Collins chose to Photoshop the plaque belonging to Scott’s office. Representatives for Collins and Van Hollen did not immediately return the Daily Beast’s requests for comment.
Collins has been one of the loudest critics of Van Hollen’s trip to El Salvador. After pictures emerged of the Democrat speaking with Abrego Garcia, Collins wrote, “This is a sitting U.S. Senator consoling an MS-13 gang member. Traitorous.”
The Trump administration has also pushed the unproven claim that Abrego Garcia is an MS-13 gang member as excuse for its defiance of court orders demanding that the man be returned to his home in the U.S., where he has a wife and three children. Abrego Garcia has never been charged or convicted of a crime in the U.S.
Van Hollen’s trip also became the target of Republican mockery after El Salvador’s government staged his conversation with Abrego Garcia in a cheery restaurant. President Nayib Bukele, a Trump ally, claimed the two men were enjoying margaritas as they talked.
Van Hollen later said the margaritas were placed there by a government official and that neither he nor Abrego Garcia took even a sip.
