U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn attempted to wax literary on Twitter, and it didn’t work out the way he might have hoped.

On Tuesday, the North Carolina Republican tweeted, “1984 is a great fiction novel to read but it seems like it is becoming the reality we are currently living under more and more each day.” It’s not clear exactly what he was referring to, although he’s been sharply critical of Democrats who have called for mask mandates during the pandemic.

Critics of Cawthorn wasted no time dunking on the congressman for his Orwell reference, many of them noting that all novels are fictional. Graphic designer Jeff Tiedrich responded to Cawthorn, writing, “in conclusion, 1984 is a great fiction novel that everyone should read. thank you for listening to my book report.”

Journalist Josh Marshall tweeted, “tell us you’ve never read a book without saying you’ve never read a book, fiction novel edition.”

Other Twitter users pointed out that Orwell’s politics were dissimilar to Cawthorn’s. Ray Horton tweeted, “Hi, professor of fiction novels here. Orwell was a committed socialist who traveled to Spain in order to fight alongside the antifascist coalition against Franco. He was, you might say, antifa…”

And the band the USA Singers wrote, “George Orwell was a Democratic Socialist who was warning us about fascists like Hitler, Stalin, Trump. You don’t know this because you’re a moron who’s never actually read Orwell.”

Michael Schaub is a Texas-based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.