The Rehabilitation of Marjorie Taylor Greene

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican who represented Georgia's 14th congressional district for five years until her abrupt resignation early last month on the day after she became eligible for a government pension, was considered by many to be one of the more reprehensible members of Congress.  

Ms. Greene rose to prominence as a social media promoter of conspiracy theories like the idea that the 2018 California wildfires were started by a "space laser" that was controlled by a prominent Jewish banking family.   She also promoted the QAnon conspiracy theory that a cabal of prominent Democratic pedophile politicians were running our government.

(To her credit, MTG later redeemed herself somewhat on the pedophile theory when she finally figured out that many of the pedophiles were Republican politicians and their rich donors.)

Ms. Greene pushed false narratives such as the 2020 election was "stolen" from Trump, a plane did not crash into the Pentagon on 9/11, and the Sandy Hook massacre of those very young children as a "staged' event.  She has spoken out against the LGBTQ community, pride flags, individuals who are transgender, and made remarks that many regard as racist such as referring to Black people as "slaves" of the Democrats.  Ms. Greene also pushed the idea of a "national divorce," a proposal to divide the United States into two countries, one of red states the other comprised of blue states,  presumably something like the American South initiated in 1861.

One of her outrages which stuck with me was the day during her first campaign for Congress when she came upon Parkland school shooting survivor David Hogg as he was walking around Washington, DC, and the Capitol meeting with various officials about proposed gun control legislation.  Ms.. Greene chose to follow along in the young man's wake filming and heckling him as he made the rounds.  Mr. Hogg, who was barely out of high school at the time, kept his cool remarkably well, showing his class, while Ms. Green clearly displayed her lack of it.

All things considered, the "old" Marjorie Taylor Greene was not the type of person that some would want for a neighbor.  But that was then, and this is now.

Marjorie Taylor Greene, in one respect, got her national divorce, but it was not between the red and blue states, the big breakup that she help to  bring about was between her and Trump, the MAGA extreme nationalists versus the cult leader who was basically focused on his own self-interests. The defining force in the split between Trump and his far-right flank was the push by Greene and a few other Republicans for the release of the Epstein files.  

Greene had yammered on for years about conspiracies involving pedophiles within the US government, and as it was becoming evident that Jeffey Epstein oversaw a sprawling network of social, business, and political contacts who were involved the trafficking of children for sex, Green chose to join with Democrats in pursuing the full release of the Epstein files.

Donald Trump initially fought release of the Epstein files and tried to reason with Greene by telling her that releasing the files would hurt friends of his.  But the former Trump toadie held to her principles and would not be swayed, and she was instrumental in ultimately getting the law passed which mandated release of the very sensitive and secret files - a law that Trump felt politically forced to sign.  He had been cornered by Marjorie Taylor Green and a handful of Republican legislators who supported the Democratic initiative to open the files.

Greene and a few other extreme MAGAts also stirred Trump's ire by sticking to their "America First" principles and opposing his moves to entangle the United States in conflicts abroad.  Things became so strained between MTG and Trump that he turned on her and withdrew his politiccal support.  Trump went so far as to publicly ridicule the congresswoman and refer to her as "Marjorie Traitor Greene."  After his public taunts resulted in physical threats to her and her children, the congresswoman from rural Georgia said "enough" and announced her early retirement from Congress, one full year short of the completion date for her elected term.

Trump flexed his political muscle and vanquished a political headache, but if he hoped to silence her, that has yet to happen.  Marjorie Taylor Greene is still out there making speeches, giving interviews, and stirring the pot.  Donald Trump has not heard the last of her, and neither have we.

Maybe this time around, with her addiction to Trump broken, MTG will be more grounded in reality and use her time to focus on the common good, things like the protection of children from predators.  May your next trip around the sun be better, Marge, for you and for all of us.