When Maya Angelou said, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time,” she likely had people like Marjorie Taylor Greene in mind. On Friday, Greene, the Republican nominee and likely congresswoman-in-waiting for GA-14, proved beyond all doubt who she really is, even without her support for QAnon.
In case you missed it, early Thursday morning Greene shared a meme to her Facebook page showing her posing with an AR-15 next to pictures of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortex, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib. Even though any reasonable person would consider this a threat, it apparently took Omar claiming she’d been the target of death threats for Facebook to take it down.
Greene’s response?
Um, Marjorie? If I were to post a picture of me posing with a gun next to a picture of my abusive ex-wife, I’d be fired, arrested and told—not asked—to get counseling. No matter how badly my ex-wife may have hurt me, I couldn’t get away with posting something like that. Likewise, no matter what you think of the Squad, that meme was unacceptable.
But surely this response from Greene, no matter how Trumpian it sounded, was just in the heat of the moment, right? Apparently not, judging by a message Greene shared with her Facebook followers on Friday night.
Greene claimed that the libs were only ganging up on her because she was “an unapologetic conservative Republican woman” and a staunch supporter of gun rights. She then claimed the real issue was how the Democrats are sitting on their hands in the midst of rioting.
Cliff Notes version—those mean old libruls are attacking a woman who wants to “save America, stop socialism!” Classic Trumpian deflection from a woman who is basically running as Trump in a skirt. Even if the Democrats have been silent about violence—much of which has been triggered by right-wing provocateurs—is it at all acceptable for anyone to post a meme that any reasonable person would consider a threat? If the answer to that question is anything other than “hell no,” then you are not fit to clean the House, let alone serve in it.
The real travesty here is that this probably won’t even dent Greene’s chances. Greene is running in a congested-red district covering the northwestern corner of Georgia, from the Tennessee border to the outer northern suburbs of Atlanta. It has a PVI of R+27, making it the third most Republican district in the Eastern Time Zone. Trump won here by a staggering 75-22 margin over Hillary Clinton. Short of a 49-state Biden landslide, Greene is probably going to Congress. So she finds it acceptable to post graphic threats against her likely colleagues. Disgraceful.
Yesterday, David Waldman suggested on Twitter that this was grounds for Greene to be denied her seat if elected.
Admittedly, this could open up a can of worms, if only because it could open the door for deplorables to try to keep people from our side from taking their seats.
Granted, Greene’s past racist videos raise questions about whether she can honestly take the oath of office. But suggesting that she ought to be denied her seat is premature. If you’re going to make such a suggestion, you’re going to need proof that those racist videos, as well as memes like this, aren’t just one-offs.
Better to use Greene as motivation to get to the polls. After all, when Republicans have the majority, people like her are empowered.