"The first time The Washington Post wrote
about Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) was in the context of what
made her exceptional: She was an avowed adherent of QAnon. And not just
of the this guy Q has some interesting thoughts variety; rather,
Greene celebrated that “there’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take
this global cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles out” with Donald
Trump in the White House.
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This
was June 2020, and Greene had simply made it to the runoff in the
Republican primary. The article was caveated with ifs about winning the
primary and then the general, but it was clear what path she was on.
Reporter Colby Itkowitz contacted members of the Republican leadership —
including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) and the
conference’s chair, Liz Cheney (Wyo.) — but they weren’t interested in
offering comment.
What
seemed to be afoot was that the Republican House caucus was adding
another member to its fringe, someone who’d occasionally make headlines
for saying something embarrassing or introducing some weird, doomed
piece of legislation. That sense was probably reinforced when Greene, as
a new member of the chamber, quickly generated
headlines for past comments about leading Democrats; the Democratic
majority stripped her of any committee assignments, moving her from
backbench to no bench.
But
that was not the path Greene was destined to follow. Past members of
the right-wing fringe who earned spots in Congress responded largely by
folding into the white noise of the legislative process. Perhaps in part
because Greene so explicitly had no part in that process — or, more
likely, because she never had any interest in it in the first place —
Greene helped create a new style of fringe Republican legislator. . .
✓ In
essence, election to Congress simply gave Greene a louder megaphone to
attack the aforementioned cabal (even if she described them differently
now). It allowed her to join her power with other fringe House members,
such as Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), to engage in an effort that’s equal
parts trolling and exaggeration. Trump loved Greene from the outset, and
her unwavering fealty to him has earned her the ability to hitch
herself to him repeatedly. Trump rallies now regularly feature speeches
from the first-term congresswoman from rural Georgia.
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This
is not because she is broadly popular. YouGov recently conducted
polling for the Economist that asked people to evaluate a range of
Republicans, from members of the media to politicians. Trump was the
most popular among Republicans, followed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis
and Fox News’s Tucker Carlson. Far fewer Republicans have an opinion of
Greene than those more-famous names, but even if we adjust the
responses, evaluating favorability just among those with an opinion,
Greene was seventh of seven.
✓ Yet, as the Associated Press reported Monday, Greene has been increasingly welcomed back into the mix with the Republican establishment. . .
“Greene’s political currency
stretches beyond her massive social media following and her ability to
rake in sizable sums from donors,” the AP’s Lisa Mascaro reported. “Her
proximity to Trump makes her a force that cannot be ignored by what’s
left of her mainstream GOP colleagues.”
This
is the point: She may not be broadly popular or influential, but she is
influential in a place that other Republicans aren’t.
She’s popular with a set of Republicans who are antagonistic to people such as Kevin McCarthy.
Greene:
Biden’s 5 million illegal aliens are on the verge of replacing you,
your jobs, and your kids in school. Coming from all over the world,
they’re also replacing your culture pic.twitter.com/eRJwUlq11J
— Acyn (@Acyn) October 9, 2022
It’s not entirely
clear that McCarthy is extending an olive branch to the fringe. It’s
that he can’t afford to let the fringe agitate at the fringe. In the
minority (though perhaps not exclusively then), there’s more power in
Greene’s approach to serving in the House — shouting into microphones
and maintaining an omnipresence in conservative media — than in simply
trying to come up with doomed legislation. Greene has some of that,
certainly, but it’s often the case that she uses the policy documents to
boost her media position and not the opposite. (She’s offered up
innumerable impeachment articles, including several targeting President
Biden.)
✓ McCarthy, of
course, has his own ambitions. If Republicans regain the majority in
November, he’d like to be speaker of the House. Allying with Greene and
Gaetz and that cadre of legislators will make such an ascension more
likely. But it means that his party again shifts to the right, as it has
over and over since at least 2010. In 2011, after the tea party wave
brought a new contingent of conservatives to Washington, the New York
Times profiled
McCarthy’s tricky job in corralling their votes as majority whip.
That’s still his job today but with a frequently more-extreme caucus.
(And spotty success.)
✓ Cheney,
freed from the shackles of protecting the Republican caucus, is no
longer refraining from comment on Greene. In August, she said she’d rather work
with Democrats than with Greene. Of course, by that point she was freed
of political shackles entirely, having lost her bid for reelection to a
Trump-endorsed Republican primary opponent.
When
she was conference chair, Cheney would often stand behind McCarthy as
he spoke to the media. Cheney is no longer behind McCarthy. Greene is;
her time in exile is coming to an end.
Consider
the shift just since 2020. In two years’ time, who will be standing in
the background as the leader of the GOP makes an announcement about
policy and direction? More importantly, who will the leader be who is
making the announcement?'
READ MORE ^
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