In defense of Marjorie Taylor Greene: Think of all the times she HASN’T wanted to execute Democrats
Chicago Tribune |
Jan 29, 2021 at 5:00 AM
. (Erin Scott/Reuters)
Hello, I am a congressman in the U.S. House of Representatives, and it has come to my attention that some want to see newly elected Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene expelled from Congress.
While I may not agree with everything the Georgia lawmaker says, I think expulsion is wholly unwarranted. After all, who among us hasn’t, from time to time, openly supported the execution of some of our colleagues?
Has Rep. Greene embraced the QAnon conspiracy theory about a global cabal of liberal child abusers, claimed that school shootings such as the one in Parkland, Florida, were staged and probably spent time in the produce section of her local grocery store screaming at organic radishes because she thinks they’re communists? Yes, definitely on the first two things, and probably on the last one.
But what about the things she does and thinks about that aren’t insane? Things like debt reduction, maybe. Or getting tough on immigration in ways that don’t involve murder, possibly.
While I do not support all the things Rep. Greene says and believes in, I do not think she should be kicked out of Congress. Expelling her would be a consequence, and consequences are the same as Cancel Culture.
If there’s one thing I and my fellow Republicans have made abundantly clear, Cancel Culture is a very bad, terrible thing, probably worse than, say, a violent insurrection in our nation’s Capitol.
Just the other day, my daughter encouraged her kindergarten classmates to rise up and storm the part of Mr. Smith’s room where they have nap time. I was going to punish her, but she said, “Daddy, wouldn’t that be Cancel Culture?”
And I said: “You’re right, Nancy Reagan. I’m not going to punish you. I think we should have a talk with Mr. Smith, not acknowledge that you did anything wrong and then tell him he should give you everything you want so we can achieve unity.”
If only everything was that easy and sensible.
Some divisive liberals are asking how we Republicans can justify letting Rep. Greene remain in Congress after CNN revealed Facebook activity that showed her support for executing prominent Democrats.
Did Greene, in January 2019, like a Facebook comment about removing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that said “a bullet to the head would be quicker.” Sure, but what about the other things she liked that year. Can you really condemn a person just because she was OK with ONE suggested murder?
The previous year, did Greene react favorably to a Facebook comment about former President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton being hanged? Sure.
Did she respond to that comment by writing: “Stage is being set. Players are being put in place. We must be patient. This must be done perfectly or liberal judges would let them off.” Yes. But c’mon, that was 2018. Should we really hold elected officials responsible for proposed hangings they have supported in recent years?
It’s not as if any working person in America who voiced support for executing a subset of their co-workers would be fired. Instantly. And would never work again.
No, that would be silencing that person, and we can’t silence people just because they support some mild extrajudicial killing. That would be tyranny.
Instead, we House Republicans did the proper thing and assigned Rep. Greene to the House Education Committee. It was clearly the right move, as evidenced by a recently uncovered Facebook post of hers from 2018 in which she shows off her extensive knowledge of science.
Did Greene’s post suggest that the Camp Fire, a deadly California wildfire that killed more than 80 people, was started by laser beams from space, and that a vice chairman at “Rothschild Inc., international investment banking firm” was somehow involved? Yes, it did.
And does that sound like something a paranoid, anti-Semitic science fiction enthusiast who keeps a collection of her own toenails would say to people in a bar shortly before those people ran from the bar and called the police? Perhaps.
But Greene clearly knows something about lasers, thus her post on the Education Committee. She will be an asset, unless she is unable to attend meetings because she believes satanic liberal cannibals who drink the blood of orphans have built an impenetrable force field around the meeting room.
Either way, we’re glad to have her. Because Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is unafraid to speak out, even when it’s about her suspicions that President Joe Biden is a half-man/half-lizard sent from space to turn Americans into socialist meat cubes.
And we can’t silence her anyway, because we’ve already said silencing is bad.
So this is pretty much who we Republicans are now.
rhuppke@chicagotribune.com
