The Marjorie Taylor Greene case

[lpetrich]

Marjorie Taylor Greene's Big Committee Return Went Exactly as You'd Expect - "Marjorie Taylor Greene returned to committee work in the now GOP-controlled House in typical fashion for the Georgia congresswoman, by spreading incorrect information and stoking the culture war involving hot Republican topics."

The Oversight Committee recently held a hearing on the "waste, fraud, and abuse" of $B's during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In her questioning of Gene Dodaro, the U.S. Government Accountability Office's (GAO) comptroller general, MTG asked how much "COVID cash" was given to abortion. GD seemed perplexed; he had no idea. Then MTG noted that Planned Parenthood got over $80 million in the Paycheck Protection Program back in 2020.

Then MTG asked GD about how much money was spent on critical race theory, a recent right-wing villain. "It's a racist curriculum used to teach children that somehow their white skin is not equal to black skin and other things in education," MTG told GD. He again seemed perplexed, responding "I do know that. But there's provisions that the federal funds generally are not used—they're supposed to be used for curriculum."

She responded by claiming that one elementary school in Illinois received $5.1 billion in funding for "equity and diversity."

A spokesman for her later claimed that she was referring to "the entire Illinois elementary and secondary school system." In particular, more than $5 billion for that system in the third round of emergency federal funding in 2021, with "an emphasis on equity and diversity."

Finally, MTG asked GD how much COVID-19 Federal funding went into "drag queen story time," which she explained as where "men dress up as women and read books to children."

When Dodaro again says he didn't know, Greene noted that the Pennsylvania Humanities Council awarded $16,000 of President Joe Biden's American Rescue Plan funds to the Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center in Allentown, which does hold events in which drag queens read for children on weekends.

Some video of MTG in action in that hearing:
Acyn on Twitter: "
Greene: Can you tell me how much money went to CRT?
Dodaro: CRT?
Greene: It’s a racist curriculum used to teach children that somehow their white skin not equal to black skin and other things
(vid link)" / Twitter

 

[lpetrich]

PolitiFact | $5.1 billion for one school’s diversity program? Marjorie Taylor Greene is wrong
Has a transcript:

Greene: "Mr. Dodaro, can you tell me how much COVID cash went to CRT?"

Dodaro: "CRT?"

Greene: "Critical race theory in education. It’s a racist curriculum used to teach children that somehow their white skin is not equal to black skin and other things in education."

Dodaro: "I do not know that. But I do know there are provisions that the federal funds generally are not supposed to be used for curriculum."

Greene: "Oh, Mr. Dodaro. I have to tell you in Illinois that they received $5.1 billion at an elementary school there that used it for equity and diversity."

 

[lpetrich]

Advancing to President Biden's State of the Union speech, MTG mocked him about that Chinese spy balloon: Marjorie Taylor Greene carries white balloon ahead of State of the Union speech | USA TODAY #Shorts - YouTube

That was rather cute, actually. She wanted to mock President Biden's seeming lack of response to that Chinese spy balloon.

She followed up by showing up at that speech wearing a white fur-trimmed coat.

Why Marjorie Taylor Greene dressed like that at the State of the Union | Life and style | The Guardian - "The congresswoman was trying to highlight Biden’s lack of comment on China’s spy balloon, an aide says"

Cruella de Vil, Kid Rock, Dr Zhivago – the internet was ablaze discussing who Marjorie Taylor Greene most looked like in the white knee-length coat and furry collar that she wore to the State of the Union. It turns out the question shouldn’t have been who but what.

By dressing like a balloon?

Nick Dyer, the congresswoman’s communications director, told the Guardian in an email that the $495 Overland coat – made with alpaca wool and fur trim – was meant to “highlight” the president’s lack of comment on the balloon during his State of the Union speech. “Biden refused to mention it, just like he refused to stop the intelligence-gathering operation that traversed the United States and surveilled some of our most important military facilities in the country,” Dyer said.

Greene purchased the piece in Wyoming, Dyer said, while campaigning against Liz Cheney and fundraising for Harriet Hageman, who is now a US representative for the state.

Why do so many Republicans now dress like cartoon supervillains? It's what the MAGA base craves | Salon.com

The second star of the night, however, was also indisputable: The brillantly white wool coat with an alpaca fur trim that had the misfortune of being draped over the body of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga.

Look, it was a lovely coat, but its proximity to such a repulsive person created an unmistakeable air of comic book supervillainy. It served as a stark reminder that, despite her classless and illiterate demeanor, Greene is actually a wealthy heiress who spent her pre-political life as a woman of leisure. She got compared to a Stephen King monster, a gangster's wife in a mob movie, and, of course, a campy Disney villain:

Cruella de Vil, the villain of Disney's 1961 animated film "One Hundred and One Dalmatians". She wants to make a fur coat out of the fur of those titular dogs.

lisa hendricks on Twitter: "Who wore it better, Cruella Deville or Marjorie Taylor Greene? #SOTU (pic link)" / Twitter

Nika Melkozerova on Twitter: "I dunno why but Marjorie Taylor Greene in that white coat screaming at Biden gave me a powerful "Russian Karen vibe". Like a coat, with fur inside the building... screaming" / Twitter

Adam Blickstein on Twitter: "Marjorie Taylor Greene's coat is made from the dogs George Santos said he was rescuing (pic link)" / Twitter

 

[lpetrich]

Hey, Dave! on Twitter: "MTG has deleted this video from her Facebook page for 2 years ago, January 6, 2021. In it you can hear her calling Nancy Pelosi a traitor while also extolling the crowd that treason is punishable by death. I thought it was worth reposting. (vid link)" / Twitter

No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen on Twitter: "Marjorie Taylor Greene is in Idaho calling Mitch McConnell “a Democrat.” Someone in the audience yelled that he’s “a communist.” In case you were wondering how far right the GOP has gone. (vid link)" / Twitter

MTG asked her audience if they believed that Mitch McConnell is a Republican. Almost none. She then asked if they believed that he is a Democrat. Almost all of them. She then stated that MMC is worse than a RINO, someone who helped Joe Biden pass his agenda.

 

[lpetrich]

‘Miserable’ Marjorie Taylor Greene Whines That Her Congressional Salary Is Too Low
noting
PatriotTakes on Twitter: "Marjorie Taylor Greene: “Becoming a member of Congress has made my life miserable. I made a lot more money before I got here. I’ve lost money since I’ve gotten here. …It’s not a life that I think is like something that I enjoy because I don’t enjoy it.” (vid link)" / Twitter
Back to Yahoo.

“The nature of this job, it keeps members of Congress and senators in Washington so much of the time—too much of the time, to be honest with you—that we don’t get to go home and spend more time with our families, our friends, all in our district, or maybe just be regular people,” the Georgia lawmaker grumbled. “Because this job is so demanding, it’s turned into practically year-round.”

She continued: “And for those of us in the House of Representatives, we have to run for Congress every two years. So you’re practically campaigning nearly the entire time that you’re here serving as a representative.”

After saying this was a “recipe for disaster,” Greene then fumed about her House salary and how she had taken a massive pay cut to serve in Congress. (Greene’s father had sold his general-contracting company to her and her now ex-husband back in 2002.)

“Becoming a member of Congress has made my life miserable. I made a lot more money before I got here. I’ve lost money since I’ve gotten here,” she groused, adding, “It’s not a life that I think is like something that I enjoy because I don’t enjoy it.”

What a big baby. Doesn't she have anything more worthwhile to complain about? Like AOC and Maxwell Frost complaining about how difficult it was to get housing in DC before they received their Congressional paychecks.

She also complained about people telling her things about her that they found in social media and news shows. Things like "Jewish space lasers".

 

[lpetrich]

Marjorie Taylor Greene faces backlash for saying her salary is ‘too low’ | Republicans | The Guardian

The congresswoman said: “I have people come up to me and say crazy things to me out of the blue in public places that they believe because they read it on the internet or saw it on some news show about me.”

MSU Raul on Twitter: "Feel free to step aside if it isn't too cushy of a job for you .@RepMTG. Millions of us won't mind. #stopwhining (link)" / Twitter

Techfpvflyer on Twitter: "@tech5960 @DaisyBe59798028 @repmtg
Griping Greene you dont get to serve the Constitution and its people expecting to profit. Get a part time job or better yet, just quit
"‘Miserable’ Marjorie Whines That Her Congressional Salary Is Too Low" (link)" / Twitter

Robin Alura on Twitter: "Really? Being in Congress isnt supposed to be about money. And I guarantee you make more per year than most of your constituents. If you dont like the life and job, stop running for office.
‘Miserable’ Marjorie Taylor Greene Whines That Her Congressional Salary Is Too Low" / Twitter


That full podcast from Glenn Greenwald: Marjorie Taylor Greene on Ukraine, Speakership Fallout, Big Tech, CIA/FBI and More | SYSTEM UPDATE #33

 

[lpetrich]

Marjorie Taylor Greene lashes out at Twitter execs over account suspension - POLITICO

House briefing on China spy balloon turns tense with Greene comments: ‘I chewed them out’ | The Hill

A classified briefing for House lawmakers on the Chinese spy balloon turned tense on Thursday when Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) went after administration officials for waiting days before shooting down the surveillance device.

“I had to wait in line the whole time. I was I think the second to last person, and I chewed them out just like the American people would’ve,” Greene told The Hill. “I tore ‘em to pieces.”

...
One lawmaker who attended the briefing said the exchange between Greene and the officials included profanities.

“When she got to ask questions,” the lawmaker recalled, “she was yelling out saying ‘bullshit,’ and, you know, ‘I don’t believe you.’”

“Just screaming and yelling, irrational in my estimation,” the lawmaker added.

How do they put up with her?

Whatever that might be, she is unrepentant.

“I said the president may be a Democrat but he’s still the president of the United States and they made him look like a fool and made him look weak the week before the State of the Union — I’ve said that publicly, too — by not shooting it down,” Greene recalled. “And I said there was nothing I heard there today that gave me any confidence in what they did.”

“They tried to give me some more excuses and I said, ‘I don’t want to hear more of your excuses,’” Greene said when asked about how others in the room reacted to her time at the microphone. “He said, ‘well it’s a matter of opinion.’ I said ‘no, you’re nothing but excuses and it’s wrong and I’m just telling you, this is how the American people see it and it’s a serious problem.’”

 

[lpetrich]

Marjorie Taylor Greene Tried Normal, Realized It’s Just Not Her Jam - "The Georgia congresswoman’s brief foray into diplomacy, sanity, and decorum didn’t take. Now she’s acting like a maniac again."

After discussing her and the Chinese spy balloon,

But that’s not even the end of her return-to-crazy week. During an entirely different Oversight Committee hearing, Greene told former Twitter executives: “I’m so glad that you’re censored now, and I’m so glad you’ve lost your jobs.” A kinder, gentler, MTG, this was not.

I’ve always been skeptical that Greene’s support of McCarthy meant she was trying to do a heel-face turn from Tonya Harding to Nancy Kerrigan, but there was a reason to believe she might at least try. After all, Greene’s support for McCarthy coincided with a larger rebranding effort that included her explaining away her penchant for QAnon conspiracy theories as (absurdly) something in her very distant past.

Some of her Republican colleagues claimed that she had indeed become more sober.

Why does she do what she do?

For one thing, Greene clearly believes in what she is doing right now.

You can hear it in her rhetoric—“I chewed them out just like the American people would’ve,” Greene said, referring to the administration officials who briefed her on the balloon.

She sees herself as the hero of her own story and as a Paraclete for the American public.

Acting in lunatic-fringe fashion also makes her a celebrity, something that keeps the small-dollar donations flowing in.

 Paraclete - advocate or helper. In Xianity, a title of the Holy Spirit

 

[crazyfingers]

Calling for the breakup of the US. When will she be removed from her comittees and thrown out of congress? Not by spineless McCarty.

 

[TomC]

Calling for the breakup of the US.

We've been there and done that. It's colloquially referred to as "The Civil War".
Didn't work out for much of anyone.

Maybe MTG thinks that this divorce will go as well as her own marriage breakup?
Tom

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

I applaud Greene's genius and her well thought out plan to split up the United States. It's so crazy, it just might work.

Let's do a pilot program with Wyoming.

 

[TomC]

"Everyone I talk to says this."

Likely, this is the problem. She doesn't talk to many people, and only the ones who agree with her. It's a big problem in the modern internet world. You can restrict your conversations to people you prefer to hear from.
Tom

 

[Elixir]

I applaud Greene's genius and her well thought out plan to split up the United States. It's so crazy, it just might work.

Let's do a pilot program with Wyoming.

Why not split up Georgia? Let MTG’s district secede. I’m sure it would be a healthy and viable part of a New Confederacy.

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

I applaud Greene's genius and her well thought out plan to split up the United States. It's so crazy, it just might work.

Let's do a pilot program with Wyoming.

Why not split up Georgia? Let MTG’s district secede. I’m sure it would be a healthy and viable part of a New Confederacy.

Seconded. Lets call it the Southern Hetero Imbecile's Trumpdom. Large Marge can be first President in the land of SHIT.

 

[Gospel]

She still out here trippin.


Girl, whatchu talkin bout? They don't want any more evidence.

 

[marc]

I’d say give them Mississippi and Alabama. I don’t know of anything important in either state. Less of a drain on federal taxes. That would be 4 less R senators. And possibly many MAGAts would move to the new Confederacy, reducing their voters in other states.

Plus we would have the entertainment of watching a country based on their ideals become an object lesson for the world

 

[crazyfingers]

She still out here trippin.


Girl, whatchu talkin bout? They don't want any more evidence.

The thing about this is that McCarthy gave the video ONLY to Tucker Carlson. He's going to take shit out of context and others will not have access to the full video to demonstrate the deception.

McCarthy gives Fox News’s Tucker Carlson access to Jan. 6 Capitol surveillance footage

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has granted Fox News host Tucker Carlson and his team access to surveillance footage from the U.S. Capitol around the time of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot. Carlson…

thehill.com

 

[lpetrich]

Touré on Twitter: "Marjorie Taylor Greene: “I know a ton of white people that are as lazy and sorry and probably worse than Black people I know.“
This probably sounded better in the original German." / Twitter
noting
Mrs. West on Twitter: "There you have it. (vid link)" / Twitter

In The Original German

Perhaps the best line from the deeply missed Molly Ivins was at the 1992 Republican Convention, when she wrote:

Many people did not care for Pat Buchanan's speech; it probably sounded better in the original German.

Just for the heck of it, I used Google Translate, also doing a back-translation with it.

I know a ton of white people that are as lazy and sorry and probably worse than Black people I know.

Ich kenne eine Menge Weißer, die genauso faul und traurig und wahrscheinlich schlimmer sind als Schwarze, die ich kenne.

I know a lot of white people who are just as lazy and sad and probably worse than black people I know.


Here is some more translation fun:

The wildfires were caused by Jewish space lasers.

Die Waldbrände wurden von jüdischen Weltraumlasern verursacht.

 

[Elixir]

I don’t know of anything important in either state.

Huntsville AL is kinda important.

 

[ZiprHead]

Sometimes I wish they could get their wish granted... and get it good and hard.