Marjorie Taylor Greene has tired out just about everybody in the House — except Kevin McCarthy — with her bomb-throwing and embrace of conspiratorial misinformation.
This week, fresh off being booted from the far-right House Freedom Caucus for attacking other members, the Georgia firebrand is facing a new resolution aimed at organising her formal censure by the House of Representatives.
The resolution was introduced by Rep Becca Balint, a newcomer to the chamber representing Vermont’s at-large congressional district. It cites Ms Greene’s statements and actions going as far back as 2021 on a wide range of issues from the 9/11 terrorist attacks to her attendance at white nationalist leader Nick Fuentes’s annual convention.
“Censuring Rep Taylor Greene is about the health of our democracy and faith in government. Her antisemitic, racist, transphobic rhetoric has no place in the House of Representatives. I ran for Congress after watching on January 6th that anti-democratic messages and fearmongering have real consequences for our democracy,” said Ms Balint in a press release.
“Unserious elected officials like Taylor Greene make a mockery of our democratic institutions and derail us from the urgent work we’ve been tasked with. This job is about alleviating suffering and supporting our communities, and instead Taylor Greene uses her position as a megaphone for conspiracy theories and hate speech,” the Vermont congresswoman added. “There must be a counterforce that comes from within Congress. It begins with principled members standing up and saying we have had enough.”
The resolution is not likely to go far: The House remains in Republican control, and the GOP has been growing more and more resistant to what the House Republican caucus views as increasing Democratic demands for them to punish their own members.
Ms Greene also importantly enjoys a positive relationship with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, even as she has lost allies on the far right with her newfound establishment alliance.
Her removal from the House Freedom Caucus came after an explosive confrontation on the House floor with Rep Lauren Boebert, as well as other sparring with Freedom Caucus members that the group found unpalatable.
“She has consistently attacked other members of the Freedom Caucus in an irresponsible way, and as a result of that she was kicked out of the Freedom Caucus,” Rep Ken Buck, a Freedom Caucus member, said of Ms Greene earlier in July.
“We have diverse opinions in the Freedom Caucus. It’s not monolithic, but insofar as attacking other members, it just shouldn’t be tolerated over and over again,” he continued. “It’s not one simple attack. It’s not what happened on the floor a few weeks ago with Lauren Boebert. It is a series of really poorly thought-out attacks on other members.”
