“I think your false eyelashes are messing up what you’re reading”…
The sexist verbal attack against the Democratic congresswoman from Texas, Jasmine Crockett, came days ago from a woman’s lips.
Political politeness is not, after all, a characteristic for which her Republican colleague from Georgia, Marjorie Taylor Green – also described as a “priestess” of the far-right pro-Trump wing in the US conservative party – is famous. On the contrary.
This is exactly what happened at a recent meeting of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, which ended in chaos amid personal attacks and partisan bickering.
At the center was the question of impeachment of Attorney General Merrick Garland for contempt of Congress.
The reason: the refusal to turn over the audio of President Biden’s disputed testimony to special counsel Robert Hurr on the handling of classified documents.
Case, for which the 81-year-old president was not finally prosecuted, because – as stated in the opinion – he is “a nice old gentleman, with good intentions, but a bad memory”.
Although the transcript of the deposition has already been given to lawmakers, the audio document would obviously be “butter” to the pre-election “bread” of the Republicans.
Indeed, their slim majority in the House of Representatives voted to impeach Garland on the 13th of the month, despite the initial reservations of some party moderates.
Just two days later, the expected happened: the Ministry of Justice made it clear that no prosecution would be brought.
“Some members on the other side say they’ve lost the thread” of the case, said Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin, a member of the Oversight and Accountability Committee.
“The whole country was watching Marjorie Taylor Green talk about false eyelashes, but no one focused on the outlandish claim that the Attorney General is in contempt of Congress.”
From insults, to conspiracy theories and tumbleweeds
Of course it wasn’t the first time, nor will it be the last, that Marjorie Taylor Green “muddies the waters”. Or that it deepens the dividing lines among Republicans.
In March, she almost drove them into a rift with her attempt to oust Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson. In the end, she failed and found herself on the sidelines within the party, even temporarily.
“I absolutely love Marjorie Taylor Green” and “I believe she will be on our side for a long time to come,” her political mentor Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“But right now, Republicans have to fight the Democrats on the Radical Left.” With that said, Marjorie strikes again.
A few days after the “fake eyelashes” episode – which went viral on social media – she raised the tone again. This time he spoke of a “deep state” conspiracy aimed at the – now convicted – Donald Trump.
“Biden’s Justice Department and FBI planned to assassinate President Trump and gave the go-ahead. Has everyone taken it for granted???!!!!” wrote to X. “What are the Republicans going to do about it?”
They were referring to the FBI raid on the Mar-a-Lago resort in August 2022 to recover classified documents that Trump had taken with him when leaving the White House.
Green falsely claimed there was an order to use “deadly force” in the matter. “Her famous quirks,” commented the New York Times.
On the day of the raid, after all, Trump wasn’t even at Mar-a-Lago. The FBI clarified that there was no special order or procedure.
But that didn’t stop the former and would-be next US president from using the same arguments to call Joe Biden a ‘serious threat to the Republic’ and mentally unfit to hold office.”
“Investing” in polarization
The baseless “assassination attempt” claims were instrumentalized by Trump’s campaign staff. In an email to his supporters, they asked for donations as the former president’s legal fees pile up.
And Marjorie Taylor Green got a first bite with the release of a poll that shows she is unpopular.
52.5% of respondents in a survey by Cygnal stated that they have a negative image of the far-right Republican lawmaker. Only 20.7% said they have a positive one. The rest either didn’t comment or said they didn’t even know who Marjorie Taylor Green was.
In the interim, she has “alienated” many of her colleagues by showing “indifference to maintaining the slim Republican majority in the House of Representatives,” notes Bloomberg.
At least at this stage, the American website estimates, it seems like “burnt paper”. But don’t hold your breath, warns the New Republic.
“Unfortunately, Marjorie Taylor Green is not going anywhere,” he points out, simply because she still has the support of Trump, around whom Republican officials are rallying – willingly or not – after his historic conviction.
After all, the former president may have appeared to disagree with her for the good of internal party cohesion as he tries to win the votes of moderates for the November elections.
The White House and the new political balances in Congress are judged, with the election of a new House of Representatives and the renewal of 1/3 of the Senate.
“Once the election is over,” argues the American magazine, “Trump will have no reason to play nice” with all Republicans. Instead, it will once again start rewarding political “arsonists” like Green for their “blind faith”.
