OPINION
MICHELLE
COTTLE
The Humbling of Marjorie Taylor Greene
April 24,
2024
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/24/opinion/marjorie-taylor-greene-mike-johnson.html
Michelle
Cottle
By Michelle
Cottle
Ms. Cottle
writes about national politics for Opinion and is a host of the podcast “Matter
of Opinion.”
In our
Trump-era politics, there’s always the question of how crazy is too crazy — how
disruptive and extreme an elected official can get before becoming so
embarrassing that members of her own team feel compelled to abandon her?
Representative
Marjorie Taylor Greene seems to have reached that outer limit. Again.
It’s not
simply that Ms. Greene has taken such a Putin-pleasing approach to Russia’s war
in Ukraine (Ukrainian Nazis? Really?) that the term “useful idiot” feels
unavoidable. She has, in very little time, undermined the influence of her
party’s entire right flank, driving less unhinged Republicans — most notably
the House speaker, Mike Johnson — to brush back her and her ilk like the
poo-flinging chaos monkeys they are.
Just look
at what has come to pass in the House in the past several days: Mr. Johnson, a
proud ultraconservative, pushed through a $95 billion foreign aid package,
including $60 billion for Ukraine, with more Democratic votes than Republican
ones. He is now counting on Democrats to save him from the Greene-led
extremists’ plan to defenestrate him and install yet another Republican as
speaker. There is much buzz about the emergence of a bipartisan governing
coalition in the House, albeit one born of desperation. Squint hard, and
Congress almost looks to be functioning as intended, with a majority of members
coming together to advance vital legislation. With her special brand of MAGA
extremism, Ms. Greene has shifted the House in a bipartisan direction (at least
for now) in exactly the way her base loathes.
Can I get
two cheers for the art of the possible?!
On a less
high-minded note, how delicious was it to see Ms. Greene on the steps of the
Capitol on Saturday, raving about Mr. Johnson’s various “betrayals” and
proclaiming him “a lame duck,” even as she hemmed and hawed about when she
would move to oust him? All in good time, she said, insisting she felt moved to
let her colleagues first “go home and hear from their constituents” over this
week’s House recess. “I said from the beginning I’m going to be responsible
with this,” she said, in what may be her most laughable line in weeks — a high
bar for the House member known for her keen insights on Jewish space lasers.
Seriously,
how responsible did Ms. Greene look Sunday on Fox News, as she ducked Maria
Bartiromo’s questions about her plans for ousting Mr. Johnson? (Short answer:
She has no plan.) Ms. Bartiromo noted that Ms. Greene was drawing widespread
criticism for “creating drama” and that there was concern she was making
Republicans look like a bunch of squabbling incompetents unfit to run a
neighborhood book club. (Those may not have been the host’s exact words.) Ms.
Greene’s crackerjack defense was to insist, “The people criticizing me are not
the American people.” The American people “are outraged, and what they’re
saying is they don’t want to vote for Republicans anymore,” she asserted,
adding that “the Republican Party in charge right now, it’s no different than
the Democrat Party.”
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I may be
off base here, Marjo, but trashing your colleagues as no better than the other
side in a high-stakes election year is not the best way to win them over to
your kamikaze mission.
Because
here’s the thing: Republicans already subjected themselves to painful mockery
last fall by letting their right-wingers take down Speaker Kevin McCarthy
without a succession plan in mind. It took them three failed candidates and
three inglorious weeks to finally install Mr. Johnson. Precious few members are
likely up for a second helping of humiliation this much closer to Election Day.
I mean, not
even Donald Trump is throwing in with “Moscow Marjorie,” as she has been dubbed
in some cheekier conservative corners. After an invigorating Monday spent in
court, the former president reiterated his support and sympathy for Mr. Johnson
in a chat with the conservative radio host John Fredericks. “Well, look, we
have a majority of one, OK?” Mr. Trump noted. “It’s not like he can go and do
whatever he wants to do.”
At this
point, the most enthusiastic base of support for Ms. Greene’s shenanigans may
be the Kremlin. More food for thought, congresswoman: When Russian
propagandists start praising your politics and beauty, it’s time to rethink
your life choices.
Could this
show of spine by non-winger Republicans last more than a hot second? Maybe Mr.
Johnson is recognizing that his responsibilities as the head of the people’s
house go beyond serving his trolliest, most obstructionist members. And maybe,
unlike Mr. McCarthy, who never exhibited signs of possessing a moral core, Mr.
Johnson is serious about trying to do “the right thing” — by which he does not
simply mean whatever Mr. Trump tells him to do.
Of course,
if we really want to talk fantasy scenarios, I’d be thrilled if this speaker,
having stiff-armed his wingers multiple times and lived to tell about it, feels
liberated to keep nudging the House toward greater functionality. I mean, the
guy has already blown his shot at being the ultimate MAGA speaker. Why not give
being a genuine statesman a chance and do a deal on border security or the cost
of prescription drugs?
Not that
I’m holding my breath. In these MAGAtastic times, the humbled Ms. Greene could
rebound faster than you can say “total presidential immunity.” But for now, her
flapping and flailing are satisfying to behold.
Michelle
Cottle writes about national politics for Opinion and is a host of the podcast
“Matter of Opinion.” She has covered Washington and politics since the Clinton
administration.
@mcottle
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