The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Greene’s endorsement of conspiracies, violence sparks calls for her resignation
WASHINGTON — Marjorie Taylor Greene openly supported and spread conspiracy theories for years, yet her northwest Georgia district elected her to Congress by a wide margin. Now, in office for a little over three weeks, she is facing a second round of calls for her resignation after a string of reports revealed her repeated endorsements of political violence and extremism.
The latest revelations include: videos in which Greene, a Republican, parrots bogus claims by suggesting the mass shootings in Las Vegas and Parkland, Fla., were staged; a Facebook post that expresses support for a dangerous conspiracy about child abuse; and a pattern of online activity approving of the execution of Democratic leaders and federal agents.
Several prominent Democrats and activist groups are arguing Greene should resign or be removed from elected office and a small number of GOP lawmakers have also criticized her after her posts and comments resurfaced. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., will reportedly “have a conversation” with Greene, who has dismissed the denunciations as attempts to “cancel” her.
Greene had a record of boosting conspiracies and making racist statements well before the firestorm of the past few days. She was elected to the House in November, becoming the first public backer of QAnon, an extremist ideology based on falsehoods, to win a seat.
Since then, Greene has relentlessly boosted the “Big Lie” that the 2020 election was rigged against Donald Trump, even though dozens of courts have dismissed the former president’s claims and state officials across the country, including Republicans, have rejected the baseless allegations.
Fellow lawmakers first called for her expulsion after the Jan. 6 insurrection, naming her an “accomplice” to Trump’s incitement of the mob. Her statements have also resulted in her temporary ban from Twitter.
On Tuesday, CNN’s KFile published the findings of its review of hundreds of posts and comments on Greene’s Facebook page. In one January 2019 post, Greene “liked” a comment advocating “a bullet to the head” of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., according to a screenshot KFile captured.
In another, from April 2018, a commenter asked,
“Now do we get to hang them ??” referring to former president Barack Obama and former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, KFile reported. In response, Greene did not denounce the suggestion of assassination and instead wrote, “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.”
The offices of Pelosi and McCarthy did not respond to requests for comment about Greene’s Facebook activity or the campaign for her removal. But McCarthy spokesman Mark Bednar told Axios that Greene’s comments are “deeply disturbing” and that the GOP leader “plans to have a conversation with the Congresswoman about them.”
On Twitter, Greene characterized the KFile report as a “hit piece on me focused on my time before running for political office” but did not dispute the authenticity of the posts it highlighted. Instead, Greene wrote that she has had “teams of people manage my pages.”
“Many posts have been liked,” she said. “Many posts have been shared. Some did not represent my views. Especially the ones that CNN is about to spread across the Internet. They are taking old Facebook posts from random users to try to cancel me and silence my voice.”
But Greene’s office did not respond to questions about why the posts and “likes” remained on her page if she did not agree with them. Many of the posts included in the CNN article are no longer visible. It’s unclear whether Greene changed her privacy settings or Facebook removed the posts. The social media company did not respond to a request for comment.
The calls for Greene to step down grew louder Wednesday. Clinton, in a tweet, said that Greene “should be on a watch list. Not in Congress.”
Sen. Raphael Warnock, a Democrat and fellow Georgian, called Greene’s behavior “dangerous and unacceptable.”
“This extreme and violent rhetoric only fans the flames of division,” he said, “and we’ve just seen how deadly those flames can be.”
And Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a Republican from Illinois, said Greene’s actions disqualify her from their party.
“She is not a Republican,” Kinzinger said on Twitter. “There are many who claim the title of Republican and have nothing in common with our core values. They are RINOS. She is a RINO.”