The St. Louis Postdispatch on earthquakes, eclipses and a natural disaster named MTG:

... There comes a time when the diplomatic niceties of political discourse must give way to bluntly spoken truth. When a sitting member of Congress repeatedly displays classic symptoms of psychosis — a literal, psychological break with reality — it must be addressed head-on.

We refer to (who else?) U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-GA. Yes, her frequent outbursts of crazy can be entertaining ... but the fact that she and a small cadre of fellow fringedwellers have effectively been allowed to take the U.S. House hostage speaks to a deadly serious symptom of the poor health of the republic just now.

For anyone who has lost track of Greene’s latest descent into madness, she has suggested that the recent East Coast earthquake was God’s warning to America to “repent.”

Earlier this month, a 4.8 magnitude earthquake shook New Jersey and New York City. It was an unusual location for a major quake — but not anything requiring a divine explanation. Ditto with the rare-but-perfectly-natural ... full solar eclipse that occurred Monday, right on its long-calculated schedule.

But don’t try telling that to Greene, a self-described Christian nationalist whose typical right-wing footsie-playing with racists and antisemites is augmented, in her case, with a lesstypical belief system that is somewhere between religious fanaticism and science fiction.

“God is sending America strong signs to tell us to repent,” Greene wrote on X on Friday. “Earthquakes and eclipses and many more things to come. I pray that our country listens.”

“Repent” for what? She didn’t say. We’re guessing it’s not for the congressional dysfunction that actually should require repentance — dysfunction for which Greene herself has been largely responsible . ...

Her contributions to our poisonous political divisions have included suggesting a “national divorce” between red and blue states, limiting voting rights of anyone who relocates between those states and disenfranchising anyone who doesn’t make enough money to pay taxes.

When Democrats controlled the House, they removed Greene from her committee assignments (with the help of almost a dozen Republican votes) for espousing political violence.

But when the GOP took over last year, not only was this cultural arsonist invited back into the fold, she was elevated to key committee posts ... (Kevin) Mccarthy needed Greene to shore up his tissue-thin margin of support for his speakership . ... In flailing desperately to attain and keep his speakership, Mccarthy agreed to a process that allows any member of the Republican caucus to call for a vote to oust the speaker. That was ultimately Mccarthy’s undoing.

Now Greene is using that provision to threaten current House Speaker Mike Johnson. His offense? Working with Democrats to prevent a government shutdown and moving ahead with crucial aid to Ukraine in its fight for survival against Russia . ... Greene and her fellow right-wing extremists are a core of party power for the GOP . ... They are the reason the House today is so dysfunctional...

For the record: Earthquakes happen when tectonic plates slip against one another deep underground. Eclipses happen when the moon drifts between Earth and the sun.

It’s all physics. It has nothing to do with messages from God to an unhinged member of Congress — nor to the party that has recklessly empowered her.