Marjorie Taylor Greene

A vile human being

I’m an amateur historian and an observer of the workings of our government. I am acutely aware of the breathtaking inspiration of some of our finest politicians and statesmen as well as the countless low-lifes that have somehow wormed their way into our daily political and government life. It’s distressing when it happens, but as a friend of mine likes to say, “it may not take all kinds, but we have all kinds”.

Marjorie Taylor Greene, or MTG, is a Congresswoman from Georgia. She was duly elected by her constituents. On the face of it she should receive the honor and respect from all of us just because of her position. But to be honest, of all the people I've seen and read about in our government, she is by far the worst example of a person abusing her position and acting in almost total self-aggrandizement. Everything she does is for self-benefit. She is the epitome of a certain cadre of people in Congress (unfortunately many Republicans) who continually have a mindset of fighting. They don’t really have any view towards compromise and accomplishment. And as I said I’m an amateur historian so I get it. Our founders wanted a government that is slow, difficult to work within to accomplish anything, and would not delve into the lives of our citizens too deeply. But I think in constructing it the way they did, they were subtly setting it up so that only the best of us would seek positions in government. They knew it was going to be hard, so we need people who will work diligently, keep in mind the needs of the larger electorate, seek compromise, and work to accomplish as much as possible for our citizens. MTG is the antithesis of that.

When the Republicans put in place the new mechanism for removing the Speaker of the House, it was made for her. To seek to vacate the Speaker chair, puts the person at the forefront of the effort on a huge stage. And that’s what she craves. The latest dustup is over several foreign aid bills. One for Ukraine, one for Israel, and one for Taiwan. In normal times, this would be no brainer. First, the amount of money we provide in aid to other countries is miniscule in the scheme of things. A pittance. And what we receive in turn as the leader of the world in influence, reduced chance of war, improved living conditions and much more is, to my mind totally reasonable. Congress studies and debates these things and after much consideration puts forward aid packages for approval. All three of these packages are vital. We should be supporting Ukraine to the greatest extent possible. For a small amount of our treasury and literally no spilling of American blood, we can thwart the ability of the Russians to menace their neighbors for decades. Make no mistake, Russia is our enemy. We need to support Ukraine in turning back the Russian invasion. Full stop. Israel is another no brainer. I’ve written enough about my view that we must stand strong with Israel. No debate. Full stop. And Taiwan is a sitting duck awaiting China’s next move. War is coming in Asia. Again, make no mistake about that. Any amount we can spend today to support our great ally, Taiwan is money well spent.

So the speaker will bring these three bills (and a few others) up for vote. And to get this passed he has worked across the aisle to persuade Democrats to support them in the face of Republican resistance. That is a weird story in itself. Traditionally Republicans have been the party to see the need for U.S. leadership in the world. But it seems like the tables have turned a bit. Many narrow-minded Republicans seem to have turned inward and their mode is to fight everything. Their idea of statesmanship seems to be on the shelf. If the Democrats are for it, the Republicans are against it. Very curious.

So MTG is leading a group of scoundrels who may call for the vacation of the Speaker chair. Her supposed reasoning is that she doesn’t want anything done unless the border is fixed. It’s the ultimate apples and oranges discussion. How about this, win more elections. If you win, you get to govern. They can’t govern because they lose elections. The good news is that Speaker Johnson appears (today) to have outsmarted them and call for a vote tomorrow. I hope they pass and we can get on with it.

But true to form, MTG is braying and posturing and making an ass out of herself. One of my favorite writers (a conservative) Kevin Williamson wrote this:

Irritated by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s tireless dedication to serving Moscow’s interests, Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz offered an amendment to the Ukraine aid bill that would have renamed her office the “Neville Chamberlain Room.” It was an ugly, stupid, juvenile insult.

Say what you will about Marjorie Taylor Greene, she is no Neville Chamberlain.

Neville Chamberlain was an honorable and decent man, a patriot and a statesman who led the United Kingdom during the first months of World War II before serving honorably in Winston Churchill’s war cabinet for the few months he had left to live before dying of cancer. He retired, as it were, at the end of September 1940, and he was dead by November 9, having labored through the excruciating pain of intestinal cancer as the Blitz raged overhead. When Churchill, acting on behalf of the king, offered the dying Chamberlain the Order of the Garter, Chamberlain declined. “I prefer to die plain ‘Mr. Chamberlain,’ like my father before me, unadorned by any title,” he said.

The thing is, I don’t think it was an ugly, stupid, juvenile (okay, maybe juvenile) insult. I think it was pretty spot on. Anything to knock her down a few notches it fine by me.