“The Republican Party is tone deaf and weak.” — Marjorie Taylor Greene
Back in the day, conservatism had an intellectual veneer. William F. Buckley Jr. would pop up on TV and disdainfully drawl his arcane and recondite sophistry. And the right wing celebrated that they had a champion raised in their intellectual opponents' camp — the Ivies — who sounded like he knew what he was talking about. Republicans no longer have the like to give them credibility.
Instead, their leading — or should I say loudest — voice is a know-nothing vacuum spewing her grammar-challenged ignorance on Twitter.
On Tuesday night, the GOP offered a new version of their 2022 election fiasco. Ruby-red Kentucky reelected Democratic Governor Andy Beshear with an increased margin. Ohioans told the GOP to feck off with their misogyny — Buckeye voters said yes to individual liberty and no to government up the uterus. And Virginians told GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin to sit down — they kept the State Senate and flipped the House.
Today on Twitter, Marjorie Taylor Greene offered a 945-word screed explaining the reason for the GOP’s latest electoral debacle and offering her solution. Let us have a look.
She starts off by denying abortion itself had anything to do with the GOP losing an abortion referendum.
“Republicans did not lose because of abortion itself, it’s how the party handles the issue or rather does not handle the issue.”
I do not know what she means by Republicans not handling the issue. The evidence is clear — since Dobbs overturned Roe, 14 states have banned abortion, and another 11 have increased restrictions. That seems like handling to me. Perhaps I am missing her nuance.
She goes on,
“And there are bigger growing problems. Republicans are losing Republican voters because the base is fed up with weak Republicans who never do anything to actually stop the communist democrats.”
It would have been helpful if she had named these feeble, communist Democrat-enabling appeasers. But specificity to a MAGA is like garlic to a vampire.
Greene then blames the COVID lockdowns — which mostly ended over three years ago. Adds in election denial. Makes the obligatory border criticism. Claims the Democrats are weaponizing the government. And brings the paragraph to a close with the claim that communists,
“sexually grooms [sic] our children to the point they are cutting off their own body parts to “change their gender” before they are even finished growing up.
She then turns to the economy.
“The Democrats have turned so far left they are communists using Marxism to destroy everything good while they enslave America in crushing debt that is driving inflation that is financially ruining Americans as they can’t make ends meet and drown in credit card debt.”
“communists using Marxism”? She is like a small child who has heard dirty words and gleefully shouts them out with no understanding of their meaning.
Next, she offers some absurd self-congratulations
"They think I don’t fit-in [sic] in Washington when in reality I very accurately represent how the Republican voting base feels and Washington Republicans do not."
She may see a distinction. But sane people would be pressed to identify a difference between Greene and the other lunatic Washington Republicans.
She goes on to explain that the only winning piece in the Republican puzzle is Trump. Considering all the GOP’s election failures since Trump lost the popular vote in 2016, it would be instructive to see her evidence for the claim. Do not hold your breath.
She dedicates part two of her polemic to abortion. She contends that Democrats have lied about abortion. That it is genocide. That flibbertigibbet women are using it as birth control. There is one sentence that warrants closer scrutiny.
“Being a mother is something to be proud of, delight in, and yearn for.”
Does she know — or care — that 59% of abortions are requested by women who are already mothers? Women who were not lucky enough to be born into financial security, as Greene was. And who often live in Republican states where politicians are trying to slash their already meager social support. Thank God these mothers had the choice to do what was best for their children. A right Greene cannot wait to rip away.
She then drags God into it
“A baby in it’s [sic] mother’s womb is not a parasite like democrats say, a baby is God’s beautiful creation and God does not make mistakes and has a plan for every single one of us.”
Blind to her own argument, Greene does not understand that, if she is right, God’s plan was for the majority of last night’s voters to vote Democratic.
She then ends with grandiloquent histrionics and a bald-faced lie about who tells the truth.
“The Republican Party needs to boldly offer the truth, the solutions, and most importantly fight with everything we have to stop communism in America and protect the most innocent among us.
Truth wins when it shines brightly and is not covered or dimmed. We must powerfully declare the truth.
Our nation’s survival depends on it.”
Greene’s anger proves that ignorance is not bliss.