By Hal Brown
Here’s a two minute clip of Greene talking with reporters about, among other things, her confronting David Hogg, and abruptly ending the press conference.
Some gems from her speech:
- “If I was on a committee, I’d be wasting my time, because my conservative values wouldn’t be heard, and neither would my district’s.”
- “Now, I have a lot of free time on my hands, which means I can talk to a whole lot more people all over this country, and I can talk to more people and make connections and build a huge amount of support.”
- “I’m grateful that I had the opportunity to say the things that I don’t believe and I shouldn’t have said in the first place, and I’m really grateful to my God, because he forgives me. And that’s what being a Christian is all about.”
- …. she accused journalists of “addicting our nation to hate” and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) of faking her personal account of last month’s Capitol siege.
- Greene said that the 11 House Republicans who voted to revoke her committee posts had committed a “big betrayal,” that the United States was being “flooded with illegals,” and that women who have abortions are left with a “hole in their soul that never heals.”
I am not used to having trouble getting a handle on the general mental status of a high profile political figure once I have lots of information about them. There’s a big difference between saying someone demonstrates a certain kind of behavior and saying that this behavior is indicative of their having a psychiatric disorder. Stephen Miller demonstrated psychopathic behavior but it would take a real assessment to diagnose him. Trump demonstrated the characteristics of several psychiatric disorders and it wasn’t difficult for numerous mental health professionals to diagnose him because we (therapists) had some much information.
Marjorie Taylor Greene expressed beliefs which clearly defied logic. This doesn’t mean she has an actual psychiatric disorder. True delusional disorders are considered rare. Reference
When I watched her this morning I was looking for indications that her reality testing was impaired. Being able to differentiate the real from the unreal a way clinicians assess whether a patient has a severe mental illness.
This morning I saw no such indication. She appeared very much grounded in reality.
Her presentation was deft and she parried the few questions she took from reporters as well or better than any of Trump’s press secretaries or sycophants. She shamelessly lied and gaslighted. She she didn’t miss a beat.
Marjorie Taylor Greene hit all the correct red-meat to the base notes from saving unborn babies to the wall in her speech before taking a few questions. Showing undisguised distain for the reporters mostly deflected their questions or attacked the press. This is something else the far right loves to see.
After watching this and trying to determine if she actually believed the delusions she spouted I came away thinking she didn’t. I think she is an opportunist who jumped on the QAnon bandwagon to get attention.
She has a nasty sense of humor just like Trump. I am sure she thought it would be amusing to post a photo of herself holding an assault rifle with photos of The Squad saying that she was their worst enemy. Likewise her threats against Nancy Pelosi were never meant to be serious, but instead to resonate with the far right base. While this got her removed from her committee assignments it all worked to get her the attention she wanted.
Her nastiness was seen in the video of her harassing David Hogg, something a reporter asked her about. She retorted that he wasn’t a child and basically suggested he’d deserved what she gave him.
Greene also knew that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was the perfect one to attack when she falsely claimed that she was a liar when she made videos about how frightened she was during the Jan. 6th riot. She basically bragged that it was she who was actually in danger because she was in the Capitol while AOC wasn’t. That AOC was never in danger has been exposed as a lie promulgated by the right wing. I am sure Greene knows this and is more than will to spread hurtful falsehoods.
Being a nasty lying member of Congress who was already attracted more media attention recently than Donald Trump is a sure way to get ahead in the HOUSE caucus where her competition, the likes of Jim Jordan and Matt Gaetz have as much star power as a burnt out candle.
I have no doubt whatsoever that she wants to be the rising star in the far right Republican cosmos. I see her treading over any Republican wannabes who get in her way.
She is certainly off to a good start.
I think in her fantasies she envisions positioning herself to be selected as Trump’s vice presidential running mate for 2024. I think she has thoughts of his untimely demise and becoming the first female president herself. If I were Trump and this came to pass I would be especially careful about what I ate or drank if I ever dined with her.
Two very different caricatures of Marjorie Taylor Greene:
I put my earlier story on my blog.