Last night, Marjorie Taylor Greene told Sean Hannity she is terribly concerned about the chemical train derailment in East Palestine. OH.
“[T]rain derailment is happening every single day. And now, thousands of people, birds, animals, they’re all sick and we don’t know the consequences of this horrible accident in East Palestine. But we have people like [Rep] Ilhan Omar, she wants to crack down on corporate greed when it comes to rails and the privately-owned sections of rails.”
I am not sure what Omar’s position on corporate greed has to do with horrible accidents — although capitalist avarice is likely a piece of the failure — but it must make sense to Greene. This doublethink maven then expanded her finger-pointing to blame all Democrats for causing the accident.
“We need to make sure that our rails are safe. Democrats passed a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill and only $5 billion went towards rail safety. This is a failure. It would’ve never happened under a Republican-controlled infrastructure bill.”
It takes mental flexibility — or grinding stupidity — to think that $5 billion is, at the same time, both too much and not enough. Greene voted against the bill. In doing so, she provided zero dollars for railroad safety. Yet she complains that the Democrat's “only $5 billion” is a failure.
Adding another layer to her delusion, Greene fantasizes that a GOP infrastructure bill would have prevented the disaster. We will never know, as the Republicans, even with control of the White House, Senate, and House, could not pass one. Their inability to do what they promised was a serial joke. Trump’s “infrastructure week” became the Groundhog Day of legislative ineptitude.
Further, given their position on business regulation — they are against it — it is absurd to think they would have earmarked anything like $5 billion for railroad safety.
The hypocrisy is typical. Greene's concern for people, birds, and animals is politically convenient but gainsaid by every vote she has cast. Her party — and she does not buck its orthodoxy — are passionate protectors of profit, no matter who or what gets hurt. The environment has been the whipping boy of conservatives defending corporate America’s right to pollute.
Greeneis is a vocal science denier, so unbeholden to logic and facts that even Hannity will not deny she is crazy. Geraldo Rivera, using Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ contention that the world is split into normal and crazy camps, asked the Fox host where he stood on Greene’s sanity.
“Well Sean, the first thing I’d like to start with is a question our friend, Governor Sanders – the hit of the night – said the world is now divided… it’s not Republican/Democrat right/left, red/blue anymore.
It’s normal and crazy, normal/crazy. So, I’m gonna ask you, Sean. Which side of that divide – normal/crazy – is Marjorie Taylor Greene? Is she the new normal? Because if she is, the Republicans are not gonna win any more elections.”
Hannity never offered an opinion. If he believed she was not crazy, it would have been an easy question to answer. She is his frequent guest. Any other reaction is a confession he thinks she is not normal. If your partner asks, “do these pants make my ass look big?” any answer other than an immediate “no” is confirmation they do.
Even fellow sister-in-arms, and erstwhile political ally, Lauren Boebert thinks Greene is nuts. In her words
“I have been asked to explain MTG’s beliefs on Jewish space lasers, on why she showed up to a white supremacist conference. ... I’m just not going to go there. She wants to say all these things and seem unhinged on Twitter, so be it.”
If anyone has an intimate knowledge of unhinged, it is Boebert. She is a limited thinker unburdened by a profound or nuanced intellect — who also cannot count. She once tweeted “Two Words: Let’s Go Brandon!” Colorado is not sending us its best.
Greene is the sort of simpleton who wears coats indoors. However, she knows her audience. The GOP’s powers-that-be have returned her from exile and installed her on the House Oversight and Homeland Security committees. In those roles, she will have the TV time to keep reminding the country she is one of the GOP’s leading morons — quite a feat when you consider her competition.