In this week’s installment of LP’s new feature, The Bright Side, we take a look at the struggles of notable Right-Wing nut Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Taylor Greene, who represents Georgia’s 14th district as a member of the House of Representatives, has made headlines over and over since her 2020 election. For her outlandish views, and her public endorsements of Far-Right conspiracies, although not, notably, for having accomplished anything (at all) as a Congressperson. So she’s no stranger to the spotlight. She has, rather, cultivated an image of herself as a “fighter” in the most Trumpian sense: no matter how grotesque the idea, Taylor Greene will amplify and endorse it, and then, when called on her BS, claim either not to have said what she said, or not to have understood what she was saying.
Less than a year and a half into her first term in Congress, the examples of this are basically endless.
Who could forget her claim that California wildfires were actually being started by Jewish space lasers?
Or that she reported Jimmy Kimmel to the Capitol Police over a joke??
Or, evidently unaware of the absolute gift she was handing to her Democratic challenger in 2022 (Marcus Flowers, himself a decorated veteran of the US Armed Forces), that she asserted in an interview with Lou Dobbs that military service is “throwing your life away”?
Well, the news of this week for Rep. Taylor Greene has been bad, and then worse.
First there was the report by Business Insider that she’s not only under-fundraised in the first quarter of this cycle, but that she’s overspent. In her filing to the Federal Elections Commision this past Friday, she reported a net loss for the cycle of nearly $314,000. This news broke simultaneously with reports that Mr. Flowers had out-raised her by nearly double over the same three months. As reported by the Gwinnett Daily Post, “Flowers raised more than $2.4 million in the heavily Republican district during January, February and March, according to a report filed with the Federal Election Commission. That brought his total for the election cycle to nearly $7.1 million”
Now, we should be clear here for any of our readers out there who are considering donating to the Flowers campaign: absent further surprise victories by Free Speech For People in court (discussed below), this district simply isn’t winnable for him. According to Politico, “Flowers’ haul is up there with the highest House hauls, period. But this race isn’t winnable for a Democrat — the redrawn version of Greene’s district voted for former President Donald Trump by more than 37 percentage points.”
Even so, however, Taylor Greene’s net loss combined with Flowers’ successful fundraising efforts mean that she will have to compete for television and radio spots in November, should she reach the general election.
Which, she theoretically might not, because:
Another long shot, of course, but let’s dig in. The group pressing the lawsuit, Free Speech for People, allege that Ms. Taylor Greene is ineligible to hold office based on a constitutional provision in the 14th Amendment—originally designed to prevent Confederates from holding office following the US Civil War. Specifically, it states that ““no person shall” be a member of Congress or hold civil office if they had engaged in insurrection or rebellion after “having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State.””
According to the New York Times, “In the 73-page ruling, Judge Totenberg wrote that Ms. Greene had failed to meet the “burden of persuasion” in her request for injunctive relief, which she called an extraordinary and drastic remedy.”
So, maybe?
But whether or not she’ll actually be prevented from seeking reelection in her deeply red district, there’s no two ways about it—it’s been a struggle of a week for Marjorie Taylor Greene.
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