Name: Republicans need the Marjorie Taylor Greene wing of the party, and she knows it
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Republicans need the Marjorie Taylor Greene wing of the party, and she knows it

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An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders. It often indicates a user profile.Redeem nowRep. Marjorie Taylor Greene gave a victory speech to the House on Thursday.Greene, a day after Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy declined to preemptively boot her from assignments on two committees, gave a prior to a vote on whether to advance another vote to of those assignments. Greene claimed to have "moved on" from her , demonstrable Islamophobia, , 9/11 and , and of course — QAnon.But she didn't apologize for a thing.Instead, she played the culture-war hits, railing against "Big Tech censorship" and "illegal aliens" while comparing the mainstream media to the QAnon cult.It was a spectacle, watching a member of Congress say "9/11 happened" and "school shootings happen" before quickly pivoting to calling abortion murder.And it happened because Republican leadership has tacitly acknowledged it needs the Greene wing of the party.Even as QAnon falls out of favor, the Republican Party allowed conspiracy theories to take hold of the GOP, and now it knows the party can't win without them.Republican leadership would clearly rather . It'd love to recapture that wasn't built on conspiracy thinking and a Donald Trump personality cult.While McCarthy, along with much of the GOP congressional leadership, has forcefully denounced Greene's toxic social-media history, the GOP leadership has refused to hand down actual consequences.Preemptively removing Greene from any committee assignments would have asserted the authority of the "facts matter" wing of the Republican Party.But when it came time to put up or shut up, McCarthy declined to marginalize Greene. To do so, he said, would be to surrender to the Democrats.That's a tacit acknowledgment that the Republican Party allowed the fringe elements of its movement to grow into a key constituency — and now needs to appease the Greene wing of the party.Politics being a metaphorical bloodsport, McCarthy knows that being perceived to have bent to the Democrats' demands will look like weakness. It's pragmatic, but it's a cop-out.Republicans removing the Georgia freshman wouldn't have been a surrender; it would have been responsible.Sure enough, the Democratic-controlled House (including 11 Republicans) to boot Greene from the committees anyway.Had McCarthy refused to throw the party's weight behind Greene, it would have severely hampered Nancy Pelosi's efforts to .Now there's no turning back. Greene is the GOP, and the GOP is Greene.The real reason McCarthy wanted to have it both ways — to wrap Greene's wrists with a condemnation but issue no meaningful punishment — is because than the reality-accepting "Trump lost the election" wing of the party — including the House's third-in-command Republican Rep. Liz Cheney and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.And so McCarthy, issuing his mealy-mouthed rebuke of Greene, fumbled through the word "QAnon," unconvincingly , even though he explicitly denounced it last August.Greene might be part of a small, mostly powerless fringe of in the Republican House caucus, but she also represents the GOP base, warped by conspiracy theories, that will never admit Trump lost a free and fair election.Republicans quietly continue to live in fear of the "Stop the Steal" wing of the electorate, as demonstrated by their inability to — even now — publicly accept Joe Biden is the legitimate president of the United States of America.Of the 147 congressional Republicans who voted — on the night of the at the Capitol — against certifying the Electoral College results, only 10 have since rebuked the false, thoroughly debunked narrative that massive election fraud cost Trump the election, .And a portion of the GOP House conference clearly identifies with the Greene wing of the party, as the conspiracy-theory-spouting lawmaker from some members at a Republican meeting on Wednesday night.So while Greene can play the "Who me?" charade regarding her extensive history of swimming in the Alex Jones wing of the internet, she knows she's untouchable within the party itself.Trump might be gone, but the in Congress. And cross them.Sign up for notifications from Insider! Stay up to date with what you want to know.Subscribe to push notificationsAn icon in the shape of a lightning bolt.Keep readingIt indicates an expandable section or menu, or sometimes previous / next navigation options.An icon in the shape of a lightning bolt.For you

An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders. It often indicates a user profile.Redeem nowRep. Marjorie Taylor Greene gave a victory speech to the House on Thursday.Greene, a day after Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy declined to preemptively boot her from assignments on two committees, gave a prior to a vote on whether to advance another vote to of those assignments. Greene claimed to have "moved on" from her , demonstrable Islamophobia, , 9/11 and , and of course — QAnon.But she didn't apologize for a thing.Instead, she played the culture-war hits, railing against "Big Tech...

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Anthony L. Fisher

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Republicans need the Marjorie Taylor Greene wing of the party, and she knows it

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