Marjorie Greene Is Already Causing Problems for the GOP

Source: The Dispatch | August 14, 2020 | Declan Garvey

Steve King sees a double standard in Kevin McCarthy’s embrace of the QAnon adherent from Georgia.

For more than a decade, Republican congressional leaders awkwardly attempted to distance themselves from Steve King, the nine-term congressman from Iowa who associated himself with several high-profile white nationalists, seemingly compared Mexican immigrants to “dirt,” and insinuated that non-Western civilizations haven’t made any significant “contributions” to society. After years of condemnations and sidestepping, the GOP finally cut bait in 2020, funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars to King’s primary challenger, Randy Feenstra, who unseated the 18-year incumbent on June 2. The party breathed a collective sigh of relief.

Seventy days later, the GOP nominated someone who, according to one top House Republican aide, is ten times worse than King—“at a minimum.”

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On Thursday, Media Matters For America resurfaced a video from 2018 showing Greene—whose campaign did not respond to a request for comment—espousing conspiracy theories related to the death of Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich and the 9/11 attacks. In the video, recorded at the American Priority Conference, Greene alleged the Obama administration used MS-13 gang members as “henchmen” to do their “dirty work,” including killing Seth Rich. (The police concluded Rich’s murder was the result of a botched robbery; Rich’s family has asked the public to “cease using Seth as a political football in predetermined partisan narratives.”) In the same video, Greene referenced the “so-called plane that crashed into the Pentagon” on September 11, 2001, claiming it’s “odd” that “there’s never any evidence shown for a plane in the Pentagon.” (Greene did not apologize for the remarks, but did admit Thursday on Twitter that she “now know that is not correct.”)

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The first thing listed on Cowan’s website—before being pro life and pro gun—is that he is pro Trump. But it wasn’t enough. “There’s still a section of this party that demands that candidates go a step further. That you not only be pro Trump, but you have to be pro … frankly, just conspiracy theories,” the source close to Cowan’s campaign said. “The most consistent thing we heard [about why voters were supporting Greene over Cowan] was that, ‘Well, she’s gonna go and she’s gonna fight, she’s gonna fight, she’s gonna fight.’ When you prodded a little bit deeper and asked, ‘Well what does that fight look like?’ They couldn’t tell you, but they just know she’s going to fight.”

“I think it should worry all of us,” the source added. “The fact that [Greene] is about to end up in Congress should hopefully be a wake up call for everybody, because she’s no better than Steve King. And you know how long it took to get him out of Congress.”

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It’s almost assuredly too late for Republican leadership to stop Greene from reaching Congress, especially with President Trump onboard with her candidacy. But McCarthy does have one tool at his disposal if she wins: He can withhold committee assignments, limiting her involvement in the legislative process.

The only problem? His office already told Politico he’s not going to do that. Greene, per McCarthy, will be “welcomed into the GOP conference.”

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After the McCarthy spokesman passed along his initial statement regarding Greene, The Dispatch followed up to ask if McCarthy regretted stripping King of his committee assignments due to the precedent it set, or if the minority leader did not believe Greene’s comments and beliefs rise to the level of King’s. We did not receive a response.

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