This is what a nightmare scenario looks like.
With the party teetering in the wake of the 2020 unraveling – when it lost too many centrist voters – state republicans are now concerned that Greene will become the face of the GOP, tarnishing the whole ticket with a stamp of conspiracy theory and extremism in the flight until the midterms of 2022.
If you have common sense, you know she’s an anchor at the party. It weighs us down, ”said Gabriel Sterling, a Republican election clerk who became a leading voice to criticize the baseless electoral plot theories espoused by Trump and his supporters like Greene.
Some people might say [House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi will throw her out of Congress, ”said Sterling, referring to the House speaker. The Democrats would never throw her out. They want her to be the definition of what a Republican is. They will give her every opportunity to speak and be heard and look crazy – like what came out on Wednesday, the Jewish space laser to start fires. I mean, I don’t know how far down the rabbit hole you go. “
Judging by old social media posts and videos that surfaced last week, that hole is pretty deep. Greene has promoted the conspiracy theory that space lasers caused wildfires in California, that school shootings were a hoax, and suggested that house speaker Nancy Pelosi should be executed for treason.
Greene is expected to play a pivotal role as a campaign issue in 2022 when Sterling’s boss, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, runs for re-election, along with two other top Republicans, Governor Brian Kemp and Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan.
All three are likely to face primary challenges, but Raffensperger’s role in overseeing elections in the state and his office’s decision to secretly record Trump and ask him to vote in some way to reverse the results of the presidential election has made him a top target of Trump supporters.
Against that backdrop, Greene – who will also run for re-election in the conservative northwest corner of the state, where Republicans must campaign – are expected to play an increased role.
Republicans worry that if the GOP nominates conservatives from the Trump and Greene wing of the party, they risk facing the same fate as Republican sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, who lost on January 5.
Loeffler’s opponent, Senator Raphael Warnock, is standing for reelection in 2022 and could share the ticket with Stacey Abrams, the 2018 Democratic Governor-nominee gearing up to run again.
Both Democrats are black, which brings to light the issue of race – an issue that haunts Greene, who has a history of making racist and racially insensitive comments.
Loeffler’s top advisers say Trump likely cost her the election and Greene wasn’t a factor. But she could be in 2022 after the saturated coverage of Greene’s earlier comments.
“Greene was just a symptom of what’s going on in the Republican Party in the state and, frankly, the nation, at our election,” said a Loeffler adviser. “But in 2022 she will be a symbol, assuming she isn’t already.”
During Greene’s 2020 race, Kemp privately advised Greene to “water down,” according to a source who was briefed on the talk. But he’s now in such a weakened position from a long-standing feud with Trump that he’s leaving Greene alone, at least for now.
“We are taking fire and there is not much we can do at the moment,” said a Kemp advisor.
Chip Lake, an adviser to the 2020 senatorial candidate and former Rep. Doug Collins, echoed other Georgian Republicans who hoped President Joe Biden and the Democrats who control Congress would stretch too far and swing the state to the right during the interim periods. from 2022.
Until then, he said, Kemp and other top Republicans are playing for time.
“It’s the legislative session here in Georgia, so Kemp can say he’s focusing on that and Marjorie Taylor Greene is a federal problem,” Lake said. “But over time it becomes Kemp’s problem and can become a problem for all of us.”
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is under pressure to punish Greene, but Georgian Republican insiders fear he may not sanction her because Greene represents an energetic wing of the party and will feel he cannot afford to run a Of Trump’s favorite office. holders.
Some Georgian Republicans blame McCarthy and his allies in the House Freedom Caucus for initially backing Greene’s congressional bid and then doing little to stop her during the 2020 primaries after her inflammatory social media posts initially came to light.
At least one member of the GOP state congressional delegation, Rep. Jody Hice, withdrew his approval during the campaign, saying he found Greene’s statements “terrible and deeply troubling.”
After Hice withdrew his support from Greene, a group of Republicans tried to get support for an outside political commission to hire her during the primary, but they couldn’t raise money because “McCarthy was zero aid,” said a strategist involved in the discussions.
The group even released a suggested TV ad on YouTube featuring Hice’s decision – calling the place a “fake” because she moved to the district to run for the chair. Another employee said another group of Republicans had a plan for yet another committee, but “McCarthy declined the donors. We couldn’t raise money. “
When asked about the allegations, a McCarthy spokesman did not comment, but said her “comments are deeply troubling and that Leader McCarthy intends to discuss it with the Congressman.”
The Republicans in Georgia expect Greene to face a primary challenge, and some hope she can somehow find herself in a tougher seat during the redistribution. But they recognize that she is popular in her district.
Greene’s main opponent in 2020, John Cowan, is considering fighting her again. He accused McCarthy, Trump’s White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, and Ohio Representative Jim Jordan, for supporting her. He said Democrats Greene, known by her initials “MTG,” already make the face of the Republican Party – similar to how Republicans tried to label Democrats as the New York Rep’s party. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
“MTG is the AOC of the GOP. But as much as I say it, AOC is nowhere as crazy as this, ”said Cowan. ‘I am a neurosurgeon. I diagnose crazy every day. It took her five minutes to realize there were bats in the attic. And then we saw that she had skeletons in the closet. “
A Greene spokesperson did not return any emails requesting comment on this story, nor did GOP chairman David Shafer mention.
One of Greene’s closest allies is Georgia attorney Lin Wood, who was at the center of the state GOP conflict and represented her during the primaries by threatening legal action against a Cowan supporter who criticized her on social media. . Advisers to Cowan’s campaign, which mentioned the controversy in an ad, said they found it ironic that Greene – who has worn a ‘censorship’ mask to protest against major tech companies flagging posts and suspending accounts – was blocking the man. featured in the ad and other critics on her Facebook page.
Greene had an early boost in her busy 2020 primary as she was looking for another seat in the state, but switched to the 14th Congressional District when Rep. Tom Graves unexpectedly retired. No one else had a campaign staff or the best support Greene already had, thanks to McCarthy and his allies, said Luke Martin, GOP chairman in Floyd County, one of the 12 counties in the district.
Martin said Greene has worked hard by holding multiple events and continuing to run town halls in the district. And, he said, she’s not talking about QAnon or other wild conspiracy theories, or the stump.
“The people I’ve spoken to here say, ‘I like Marjorie, but, wow, I wish she didn’t say that,’” said Martin. “The Marjorie we know in the neighborhood is not this Twitter person with a laser beam from space.”
In Gordon County, GOP chairman Kathleen Thorman said there is a feeling that Greene has been incorrectly portrayed in the mainstream news media. Greene’s voters, Thorman said, appreciated some of her early actions in Congress, such as her petition to impeach Biden, as people want to learn more about his son’s business dealings while he was vice president.
“People are angry because they feel that Congress and the media are trying to silence their voices. They voted for her and they feel their voices are being silenced, ”said Thorman. “In two years, when she runs again, we’ll see what happens.”
Tony Abernathy, the chairman of the Murray County GOP, echoed a similar sentiment in a text message: “The real story is that we love Marjorie Taylor Greene and are tired of the national media coming into Georgia telling us how we are in her district. have to think. “
Brian Robinson, an adviser to the former Republican government Nathan Deal, was concerned that Greene’s criticisms will lead to exactly the kind of rallying effect she sees in the district and in her fundraising, raising her profile and getting Republicans about the entire state is deploying this circular firing squad about why we miss elections. “
Greene, he said, has an “it” factor and a mastery of social media that draws attention from the news media, outrage from her critics, and admiration and campaign contributions from her grassroots.
Here’s the problem with Marjorie Taylor Greene: you can’t look away. She has a great camera presence. She has a great TV presence. She’s a natural, a real talent, ”said Robinson. The question is, is she an idiot who is a natural or just a cynical manipulator? I just believe she’s a real idiot who just happens to be great in front of the camera. But we’ll see. “