Donald Trump’s protégé and far-right conservative darling Marjorie Taylor Greene has gotten into yet another X (formerly Twitter) spat. The Republican sparred with Democratic lawmaker Jim McGovern in an online battle which fully encapsulates the absurdities and extremes of US politics.
The entire debacle began after McGovern criticised Greene for her attempts to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and censure Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar over highly offensive and baseless accusations that the Minnesota representative is a “foreign agent.”
Omar, who is a part of the progressive Democratic “squad” of representatives which also includes Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (AOC), has faced a torrent of discrimination from Republicans during her time in office. In 2023, she was forced out of the foreign affairs committee for her criticism of Israel. The politician has stated that she’s been a victim of relentless bigotry and anti-muslin rhetoric during recent times.
Greene’s calls for Omar’s censure came after a mistranslated clip of the politician suggested that she was “Somalian first.” However, according to the Minnesota Reformer, a Minnesota-based news outlet which worked with two independent Somali translators, Omar actually said: “We are people who know that they are Somali and Muslim,” not that she was “Somalian first” as the video suggested.
Omar responded to the controversy on X, calling the interpretation “completely off:”
McGovern, who has historically been critical of Greene’s habit of making wild accusations against other representatives, has been vocal about the misguided use of power fuelling Greene’s impeachment efforts and the fact that she should not be allowed to monopolise the House’s time:
In his speech during the committee hearing, wherein Omar’s censure was being discussed, McGovern also made comments about Greene “speaking at white supremacist conventions” and “promoting holocaust deniers.”
In response, Greene shared on X: “Wow this is coming from the same guy who is well known to lay his suit jacket on the actual bathroom floor while spending a lot of time in the stall of the first-floor bathroom of the Capitol. Eww.”
Clearly in the mood to bite back, McGovern swiftly replied: “No idea what you’re talking about… what are you doing in the men’s bathroom aren’t you late for a klan meeting?”
While some might label this as a pretty strong accusation, it only takes a quick Google search to discover Greene’s extensive ties to white nationalism and white supremacist groups. Moreover, it should be noted that in May 2023, Greene publically stated that Representative Jamaal Bowman calling her a “white supremacist” was the equivalent of using the N-word.
Greene is yet to respond to McGovern’s latest social media post.
This incident occurred just one day before Greene stormed out of a congressional hearing after being accused of hugging and high-fiving defendants involved in the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol. During the hearing, the Georgia politician defended Trump and lashed out at Democrats for not being supportive enough of the police.
Following this, representative Jamie Raskin began her questioning. Within minutes of Raskin’s commentary, Greene abruptly stood up and stormed out of the room. Raskin has made it clear that she will continue to call Greene out on her persistent support of “domestic terrorists,” as reported by Newsweek.