MTG falsely accuses a black Democrat of being a former member of antifa
Welcome to another edition of ‘C’mon, Georgia, is THIS the best you have to offer?’
By Sam Bellamy
Georgia’s Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Christian Nationalist and proud QAnon devotee who thinks white people are being persecuted in America, regularly displays for us her dimwittedness. Every now and then, though, we have to pause to recognize a special performance.
It’s difficult to imagine anything that will match the livestream video she posted on her Facebook page in 2019, before she was elected to Congress. In that video, she is seen yelling through the mail slot of the office of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, whom she’s repeatedly accused of supporting terrorists and antifa.
“If you want to be a big girl,” Greene shouts, “you need to get rid of your diaper and come out and be able to talk to the American citizens instead of having to use a flap — a little flap. Sad.”
The office door, to no one’s surprise, remains locked.
Greene fell short of that scene but gave it her best last week during a meltdown at a meeting of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability. The GOP-led committee currently does as little overseeing or accountabilit-izing as it can, which is where Rep. Maxell Frost, a Florida Democrat, joins our story.
Beginning at the 50-second mark, you’ll see Frost ask to enter into the record several news articles about FBI agents forcibly removing Sen. Alex Padilla from a Kristi Noem press conference in Los Angeles earlier in the day.
Chairman James Comer, a Kentucky Republican, accepts each request, at which point Frost asks his colleagues to support subpoenaing Noem to ask her about the incident.
This rankles Comer, who says Frost is out of order. Technically, it’s not Frost’s turn to speak and, besides, these Republicans do not investigate anything they’d rather not know about. Which is a lot.
Frost repeats his request.
"Reclaiming my time. Reclaim my time! Reclaiming my time!” Greene shouts. “Democrats can't follow the rules, can't follow the laws, can't follow the rule, can't follow the law.”
"We need to subpoena Kristi Noem," Frost repeats.
"There's a privilege of the majority, and that means we're in charge, not your side, because you lost the election because you supported the destruction of our country," Greene yells, stopping just short of na-nana-na-na or, more ruthlessly, nana-nana-boo-boo.
The situation deteriorates, with Frost repeating his request, and Greene repeatedly chanting about the rules.
"Shut up! Just shut up! Shut up!" Comer demands, presumably speaking to Frost.
“No, you don't,” Frost responds. “No, you're not going to tell me to shut up!”
Comer speculates that Frost is just trying to get on MSNBC.
Greene jumps in, "I think it's because he's been arrested as a former antifa member, right? Antifa."
Comer tried to cool things down, "Back to order, Ms. Greene."
"He's a former antifa member, Mr. Chairman. No surprise," Greene repeats.
"Who's a former antifa member? Me?" Frost asks, incredulous.
Greene said, "Yeah, you!"
Frost demands that her, well, lie be removed from the record.
Although being anti-fascist has until recently been a desired trait in America, the loosely organized group known as antifa isn’t widely admired for its tactics. Republicans in particular dislike antifa because no one will believe their claims that the group was responsible for the Jan. 6 riots.
Comer calls a recess and, after Greene confers on how to reword her statement, the fun resumes at around the 6-minute mark. She asks to amend the record to state that Frost was once arrested at – here she adds a nice disdainful touch – a voting rights rally.
“Proudly,” Frost replies.