It’s a bad time in American politics when one of the politicians who is actually making sense is Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga.
Greene is one of the most prominent Republican voices calling for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files. This made her a target for the president’s particular brand of churlish social media malevolence. President Donald Trump called her a “traitor,” and when Greene complained that his attacks led to her receiving death threats, he told reporters that “I don’t think anyone cares about” Greene.
In an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, Greene brought up the violent political rhetoric that has put a target on her back. In response, Bash pointed out that Greene only criticizes those tactics when directed at her, and Greene apologized. Noting, “I would like to say, humbly, I’m sorry for taking part in the toxic politics; it’s very bad for our country.”
Recall that Greene rose to prominence in 2019 by attacking the victims of a school shooting in Parkland, Florida.
A politician apologizing is rarer than Halley’s comet. But that hasn’t been the only part of the Greene redemption tour. She has become a symbol of the break within the Republican party. She’s disagreed with the president’s policy on Israel, calling the war in Gaza “genocide.” She criticized the tariffs and is attacking some of Trump’s more egregious ideas. She posted on X that the president’s proposal of a 50-year-mortgage “will ultimately reward the banks, mortgage lenders. and home builders while people pay far more in interest over time and die before they ever pay off their home.
In response, Democratic Rep. Melanie Stansbury said she was proud of Greene. The hosts of “The View” and Rahm Emanuel praised Greene. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called her new position “surprisingly enlightened.” California Rep. Ro Khanna also praised Greene to Newsweek, saying he “appreciated” what she was saying about health insurance, artificial intelligence and bringing costs down for the American people.
But Greene is no great hero. She’s no martyr sacrificing her well-being for the country. And it’s time to take her down from the wooden cross she made for herself.
Recall that Greene rose to prominence in 2019 by attacking the victims of a school shooting in Parkland, Florida. She screamed at one survivor, David Hogg, then only 18. In fact, “I confronted David Hogg twice,” she admitted. Hogg was a teen when Greene targeted him with her vitriolic viral rants, calling him “#littleHitler.” These attacks were designed to embody the worst of online culture to rise to political prominence. And they worked.
Hostile rhetoric has been the defining aspect of Greene’s career. Greene screamed at former President Joe Biden during the State of the Union address. She spread antisemitic and Islamophobic conspiracies. She expressed support for executing Democratic members of Congress, including Nancy Pelosi. She pushed conspiracies about the 2020 election. Her own House colleagues pushed to have her expelled for her role in the Jan. 6 insurrection, on the grounds that she used rhetoric that helped to catalyze a violent insurrection where people died.
Claiming to be the victim of the very violence she espoused doesn’t make her a hero.
Each post, each hateful rant, each violent word gleefully typed, shared and liked and raged against, is the foundation of Greene’s entire career. It’s the tsunami of sewage that swept her into Congress — and Trump into the White House.
And it’s not as if Greene is abandoning the rhetoric that until recently has defined her political career. After the NFL announced Bad Bunny would perform at next year’s Super Bowl, Greene said, “It would be a good time to pass my bill to make English the official language of America.” She recently defended Tucker Carlson having white nationalist Nick Fuentes on his show — and in 2022, Greene hired as a campaign consultant a web designer who had worked with Fuentes.
Opposing a sex trafficking ring — and 50-year-mortgages — is truly a case of clearing the lowest bar. Rather than cheer her, we should raise the bar. Claiming to be the victim of the very violence she espoused doesn’t make her a hero. It doesn’t make her sympathetic. It’s called consequences and not enough people in political office have experienced them.
People should be allowed to change and grow. But we need to stop giving chance after chance to the same politicians who lace our politics with poison — like Charlie Brown with Lucy’s football, except in this case the football is white supremacy. The Democratic Party’s tent should not be big enough to include people who aid and abet white nationalism.
Greene weaponized the online vitriol of Trumpist politics to fuel her rise. Now she’s trying to whitewash her legacy of hate. In this political upside down, the very people who victimize others claim victimhood to climb to prominence. This is why and how white nationalism remains in our politics and culture, because we don’t have the courage to hold the people who perpetuate it responsible.
If Greene wants forgiveness, that is between her and her God. But that doesn’t mean she deserves political power, let alone our respect.
Lyz Lenz is the author of the book "This American Ex-Wife." She lives in Iowa and writes the newsletter “Men Yell at Me.”