Top House Republicans are tripping over themselves in their haste to disavow Marjorie Greene, the QAnon-supporting congressional candidate in Georgia who, per recently unearthed videos, has also posted racist and Islamophobic diatribes online.
Greene came in a decisive first place in the Republican primary for a congressional seat in Georgia’s 14th district. Though she didn’t get over 50 percent and will head to a runoff in August, her next closest competitor, neurosurgeon John Cowan, was around 20 points behind her. The district is heavily Republican, making it unlikely that a Democrat, in normal circumstances, would beat her in November.
Politico obtained Facebook videos in which she calls black people “slaves to the Democratic party,” called the diverse freshman class of congressmen voted in during the 2018 midterms “an Islamic invasion of our government” and compared Black Lives Matter protesters to the neo-Nazis who marched at Charlottesville.
In one of the videos, per Politico, Greene both says that black people struggle with high rates of unemployment because they are “lazy,” and that black women have it easy due to affirmative action.
She also accused George Soros, a Holocaust survivor, of being a Nazi.
“These comments are appalling, and Leader McCarthy has no tolerance for them,” a spokesperson for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) told Politico.
House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) endorsed Greene’s primary opponent.
“The comments made by Ms. Greene are disgusting and don’t reflect the values of equality and decency that make our country great,” he said in a statement. “I will be supporting Dr. Cowan.”
In response to TPM’s questions, Greene said in a statement that she would not let the “Fake News Media” “whip her into submission.”
“Every Republican, every Christian Conservative is going to be called a racist and a
bigot by the Fake News Media, as have Steve Scalise and Liz Cheney,” she continued. “I’m sorry my future colleagues are unable to stand up to the pressure and fight back.”
“I’m sick-and-tired of watching establishment Republicans play defense while the Fake News Media cheers on Antifa terrorists, BLM rioters, and the woke cancel culture, as they burn our cities, loot our businesses, vandalize our memorials, and divide our nation,” she added.
Greene has already made headlines this election cycle with her social media posts supporting the bizarre conspiracy theory QAnon. In a characteristic straight-to-camera address, she expresses excitement that some of the tenets of the theory — that President Donald Trump’s enemies could be pedophiles and may be “taken out” — could be true.
There has been an effort by some to rally around Cowan, despite his dismal first-round finish. Reps. Buddy Carter (R-GA), Drew Ferguson (R-GA) and Austin Scott (R-GA) all endorsed him. Cowan has been trying to paint “Metro-Atlanta Marjorie” as a carpetbagger after she initially began her run in an Atlanta suburb and later switched to the redder 14th district.
