Dem
47
GOP
53
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) is an obnoxious jerk and a bigot, one who looks down on people based on social class, race, religion, sexual orientation, and other "unfavorable" characteristics. We don't think of this as an opinion, more like... an ironclad fact. Indeed, we would guess that you would be hard-pressed to find someone who follows politics and who thinks she is NOT a jerk. If you took a survey, we suspect that opinion would break down into "she's a jerk" and "she's OUR jerk."
Yesterday, Greene gave everyone a reminder of her jerkiness. This was entirely predictable, since Tuesday is a day that ends in "y." She was appearing on the "show" hosted by Eric Bolling, the former Fox entertainer who lost that job, and a couple of others thereafter, due to his lecherous behavior. And Greene decided that it was high time to rip into her colleague, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), since it had been at least 72 hours since the last nasty, unprovoked personal attack. And so, Greene declared:
This is a woman—she's never been married, she has no children, she's never had a job other than working in a bar. And that was short-term from what we understand. She's never run a business. This is a woman that has really no life experience and has no life wisdom because she's never done any of those things. This is why no one will take her serious as a presidential candidate, because we don't want someone that's propped up by the Democrat progressive establishment and who's basically an actress herself making the most important decisions in America on behalf of Americans, who most of them have had jobs, have jobs, ran companies, have children, and have been married.
That statement is, of course, absolutely laden with assumptions about what a "real" American does, and does not, look like. We could write 5,000 words tearing it apart, but that's not a great use of our time, nor that of the readers, so we will limit ourselves to three observations. First, if you're going to tacitly imply that someone is an idiot, perhaps you should first learn to speak at something beyond a third-grade level. Second, it is true that Ocasio-Cortez has zero marriages on her ledger, but she also has zero divorces. There are plenty of folks (ahem, Catholics) who would say going 0-for-0 is far better than going 0-for-1, as Greene has done. Third, the description of AOC's work history is not accurate (surprise!), but even if it was, we could swear that Republicans these days were pretending to be the party that cares about workers, and not the party that pisses on the dignity of blue-collar labor. Perhaps we were misinformed.
All of this said, the purpose of this item is not to make the case that Marge Greene is obnoxious. Making that point is like shooting fish in a barrel, assuming the barrel is the size of a coffee cup and the gun is a bazooka. The actual purpose here is to address a question that we have gotten from readers many times in the Age of Trump: What would happen if a person was MAGA-like in their approach to politics, but in service of a left-leaning agenda? Would they be able to take the Democratic Party by storm, the way that Trump and other MAGA types have done?
We have consistently taken the position that Trump-style populism won't work on the other side of the aisle, even if the goals of that populism are left-wing. The cultures and the voter bases of the parties are just too different, we think. There's no way to be certain until the matter is put to the test (if it ever is), but we would say there is at least some preliminary evidence we have the right of it. Kanye West is Trumpy in more ways than one, and his attempt to run for president as a Democrat went absolutely nowhere. Mayor Eric Adams (D) took a Trumpy turn in a number of ways in the last 6 months or so, and Democratic voters appear to have dropped him like a bad habit, such that even the sleazy Andrew Cuomo (whose scummy behavior is more "old-school" sleaze than "Trump" sleaze) is now preferable. Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) took a semi-Trumpy turn, in response to the 2024 results in Pennsylvania, and has been derided as a traitor by many of his former followers. And sports talker Stephen A. Smith is Trumpy in many ways, and is currently talking up a possible presidential run in 2028, and polls make clear that Democratic primary voters are not buying what he is selling, at all.
And now, it would seem that we're going to be presented with another case study of how well Trumpy style plays when it's adopted by someone with lefty politics. Presumably taking note of how very much attention people like Greene, Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) get with their performative politics, Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) has clearly decided to take that style of politics for a spin. She's made headlines a handful of times in the past few months for her... outspoken comments during committee hearings, some of them of a decidedly PG-13 nature. And recently, Crockett has decided to turn up the volume.
To be specific, Crockett has decided that the person that Texas Democrats really want her to target is Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX). There is much merit in this line of thinking, since Abbott is a vile human being more than willing to let people die in service of his political needs. However, in true Trumpy style, Crockett has decided that the best line of attack is Abbott's physical limitations. She'd made moderately snarky comments about his disability in the past, but this week, she went all-in, warning the audience at a town hall that she was about to say something naughty, and then slurring him as "Governor Hot Wheels." (Note: This is not a reference to the line of toy cars, but instead to the tricycle made for toddlers, which features an outsized front wheel.)
Again, we have no objection to criticizing Abbott harshly, because he deserves it. But mocking someone's disabilities? That is beyond the pale. It was wrong when Trump did it, and it's wrong here. Crockett should be ashamed of herself but, of course, she's not. Instead of apologizing after reporters called her out on the comments, the Representative stood firm, and claimed she wasn't referring to his wheelchair, but instead to "the planes, trains, and automobiles he used to transfer migrants into communities led by Black mayors, deliberately stoking tension and fear among the most vulnerable." Uh, huh. Sure.
Crockett represents a D+27 district, and so, like Greene, she is in no danger of losing her job, no matter how obnoxiously she might behave. However, she's certainly not getting a promotion to senator or governor, either—not in a state as red as Texas. So, the only thing that's really on the line here is whether or not Crockett can become a left-wing media darling, the way Greene and Boebert are for right-wing outlets. Again, we do not think that is going to happen. If Crockett actually wants to be a left-wing media darling, the colleague she should be studying is not Greene, it's... AOC. (Z)