It appears Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has finally out-stupid-ed herself.
That’s no small task. Or maybe it’s a task so small that it can’t be seen with the naked eye. Regardless, Greene’s flailing and ultimately failed attempt to oust Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson for the crime of governing failed miserably Wednesday, bringing a chorus of boos down on the congresswoman and likely marking the end of her preposterous moment in American politics.
Greene read her resolution to give Johnson the boot, saying: “Now, therefore be it resolved that the office of the speaker of the House of Representatives is hereby declared to be vacant.”
To which an unlikely coalition of Republicans and Democrats said, via a 359-43 vote to dismiss Greene’s nonsense: “That’s about enough of that, you goofball.”
Greene’s anger at Johnson started when he dared to pass legislation
The mess started after Johnson got his unruly GOP coalition to join Democrats and pass a much-needed foreign aid package that helped Ukraine and other American allies.
Apparently, “doing things” was a bridge too far for Greene, so she spent the past few weeks threatening Johnson’s speakership and babbling on right-wing podcasts about how Republicans were caving to Democrats and blah, blah, blah.
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But the Georgia lawmaker found few Republican friends who would follow her down this path, which clearly surprised her.
Only in today’s GOP could a ridiculous figure like Greene gain power
Greene’s approach to politics – loud, wrong and, if that doesn’t work, louder and wronger – had somehow managed to turn her into a Republican of influence. It was, in the most literal sense imaginable, dumb luck.
Donald Trump’s rampant dishonesty and penchant for being the worst person in the room made boorish, bloviating behavior something Republicans aspired to, and few have proved better at it than Greene. She is, in all ways, ridiculous, a caricature of a person who shouldn’t be allowed near any lever of power.
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And yet, she’s in the halls of power, and she’s on congressional committees and Trump seems to like her (because she lies for him) and … well … things just don’t seem to make a lot of sense these days.
But there was always a problem with someone like her, someone so good at parroting Trump’s utter disregard for facts or knowledge.
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That problem, in today’s GOP, is there can only be one person who gets away with lying and bullying and punishing people for no good reason, and that one person is Trump.
He – the MAGA king – didn’t want Greene trying to oust Johnson. As much as Trump loves Greene’s obsequiousness and pliable morality, her motion to vacate was a nonstarter. It’s too close to the election, and an internal revolt would make House Republicans look chaotic, which they are.
What Trump says goes, so Greene found herself a virtual loner on a quixotic quest to do the noisiest, dumbest thing possible.
Apparently incapable of not making a scene, she ignored Trump and pushed ahead, and on Wednesday finally – after several years of atrociousness – she was seen as the powerless, outmatched showboater she is.
Greene’s magnificently malevolent moment may have peaked
Greene’s Herculean displays of vacuousness always had an endpoint, even in a political party as uniquely absurd and useless as one helmed by Trump.
In 2021, she slid, hand-in-glove, into a Republican Party that has an appetite for stupidity. But like a dull-witted Icarus, she has now flown too close to the dumb.
Greene won’t go away, but her influence in the party she so eagerly sought to make worse will wane.
She has seen the limits of Trump’s support, and her colleagues now have the permission structure necessary to shun the unserious monster they created.
Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on X, formerly Twitter, @RexHuppke and Facebook facebook.com/RexIsAJerk
