How do you solve a problem like Marjorie Taylor Greene? Is she an evil Russian plant, a self-serving imbecile, or a satirist so committed it puts Sacha Baron Cohen and Nathan Fielder to shame? The congresswoman associated with the ironically named Freedom Caucus has been making headlines for all the wrong reasons (or right, if you’re of a certain political persuasion) since entering the House of Representatives in 2020 (yes, it’s only been two and a bit years, even though it seems like she’s been around forever), and it appears she’ll continue to do so – despite the fact that the vast majority of what falls out of her mouth is either insane John Birch society propaganda or just straight-up lies.
Even though there is an endless amount of ammo to attack Greene with, whether that be pointing out how little she knows about the system she operates in, her status as a gushing fountain of absurd malapropisms — or even just repeating the unadulterated authoritarian talking points that seem to form the vast majority of her opinions — the internet seems determined to lie about her to make her look worse. An endless ream of rumors about the aggressive congresswoman are pumped out every day, some of which are based in a modicum of fact, but generally speaking they’re just as insane as the things she comes out with when on one of her now infamous rants.
While it might seem fun to pile on the increasingly absurd rumors about the Georgia politician, this can have the opposite effect her detractors intended, by making it easier to dismiss the very real problems she’s causing with her outbursts, divisive rhetoric, and lies. After all, if the liberal media is gleefully repeating false reports about her having three toes, then why should her supporters believe that she thinks 9/11 was a hoax?
If you’re interested in seeing the most bizarrely viral Marjorie Taylor Greene rumors, read ahead!
She has three toes
We begin with the most recent weird rumor about the congresswoman: that she only has three toes on each of her feet. Considering a large proportion of her base is made up of the sort of froth-at-the-mouth Christian wingnuts who believe the day of revelation can be pinpointed by doing weird bible math, likening her to a devil-type, hooved creature is a funny way to try and take her down a peg. But, as should be obvious, this rumor is fake, driven by some poor photoshopping and the fact she doesn’t seem to have what foot fetishists would deem to be attractive feet. As horrific as some of her views are, we don’t want to foot shame, so it’s best to stick to dragging her for lying to protect violent, treasonous idiots (plus, one U.S. politics foot story is enough for a lifetime).
She auditioned for American Idol
The idea that MTG would have performed a tone deaf (in every sense of the word) audition for American Idol is actually quite believable. The congresswoman is a pathological attention seeker who doesn’t appear to understand her limits, intellectual or otherwise, so it’s not a huge jump to imagine she once thought she could make it as a pop sensation. However, as funny as it would have been, this rumor is another fake. For one, the performer on Idol gives a different name and hometown to Greene, as well as speaking without a southern accent. She just happens to look a little bit like the controversial politician, which is where the rumor sprung from.
She refused to applaud President Zelensky
Whatever your opinions on NATO expansion and the dubious makeup of the Asov Battalion, there’s no doubt that Vladimir Putin‘s neocolonial war in Ukraine is dangerous and, frankly, evil. And, given public perception of the war, as well as the fact that opposition to Russia advances U.S. interests in the region, it’s no surprise that when Ukrainian president Zelensky gave a virtual address to Congress he received a huge round of applause. While the most extreme elements of the Republican party have often repeated Russian propaganda — Greene included — she did in fact applaud the president of the war-torn nation several times during his speech, as reported by CNN. If you are looking for times when Greene acted like a drunk heckler at a comedy show in Congress, there’s plenty of examples.
She appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 1997
Despite the damage caused by Oprah‘s insistence on promoting harmful characters who give out dangerous misinformation, the talk show host remains one of the few Americans that people on all sides of the political spectrum trust, making her the antithesis of the divisive Greene. With that said, Oprah’s show often gives air time to those with bigoted opinions, and in 1997 an audience member went on a rant about homosexuality being “wrong.” 24 years later the clip resurfaced after getting the deepfake treatment, with everyone’s least favorite conspiracy theorist congresswoman’s face being superimposed onto the real bible thumper’s. Given the clip came with a watermarked logo for “Politifakes,” this should have been an easy rumor to debunk. Yet it spread like wildfire, even though it’s easy to find countless real examples of MTG being antagonistic to the LGBTQ+ community.
She claimed Jewish space lasers caused forest fires
This rumor is the closest to being true, but still relies on some bad faith interpretations of her words. It began with a now deleted Facebook post in which Greene claimed laser beams from space may have been responsible for the 2018 wildfires in California, and in turn that these weapons were funded by the Rothschilds. Yes, really.
The Rothschild family have been the target of antisemitic conspiracy theories for decades now, and their names are often used as a stand-in for Jewish people in general. While the shady banking family certainly holds a lot of power and has ties to many elites, the notion they control the world is based in all sorts of horrific tropes that wouldn’t be out of place in 1930s Germany. However, even though it’s likely Greene knew what she was implying when she mentioned the Rothschilds, she never used the word “Jewish” in her unhinged rant. With that said, her supporters, well-versed in the antisemitic world of QAnon, would have known what she meant, so while this is technically not true it has its basis in fact.
She repeated Hitler’s words verbatim
The American (and European) right has always had a soft spot for Nazis, they just hid it for a while after the war. While there are countless echoes of Nazi propaganda in popular Conservative thought, from their views on trans people to their rhetoric on people of color, mainstream Republicans do still at least pretend to shy away from outright repeating Nazi talking points. And, despite Greene’s reputation for outlandish and bigoted claims, she is yet to repeat passages from Mein Kampf in public. However, that hasn’t stopped some anti-Greene commentators from stating otherwise.
Although Nazism’s relationship with Christianity is complicated — much like the modern day Far Right in the West — they used the religion to suck in followers, so much so that Hitler stated: “We tolerate no one in our ranks who attacks the ideas of Christianity. Our movement is Christian.” This is the line that Greene was alleged to have repeated, which is simply untrue. In an interview with Next News Network she did, however, discuss how America should be a “Christian Nationalist” country, something the founding fathers would have probably taken issue with given their pretty clear instructions about the separation of church and state.
She has a Trump crucifix on her wall
The Republican right’s embarrassing slobbering over Donald Trump has painted many conservative stalwarts into some pretty tight corners. After all, how can you claim to love the military while supporting a draft dodger who’s trashed several former servicemen and women? Or say that you prioritize law and order while singing the praises of a man who’s committed more crimes than a mob boss?
While logical consistency has never been a strong point of conservative thought, the beatification of Trump in right wing circles is one of the most alarming elements of mainstream Republican politics. So, when a picture of Greene reading the bible appeared to show a Trump crucifix on the wall of her home, people were quick to assume it was real, even though it looked doctored. The main issue with this rumor was that it missed the obvious question we should have been asking: can Marjorie Taylor Greene actually read?
She thought “Antenna” was a country
A woman who posted explicit images of underage people online, regularly acts like a hungry toddler, and referred to the Nazi secret police as the “gazpacho” doesn’t really need any rumors about her lack of intelligence to be fabricated, yet the people of the internet insist on making things up. In this case, the rumor was started by a meme that referenced an old wordplay joke.
Greene was alleged to have said: “You know nothing is built in America these days. I just bought a TV that said, ‘Built in Antenna.’ I don’t even know where that is.” But this famous pun has roots as old as the concept of television, and has been attributed to various American politicians by opponents trying to portray them as idiotic — something we’ve established Greene needs very little help with.