Marjorie Taylor Greene is a failure. Hang on, I should probably get a little more specific here, as MTG is a failure at so many things. Spelling, grammar, history, being a vaguely decent human being… In this case, though, Marjorie has failed in her obsessive ambition to oust Mike Johnson from his role as Speaker of the House.
For the past few months, Taylor Greene’s mutinous quest to junk Johnson has even overtaken her insatiable lust for Donald Trump and hatred of any and every minority group to become the number one thing she rambles on about on social media. Her proposal final reached the floor on Wednesday, May 8, however, and… Well, to say she lost would be a bit like saying the Titanic got a boo-boo when it hit that iceberg.
What actually happened was that her motion to replace Johnson as Speaker was thoroughly and devastatingly rejected with 339 votes against and only 43 for. Just to add insult to injury, MTG was then booed by her peers — Democrats and Republicans don’t agree on much these days, but apparently most of them can come together in a mutual dislike of Marjorie.
For others, such a tremendous takedown might inspire a moment of self-reflection, or at least a decision to redirect their efforts and energy elsewhere. Not our Marj, though, who immediately took to X (formerly Twitter) to pen a 300-word essay in which she attempts to convince us she definitely, 100% did not just suffer an embarrassing defeat and, if you think about it, she kind of won, actually.
Marjorie’s one-woman attack on Johnson has long been criticized by her fellow GOP members, with many fearing it would kickstart something of a civil war within the party. The thrust of her argument now seems to be “Did I really lose when the worst case scenarios people worried about didn’t happen?” By that logic, Trump’s presidency was a total, raving success because at least he never actually sat on the nuclear launch button like we all feared he would.
To put in perspective how unpopular MTG’s anti-Johnson stance has been, Trump himself is known to have phoned her up this past weekend, presumably in an attempt to talk her down from building Johnson’s gallows. Although it would be an entertaining twist if this caused a split between the far-right’s answer to Lord Zedd and Rita Repulsa, sadly the duo remain as thick as thieves (or amoral politicians, in this case).
“I love President Trump. My conversations with him are fantastic,” Greene said regarding her secret Trump call. “And again, I’m not going to go into details. You want to know why? I’m not insecure about that.”
You may love him Marj, but I’m not convinced he feels the same way.