Has Marjorie Taylor Greene Finally Gone Too Far?

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has been accused of showing "contempt for democracy," after claiming the Trump supporters who stormed Congress on January 6, 2021, would have "won" if they'd been organized by her and former Trump advisor Steve Bannon.

The Georgia Republican made the incendiary comments, which she later claimed were "sarcasm," on Saturday at a dinner hosted by the New York Young Republican Club.

Referring to the January 6 attack Greene said: "I want to tell you something, if Steve Bannon and I had organized that, we would have won. Not to mention, we would've been armed."

After her comments were condemned by the White House Greene said in a statement that she was "making fun of Joe Biden and the Democrats, who have continuously made me a target since January 6."

John Hudak, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute think tank, told Newsweek that Greene's comments were a "depart from every democratic and constitutional norm this country was build on."

He said that for "some" Republican officials, "all that matters is winning, and if violently dismantling democracy is their only path, they are willing to take it."

Hudak added that Greene is unlikely to face sanction from her remarks from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who is hoping to become speaker when the House returns with a Republican majority in the new year.

"Unfortunately, in an environment in which politics matters more than democracy, Kevin McCarthy—in his pursuit to become and remain as Speaker of the House—does not have the political capacity to punish her or others like her without threatening his own political fortunes," he said.

"And just as bad as the person speaking those words are the institutional leaders who give her the space to continue to behave that way."

Dr Julie Norman, co-director of the Centre on US Politics at University College London (UCL), told Newsweek that Greene's remarks are likely to repel American voters ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

"Greene's tasteless remarks may have been a joke, but they're a clear reminder of how common the language of political violence has become in some pockets of the GOP," Norman said.

"But if the recent midterms showed one thing, it's that most Americans want their democracy back. And doubling down on violent rhetoric isn't what most voters want to hear in the run-up to 2024."

It's a view shared by Michael Sozan, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, who said: "Americans are tired of political extremism and violent rhetoric. They are also tired of officials who spread the big lie of stolen elections."

"We saw this play out in the November midterm elections, where so-called election deniers lost most statewide position in key battleground states," he told Newsweek.

However, Dr. Thomas Gift, who also teaches U.S. politics at UCL, argued that the comments won't cause a reaction against Greene within the Trump supporting Republican base.

"Greene's comments reflect the extent to which calls for violence have become normalized among the hard right-wing of the GOP," he told Newsweek. "While her remarks will doubtlessly be condemned by more establishment figures in the party, they won't damage her standing in the least among the MAGA base. In fact, eliciting a rise out of centrist Republicans may be the whole point."

Greene's remarks were roundly condemned by a number of pro-democracy campaign groups, with one describing them as an "indictment" of the current GOP.

"Margorie Taylor Greene's statement that J6 protesters—who beat police, wanted to hang Mike Pence, and kill Nancy Pelosi—should have brought weapons shows her contempt for democracy and her willingness to forcefully impose MAGA ideology on the nation," Reed Galen, co-founder of anti-Trump conservative group the Lincoln Project, told Newsweek.

"It's terrifying that in the new Congress she will drive the GOP agenda and Kevin McCarthy will kowtow to her every whim," he said.

Gunner Ramer, the political director of Defending Democracy Together, which was also founded by anti-Trump Republicans, made a similar argument.

"Marjorie Taylor Greene's recent comments are unsurprising," he told Newsweek. "The continued downplaying of the January 6 insurrection is part of a larger trend within the Republican Party that is completely unacceptable. And, despite all of this, Kevin McCarthy has already signaled he would empower Greene should he become Speaker. All of this should serve as an indictment of today's GOP."

On Wednesday, Greene claimed House Republicans will "investigate the origins of Covid" next year claiming Dr Fauci, the president's chief medical officer "belongs in jail."

Appearing on Steve Bannon's War Room podcast, Greene claimed Republicans hold a weekly strategy meeting in McCarthy's office, which she said is "called the five families" in an apparent mafia reference.

Newsweek reached out to Marjorie Taylor Greene for comment.