Marjorie Taylor Greene Finds Rare Common Ground With Jamie Raskin on Cancer

Georgia Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene put partisanship aside to extend her prayers to Representative Jamie Raskin, a Democrat from Maryland, after news broke of Raskin's cancer diagnosis.

"We disagree often, but I'll be praying for Jamie Raskin," Greene tweeted Wednesday night. "Cancer is a terrible disease. I watched my father die from it, and it broke my heart."

Raskin, who represents Maryland's 8th Congressional District, announced earlier in the day that he had been diagnosed with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, an aggressive form of blood cancer. The representative told his constituents in his announcement that he would be starting chemo-immunotherapy soon, and that his diagnosis was "a serious but curable form of cancer." Raskin was also diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2010.

Greene continued in her tweet that it was "good Rep Raskin has hope and his form of cancer is curable with the treatment he will be starting."

Finding common ground is rare between Greene, a staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump, and Raskin, who led the second impeachment trial of Trump and serves on the House January 6 committee. The Georgia congresswoman has continued to back Trump's baseless claims that the 2020 election was stolen, and has accused the January 6 panel of being politically motivated, specifically after Raskin and other committee members referred the former president to the Department of Justice for charges over Trump's actions in the siege on the Capitol.

Meanwhile, Raskin has shown little patience for Greene and other Republicans who continue to support the former president's election fraud claims. This month, Raskin tweeted in response to a sarcastic comment from Greene, in which the congresswoman said that she and conservative podcast host Steve Bannon would have "won" if they had organized the riot on January 6.

Raskin responded to the comment on Twitter, saying that Greene would "be going to jail with everyone else" if she had organized the "violent insurrection against our government."

"These are crimes, not stupid laugh lines," Raskin wrote.

Despite the long-running feud, Greene's extended hand on Wednesday stems from the loss of her father, Robert Taylor, who died in April 2021 after a three-month battle with melanoma. Greene said in a Facebook post announcing her father's death that watching his illness made her first three months in Congress "tremendously difficult." Greene first took office for Georgia's 14th Congressional District in January 2021.

"While I have endured the flaming arrows fired daily at me while I have been fighting against the left's war on our freedoms in Congress, my soul was torn apart watching my Daddy suffer and slowly die with cancer," Greene wrote in 2021.

Some users on Twitter praised Greene for her note of empathy Wednesday, pointing out it was a welcome shift. One user thanked her for "being decent for a change," writing that it was a "breath of fresh air."

James Reyes, vice chair for the Democratic Party of Denver, Colorado, responded to Greene's tweet, writing: "See how you were empathetic and decent to a fellow American of differing political perspective?"

"Keep doing that and seek more ways to grow," he added. "I know you have it in you."

Other users argued that Raskin would not show the same act of kindness if Greene were in a similar position.

"Would Jamie Raskin pray for us if roles were reversed," one user wrote under Greene's tweet. "Yeh Probably not."

Another user added, "I bet a democrat wouldn't be so sympathetic!"

Newsweek has reached out to Raskin's office for comment.