Georgia Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene found herself on the receiving end of her own attack after social media users flipped the script following Greene's criticism of Democratic Representative Melanie Stansbury during a hearing about transgender athletes.
On Wednesday, Greene chaired a hearing aimed at spotlighting the stories of two activists who say they were negatively affected by the inclusion of transgender athletes in their sports leagues.
Stansbury, who represents New Mexico, attempted to shut down the hearing with a motion to adjourn, which failed along party lines. She then pressed Greene to clarify how the topic fit within the committee’s official responsibilities:
“Maybe it has something to do with the failure of the president in the first 100 days, that his approval ratings have declined by 14%. Maybe it’s to distract from the reality that our economy is tanking and prices are going up. Maybe it’s because the budget that came to Congress last week doubles down on proposals to take food out of the mouths of children.”
“Why is this the centerpiece of the Republicans here on Capitol Hill? Honestly, it’s weird and it’s wrong.”
Greene responded by branding Democrats as "cultural Marxists" with “perverted sexual ideas," adding:
“I’ll let the American people decide who the weirdos are, because I think we know."
You can hear what she said in the video below.
That sure was odd to hear from a member of Congress known for more than a few weird moments.
Consider a widely-circulated Facebook post that Greene made in which she said that the 2018 California wildfires were not caused by climate change but by a "space laser" that had set the state ablaze. Greene said Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) and renewable energy startup Solaren sent solar power generators to space funded by the Rothschilds, a family of Ashkenazi Jewish billionaires who have often been the target of antisemitic conspiracy theories.
Greene also once told her supporters in a video from her official podcast that the government is planning to monitor their eating habits and “zap” them to make them eat meat that's been grown in a "peach tree dish" (she meant "petri dish").
Greene also follows QAnon, whose believers allege Democrats are part of a Satan-worshipping, baby-eating global pedophile ring that conspired against President Donald Trump during his first administration.
Greene claimed there are links between former Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and pedophilia and human sacrifice, once insisting "Pizzagate"—a debunked conspiracy theory targeting Democrats that claimed Clinton ran a pedophilia ring out of the basement of a pizza restaurant that didn't even have a basement—was real.
All of that is pretty weird—and people pointed Greene's insult right back at her.
Republicans have rallied behind the Trump administration’s push to enforce its executive order banning transgender women from competing in women’s sports, leading to a legal clash with Maine after its Democratic governor declined to cooperate, warning Trump that she'll "see him in court" after he threatened to withhold federal funding from the state if it didn't comply with its made up rules. Maine has since prevailed in that case and Trump's USDA had to halt its freeze of funding to a child nutrition program in the state.
GOP lawmakers argued that allowing transgender women to compete in women’s leagues undermines fairness and limits opportunities for cisgender female athletes. Democrats dismissed the hearing as a political sideshow aimed at vilifying a small group of athletes and deflecting attention from Republicans’ broader legislative failures.
