Marjorie Taylor Greene raises money in Washington: Thrown out of the House Freedom Caucus earlier this month, Marjorie Taylor Greene has further embraced the House leadership, and recently held her first big fundraiser in Washington. Does that make her a so-called mainstream Republican?
Marjorie Taylor Greene: Becoming a Force in DC?
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) has continued to have the same public persona she’s had for all of her time in Congress, frequently making news with wild statements and accusations. However, Greene’s place in Washington has changed quite a bit.
As the Republicans took over Congress starting in January, Greene formed an alliance with incoming House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Greene backed McCarthy’s bid for the speakership, even as much of the House’s far-right flank opposed it, and was returned to her committee assignments by McCarthy. Then, Greene supported McCarthy’s debt ceiling deal with President Biden. Earlier this month, following her confrontation on the floor of the House with Lauren Boebert, Greene was ejected from the House Freedom Caucus.
As pointed out by the Washington Post this week, Greene has, over the course of this year, undergone a “transformation from burn-it-all-down outsider to a still-radical conservative looking for insider allies.”
This included, the Post said, a major fundraiser in Washington alongside McCarthy. The fundraising reception entailed “courting money from corporations and K Street lobbyists,” the Post said.
Greene has always been a prolific fundraiser, although until now that was mostly money raised from small-dollar donors.
Around the same time, Greene changed her previous position on the current National Defensive Authorization bill, including its support for Ukraine. Greene, the newspaper said, “provided a crucial vote for the legislation in exchange for a seat at the table when House and Senate negotiators hammer out the differences between their respective versions of the legislation in the fall.”
“Well, that’s what we do here. We negotiate,” Greene told the press. “This is just moving the bill, which has so many good things in it, to the next phase — where I can actually have a bigger voice.”
Also Monday, The Daily Beast reported that the relationship between Greene and her former friend Lauren Boebert has gotten worse than previously reported. It includes multiple on-the-record quotes from Republican members of Congress, neither of whom seem to want the two to put their feud aside and get along.
“A fistfight could break out at any moment,” Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) told the Beast, adding that he’s enjoying the spectacle, as a “professional wrestling fan.”
“I am friends with both of them. It’s entertaining to think that a fistfight could break out at any movement. I kind of dig that,” the Tennessee lawmaker added.
“I just think that whatever is there, could be utilized both ways,” Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ), told the Daily Beast. “People make decisions that they have to work and live by, and you kind of hate being in their shoes.”
The Beast story added a possible reason why the announcement of Greene’s expulsion from the Freedom Caucus leaked out so slowly- that Greene wanted it to be done in public.
“Greene was apparently so upset about being kicked out of the Freedom Caucus that she refused to hear the news unless it was done in a public setting—like on the House floor where she could potentially make a scene,” the Beast story said. “When Freedom Caucus Chairman Scott Perry (R-PA) tried to call Greene to inform her about the decision, she refused to have the conversation and said she’d like to do it in person on the floor, multiple sources told The Daily Beast.”
The piece also said that the meeting to kick Greene out was convened hastily, with Freedom Caucus members only invited on short notice to an “unscheduled meeting.”
Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-MT) was a major force pushing for Greene’s expulsion, the Beast story said, while Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) was urging members to “think through their decision.”
“Rosendale was ****** about the phone call and was instrumental in her ousting,” one source told the Beast, referring to a moment during the McCarthy speaker fight when Greene was seen offering Rosendale the chance to speak to former President Trump, and he declined.
Expertise and Experience: Stephen Silver is a Senior Editor for 19FortyFive. He is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.
