By: Tanvi Mittal — Editor-in-Chief

The US House of Representatives has decided to remove Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene from the education and budget committees after past comments resurfaced in which she promoted conspiracy theories and sought violence against Democratic officials.

Prior to the vote, she denounced her previous comments saying that she no longer believes in QAnon, which is a discredited conspiracy theory claiming that Donald Trump is fighting secret Satan worshipers that are high level government officials. Additionally, she retracted her comments on school shootings and 9/11 being staged. She had previously emphasized that both events were made up and ridiculed survivors.

Yet, many pointed out that she failed to address other issues including liking a post calling for Speaker Nancy Pelosi to get “a bullet to the head” and replying that the “stage is being set” to another post that wanted Barack Obama to be hanged. Moreover, she called a survivor of the Parkland school shooting “a coward.” She also said that the 2018 midterm elections were “an Islamic invasion of our government.”

Once these comments were unearthed, many Democrats expressed their concern. Pelosi said she was “profoundly concerned” and deemed Greene “an extreme conspiracy theorist”.

“I have never encountered a situation like the one before us now, where a member has made such vile and hurtful statements, engaged in the harassment of colleagues and expressed support for political violence,” said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer. 

Democrats worked to remove Greene from her position as a representative for the state of Georgia, which would need a two-thirds majority meaning Republicans would also have to vote to remove her. Eventually, eleven Republicans voted for her removal. Her removal means that she can not be a part of any committees, severely limiting her ability to influence legislation.

While some thought this was a necessary step, many Republicans were infuriated by her removal. Specifically, they pointed out that Democrats were setting double standards since past Democratic representatives had supported questionable theories. 

House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy “vowed retribution whenever his party next controls the lower chamber of Congress” according to the BBC.

Greene also has several donors sticking by her side. According to the Georgia Recorder, Bill Pope, the owner of NCIC, said,“I’ll donate. That’s not stopping me. That was the media pushing one riot versus another… I mean, she didn’t pull her support for Trump.”

“We are not re-thinking our support of [Greene] one bit. If anything, we’ll find a legal way to increase it… The only financial support our Family will pull will be from ANY RINO’s [Republicans in name only] complicit in blocking investigations into Voter Fraud and Irregularities (GA had many) and not Objecting to confirm the Biden Electors where practical and advisable to do so,” said the President of Dalton’s Textile Rubber & Chemical Co according to the Georgia Recorder.

Congresswoman Greene is also not too concerned with the current events. She tweeted that she “woke up early this morning literally laughing thinking about what a bunch of morons the Democrats (+11) are for giving someone like me free time.” The “(+11)” are for the Republicans who also voted to remove her.

At a press conference, she also added that Democrats have “stripped my district of their voice” by removing her from the committees. She then moved to describe Democrats as “tyrannically controlled.”

image from cnn.com