HOUSE REPUBLICAN HAVE said they will stand by controversial congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and will fight a Democratic push to remove her from a number of committees.
Taylor Greene has expressed support for QAnon conspiracy theories, which focus on the debunked belief that top Democrats are involved in child sex trafficking, Satan worship and cannibalism.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy condemned Marjorie Taylor Greene’s past remarks questioning school shootings, but he criticised a Democratic drive to oust the Georgia Republican from her committee assignments as a “partisan power grab”.
McCarthy’s ridicule of the Democrats signalled he was dismissing bipartisan demands that the hard-right politician be punished for her online embrace of racist and violent views and bizarre conspiracy theories.
McCarthy said Greene’s comments “caused deep wounds” and that she had told him she would hold herself to a higher standard.
Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell denounced Taylor Greene on Monday, calling her embrace of conspiracy theories and “loony lies” a “cancer for the Republican Party”.
“Somebody who’s suggested that perhaps no airplane hit the Pentagon on 9/11, that horrifying school shootings were pre-staged, and that the Clintons crashed JFK Jr’s airplane is not living in reality,” McConnell said.
“This has nothing to do with the challenges facing American families or the robust debates on substance that can strengthen our party.”
Meanwhile, in a 145-61 secret-ballot vote yesterday , House Republicans overwhelmingly rebuffed a rebellion by hard-right conservatives to toss Liz Cheney from the party’s leadership after she voted last month to impeach Donald Trump.
The decisions over Greene and Cheney have subjected Republicans to a politically agonising test of their party’s direction as they move beyond the Trump presidency.
Since Trump grudgingly vacated the White House last month, the party has been ideologically adrift as it has struggled over whether to embrace his norm-busting divisiveness or the party’s more traditional, policy-oriented conservative values.
But as yesterday’s internal showdowns concluded, McCarthy and the House GOP decided against punishing two of their most high-profile women, whose views enrage opposite ends of the party’s spectrum.
The moves were typical of McCarthy’s preference to avoid ruffling feathers as he charts his path to someday becoming House speaker.
“You know what that’s going to mean?” he told reporters after the lengthy evening meeting.
“Two years from now, we’re going to win the majority. That’s because this conference is more united. We’ve got the right leadership team behind it.”
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say