Staff Photo by Matt Hamilton / Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene speaks during a town hall event in Dalton on Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2021.Since former President Donald Trump's departure from Washington, D.C., North Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has rapidly become the Republican politician everyone is talking about.
Her public statements have received intense attention over the past few weeks, and her social media posts, which often contain conspiracy theories, have led to Democrats calling for her to be censured, removed from her recent appointment to the education committee and even to be expelled from Congress.
For her part, Greene says the recent media attention amounts to nothing more than partisan attacks, claiming they have served to bolster her resolve in what she considers a battle against socialism. When contacted Friday afternoon for comment, Greene's spokesperson provided the Times Free Press with the following quote from the congresswoman:
"Democrats and their spokesmen in the fake news media will stop at nothing to defeat conservative Republicans. They are coming after me because I'm a threat to their goal of socialism. They are coming after me because they know I represent the people, not the politicians."
Late Friday afternoon, she posted "A Message to the Mob" on her Twitter feed, saying that since the "radical, left-wing Democrat mob and the fake news media" began "trying to take me out," she has received over $1.6 million in small donations to her campaign account.
"Every attack. Every lie. Every smear strengthens my base of support at home and across the country because people know the truth and are fed up with the lies," she wrote.
Here is a closer look at some of her past social media activity, which has been the focus of the week's controversies.
PARKLAND SHOOTING
On Feb. 14, 2018, a gunman opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, killing 17 people and injuring 17 others. One of the most deadly in a string of school shootings in the U.S., Parkland also was notable for the student-led movement it inspired, with young survivors like David Hogg spurring on youth groups around the country to demand that politicians enact new gun legislation.
Since then, a number of conspiracy theories have sprung up regarding the shooting, including the idea that it was a "false flag" operation, meaning it was either faked or the attacker was part of an attempt to weaken Americans' Second Amendment rights, according to a report by The Associated Press.
In May 2018, Greene posted a story about Broward County sheriff's deputy Scot Peterson - who failed to confront the shooter at Stoneman Douglas - receiving a retirement pension.
"It's called a payoff to keep his mouth shut since it was a false flag planned shooting" another social media user comment on Greene's post.
"Exactly," Greene replied, according to a screenshot of the post by Media Matters, which updated its Jan. 19 report a day later, saying that the post had been deleted from her Facebook timeline.
Another comment on her post said, "Kickback for going along with the evil plan. You know it's not for doing a good job."
According to another screenshot, Green responded, "My thoughts exactly!! Paid to do what he did and keep his mouth shut!" Media Matters reports that Facebook post has also since been deleted.
Then, toward the end of 2018, Greene penned a Facebook post saying current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wants more school shootings to help spur more gun laws, saying, "This war on our second amendment is going to continue and must be fought. I am told that Nancy Pelosi tells Hillary Clinton several times a month that 'we need another school shooting' in order to persuade the public to want strict gun control."
That post has also since been removed from Greene's Facebook timeline, according to Media Matters.
A few days ago, a March 2019 video Greene recorded before she was elected to Congress began making the rounds on cable news. It shows her following Stoneman Douglas student David Hogg as he walks on Capitol Hill, peppering him with questions about his support for gun laws.
"Why are you supporting red-flag gun laws that attack our Second Amendment rights? And why are you using kids as a barrier? Do you not know how to defend your stance? ... He's a coward," she says of the then-teenage shooting survivor, claiming that his leadership efforts have been funded by billionaire George Soros.
SANDY HOOK SHOOTING
The Dec. 14, 2012, mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Connecticut claimed the lives of 26 people, including 20 children between the ages of 6 and 7. It prompted widespread debate about gun control, and also a large number of conspiracy theories.
On June 2, 2018, Greene posted a link to an article on The Gateway Pundit about Hillary Clinton's email server. In a Media Matters screenshot of the post, a commenter claims that Sandy Hook was a "STAGGED [sic} SHOOTING."
Greene liked the comment and replied "That's all true."
The post is no longer on Facebook.
Another comment said, "None of the school shootings were real or done by the ones who were supposedly arrested for them," including the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting. Media Matters reports Greene agreed with the commenter to the Facebook post, which is no longer available on her timeline.
SEPT. 11 ATTACK
Media Matters has also reported on a Nov. 1, 2018, video uploaded to YouTube by the American Priority Conference, featuring Greene talking about the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States.
"We had witnessed 9/11, the terrorist attack in New York and the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania and the so-called plane that crashed in the Pentagon. It's odd there's never any evidence shown for a plane in the Pentagon," she says.
Greene tweeted a response to criticism she received about her comments on Aug. 13, 2020, saying she no longer believed that a plane had not hit the Pentagon. "Some people claimed a missile hit the Pentagon. I now know that is not correct. The problem is our government lies to us so much to protect the Deep State, it's hard sometimes to know what is real and what is not," she wrote.
EXECUTING DEMOCRATS
According to a Tuesday report by CNN, Greene expressed support on multiple occasions for executing prominent Democratic politicians before her election to Congress.
A screenshot of the conversation shows that Greene liked a January 2019 Facebook comment reading "a bullet to the head would be quicker" to remove House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
In an April 2018 post, Greene wrote about President Barack Obama's nuclear deal with Iran, to which a commenter replied "Now do we get to hang them ??? Meaning H & O ???" The question was an apparent reference to Obama and Hillary Clinton, the KFILE reports.
Greene responded: "Stage is being set. Players are being put in place. We must be patient. This must be done perfectly or liberal judges would let them off."
When contacted by CNN, Greene's Twitter account posted a statement which did not deny she had liked the posts and replied to comments.
"Over the years, I've had teams of people manage my pages. Many posts have been liked. Many posts have been shared. Some did not represent my views. Especially the ones that CNN is about to spread across the internet," the statement said.
SPACE LASER
On Nov. 17, 2018, Greene reacted to California wrestling with the worst wildfire in state history, claiming that the fire had been started by a laser in space, triggered possibly by a member of the Rothschild Inc. international investment banking firm.
"I'm posting this in speculation because there are too many coincidences to ignore," she wrote, according to Media Matters screenshots of the post, which has since been deleted.
The convoluted post goes on to suggest that then-Gov. Jerry Brown's high-speed rail project could benefit from the fires clearing forests, and that "oddly there are all these people who have said they saw what looked like lasers or blue beams of light causing the fires."
RUTH BADER GINSBURG
In early 2019, a number of conspiracy theorists claimed that Democrats were hiding then-Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg or covering up the fact she had died in order to hold on to her seat on the court. She was still very much alive at the time, although she would eventually succumb to cancer on Sept. 18, 2020.
Greene helped propagate the conspiracy theory on Feb. 26, 2019, when she appeared in a streaming video for the pro-Trump website UniteAmericaFirst.com. Toward the end of the program, a caller asked Greene if she had seen "the picture" of Ginsburg at "the airport ... walking straight upright like it's a whole new person" and asked her if she believed "that is Ruth."
The program's host, Will Johnson, added "It's almost like a body double like Hillary Clinton."
Greene responded: "I do not believe that was Ruth. No. I don't think so."
"I don't either," the caller replied.
Colin M. Stewart can be reached at cstewart@timesfreepress.com.