After U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, unleashed a torrent of negative comments about a fellow Southern Republican last week, the onetime mantra frequently used by Ronald Reagan almost seems quaint, a bon mot of another, more genteel era.
In 1966, when Reagan was running for governor of California and didn't want any of the stain from the party's 1964 divide to stick to him, he said, "Thou shalt not speak ill of another Republican," and pledged to keep what he called "the 11th Commandment."
Reagan continued to use the phrase well into his presidency in the 1980s, and occasionally it has been echoed by others since.
Greene, who was 6 years old when Reagan was inaugurated as president, is more of a Trumper than a Reaganite. She thinks nothing of speaking her mind, no matter what party label is attached to her subject.
Her latest fusillade came after U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., called out fellow Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Col., for referring to Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., as being a member of the "Jihad squad."
Greene, on Twitter, told Mace to "back up off" Boebert and go hang with the "Jihad squad."
And the Tweet war was on.
Greene, for her part, called Mace "the trash in the GOP Conference," told her "your [sic] out of your league" and accused her of being "pro-abort."
Mace called Greene a "No. 1 grifter," someone who has "nothing going on in her life," someone who "takes advantage of vulnerable Americans and vulnerable conservatives" and used emojis to say the Georgia congresswoman was "bats-- crazy."
Then, after she and Greene had separate cool-down sessions with House Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, she said, "All I can say about Marjorie Taylor Greene is bless her f--- heart."
At least, like a good Southerner, she said "bless her heart." That takes all the sting out of it, right?
Greene, after her meeting, said she was interested in seeing Mace have a primary challenger, something former President Donald Trump already had called for.
Does any of this bother Republicans in Catoosa, Chattooga, Dade, Murray and Walker counties, right across the border from Tennessee, which are part of Georgia's 14th Congressional District that gave her almost 75% of the vote in the 2020 general election?
Probably not. Indeed, four of those counties gave her at least 80% of the vote over Democrat Kevin Van Ausdal, who abandoned his campaign two months before the election to move to Indiana. And in Whitfield, where she really struggled, she picked up almost 71% of the vote.
Greene in 2020, who had to move into the district to run, was where Trump was in 2015 and 2016. The GOP primary had much more polished and articulate candidates - candidates who probably would have voted with her 95% of the time - but she was willing to open her mouth and say audacious things.
The difference is Trump had to be elected in basically a 50-50 country, while Greene represents a solid red district. At this point, it's hard to imagine what the freshman could say that would make GOP voters turn against her.
However, as Greene said recently, she believes she and others like her are the base of the Republican Party.
"There are a lot of people that need to hear this," she tweeted last week. "We Conservatives in the @HouseGOP aren't the fringe. We actually represent the base of Republican voters, which is approximately 70%. And when the party learns to represent Conservative Americans, we will never lose again."
That may come as shocking news to many Republicans, who seem ready to put the party back in control of the House and maybe the Senate in 2022. But if the Greene-Mace spat is typical of what a Republican-led House will be like, they may have second thoughts.
And if a Greene-esque GOP controls the party in 2024, Trump is likely to be its standard-bearer, and that could turn a potential win into a loss in what is still likely to be a 50-50 country.
The folks across the border may love their congresswoman because, like Trump, she supposedly tells it like it it - says things Republicans have wanted to say but haven't had the guts to say.
But we'd prefer, instead, if Greene just put her nose to the grindstone, made sure her party is united and did everything in her power to certify that the GOP carries the day in 2022.
After all, it's not her passion we'd like to rein in. It's to whom, where and what she is passionate about that can be problematic.