In recent weeks, the Murdoch media empire has been in a feeding frenzy, attacking Georgia’s Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. The latest evidence of this obsession is the cover of the Sunday New York Post, which depicts Greene wearing a Soviet air force military hat (ushanka).
Greene represents all the positions the Murdoch family and their likeminded employees emphatically reject—such as dealing with our overrun borders before we shovel more money into the war in Ukraine; seriously reconsidering the reauthorization of the FBI’s power to obtain FISA warrants until we make sure this tool will not be used again against the Democrats’ political opponents; and treating social issues more seriously than our global crusade for whatever the spirit moves American politicians to consider human rights.
I agree with these priorities and have never ceased to marvel at Greene’s gutsiness and her rejection of the “common ground” philosophy pushed by The Wall Street Journal and the news anchors on Fox. Since the Democratic Party and its congressional representatives clearly favor the invasion of our country by unvetted illegals in order to create a one-party leftist state, I’ve no idea what kind of bipartisan cooperation is still possible—beyond spending more on foreign aid, reauthorizing government agencies already controlled by the woke left, and approving Democratic budgets.
For neoconservatives and establishment Republicans, this kind of cooperation is desirable. Their single greatest priorities are an overdrive liberal internationalist foreign policy together with perhaps more justifiable aid for Israel. Not surprisingly, the New York Post published a feature invective by British neocon lapdog Piers Morgan on April 22, depicting MTG as “Putin’s stooge.” This may be the nastiest piece the Murdoch media empire has ever commissioned against a politically uncooperative Republican; and Morgan unwittingly offers here a parody of how the left has depicted the late Senator Joseph McCarthy in this diatribe against domestic Russian agents.
Although Greene clearly is not an intellectual, she understands the big picture very well and she is obviously frustrated that she can’t bring more Republicans on board with her positions. And she’s not entirely to blame for her inability to make headway there. The Republican media seem largely dependent on resources provided by those who don’t favor her plans and priorities; and it’s quite possible that most voters want a Republican opposition that ensures their social programs, and which won’t take risks that might “close down” the government—even as they may have an exaggerated understanding of what that now means.
This brings us to the problem of what Greene is not noticing sufficiently. She will get nowhere by calling, once again, for an effort to vacate the speakership. Congressional Republicans are in a shambles and will stay that way unless they can elect more representatives to both Houses.
The infighting of a divided party is not helping the GOP, but Republicans would be in no position to carry out Greene’s wishes even if they all agreed with her. The Republican numerical advantage in the House is down to a one- or two-vote majority, and Greene’s party is outnumbered in the Senate by a Democratic Party that marches in lockstep. It is easier for Johnson and his followers to vote with the Democrats, and thus both win the applause of the Murdoch media empire and avoid the attacks of corporate media, than to vote with Greene and be politically isolated.
Greene seems to believe that she and her allies are acting from a position of strength. Exactly the opposite is the case. Her party has such a weak hand in Congress that their best course would be to devote their energies to increasing their presence there. Let Republicans vote as they want on foreign policy but stress the border issue 24/7 as our major military, foreign policy, and internal concern. Voters know why the Democrats are in favor of keeping the borders open and why they refuse to support a Republican bill that would have restored most of Trump’s controls! Wrap this issue around the necks of Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, together with the upsurge of crime and the fentanyl epidemic caused by Democratic attempts to recruit illegals as Democratic voters.
But in the meantime, Greene and her supporters should do nothing that creates further instability among congressional Republicans. The party will have to wait until it can recapture both houses of Congress before it can act decisively against the opposing party. With all due respect to Greene, whose pugnacity generally has been a breath of fresh air for me, this is not the time to fight internal battles. Speaker Johnson’s position on Ukrainian aid may have been the path of least resistance but it may be the last time he’ll be able to take it. A majority of Republican congressmen opposed it, and what Congress passed, enjoys nothing close to majority support among Americans. But as former President Trump noted yesterday: “You really can’t get too tough with a slim majority.” It would be best for congressional Republicans to keep a low profile right now and wait to see if they can pull out a November win.
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