GOP Senator Thune Joins Democrats Against Marjorie Green

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At a Wednesday meeting of House Republicans, the chamber’s GOP’ers declined to bring any substantive action against Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) for her previous repeated expressions of apparent support for executing prominent Democrats like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Supposedly, Greene apologized for past comments during that meeting, but she can’t exactly un-speak what she’s already said. Supporting the execution of elected officials isn’t solved by a half-hearted “whoops; my bad.” On Thursday, Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) — the second-ranking Republican in the Senate — spoke out against Greene’s past behavior.

According to CNN reporter Manu Raju, Thune — who also opposed the Republican plan to object to some of Biden’s electoral votes during Congressional proceedings last month — commented as follows:

‘I think we’ve got to be a party of ideas and policies and principles and get away from members dabbling in conspiracy theories. I don’t think that’s a productive course of action or one that’s going to lead to much prosperity politically in the future.’

Greene’s past rhetoric includes apparent support for the QAnon conspiracy theory, which insists that top Democrats are secretly cannibals and Satan-worshipers. She also repeatedly expressed apparent agreement with Facebook commenters who characterized the 2018 Parkland shooting as a “false flag planned shooting” and “fake.” No retractions of these vitriolic and unhinged comments will somehow magically erase the dangerous implications of her remarks in the real world! While in office, she has already employed openly violent rhetoric against her opponents. She is inciting her followers.

Asked by Raju if he sees the House GOP as having “chose Q” with their acceptance of Greene, Thune added:

‘I think obviously that tended to be where the majority was over there. I do think they’re going to have to be really strong in refuting that kind of language.’

Notably, at the same meeting where Greene and her behavior were a major focus, Republicans considered whether to keep Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) in a party leadership position after she voted to impeach Trump during the second impeachment proceedings against the then-president. That impeachment was over Trump’s incitement of insurrection at the U.S. Capitol building. Although Cheney opponent Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) self-confidently insisted prior to the meeting that his side had enough votes to get Cheney out of power, the effort to remove her from leadership failed.