Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) talks a big game, but, as the saying goes, it remains unclear she knows what she’s actually talking about.
During a hearing held this week, Greene insisted that an explosive device was discovered in an area near the southern border of the United States, and she questioned Raul Ortiz, the current leader of Border Patrol, about the development — but as it turns out, the purportedly explosive item was evidently just a ball of sand originating with apparently unclear intent. Greene aggressively insisted on sticking to the line of questioning during the proceedings, even after Ortiz expressed concerns about breaching the protocols associated with how he was informed of certain circumstances. “I understand, Chief Ortiz, but I’m not going to be confidential because I think people deserve to know,” she ranted. “Our Border Patrol agents should not be in those [types] of conditions where they are at risk of being blown to pieces by the cartels, who by the way are criminals.”
…Was it an open question of whether individuals involved in violent acts carried out by the drug cartels about which Greene was angry are criminals? Anyway, Mark Hertling, a former commanding general in the U.S. Army who spent decades in military service until his retirement, condemned the Congresswoman’s antics, remarking: “Flat out performative politics to show she knows something. Simply disgusting behavior by [Greene].”
Greene later tried to assert that the very fact Ortiz made mention of hearing things in protected environs meant there must be something dangerous here. “They only brief us about dangerous things in classified briefings,” she insisted, evidently ignorant of that it would seem such is simply not the case. There are all sorts of considerations that go into the protection of certain pieces of information, from shielding investigative methods from scrutiny to helping guard witnesses against potentially retaliatory threats. Greene, meanwhile, is also pushing for U.S. military action against the cartels, something for which she’s clamored in the past and for which she also furthered her advocacy this week — a tenuous concept in connection to which it’s unclear she’s even considered the U.S. fully preparing for possible side effects.
Greene is also promoting the same kind of rhetoric — referencing the conspiracy theory of a so-called great replacement — that has helped inspire multiple mass murders. “We have no idea who or what is coming across our Southern border,” Greene alleged this week. “But we do know that we’re being systematically and intentionally replaced by Joe Biden and the Democrats’ open border policies.” Others on the Right who’ve had some part in spreading these delusions include Tucker Carlson and the team of Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.).
Flat out performative politics to show she knows something. Simply disgusting behavior by @RepMTG https://t.co/MIDqipkZ5P
— MarkHertling (@MarkHertling) March 15, 2023
