Predictably, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) promptly ended up on the side of, well, not the United States in an unfolding dispute — and now criminal case — against Jake Teixeira, who has served in the Air National Guard and was responsible for the disclosure of sensitive military documents. He was arrested this week, and Greene expressed her support.
“McCarthy’s top lieutenant is siding with one of the biggest traitors America has seen,” Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) replied to comments made on Twitter by Greene. “I’m sorry, Marge, being white, male, and Christian is not license to betray your country and put the lives of thousands at risk. But this wouldn’t be the first time she sided with traitors.” Greene is, in fact, a close ally of Kevin McCarthy, having stuck by the House Speaker through his extended struggle to actually secure that position this year amid historically extended rounds of voting.
On Thursday, Greene made what The New York Times noted were frankly deceptive claims about Teixeira. “And he told the truth about troops being on the ground in Ukraine and a lot more,” the Congresswoman claimed. “Ask yourself who is the real enemy? A young low level national guardsmen? Or the administration that is waging war in Ukraine, a non-NATO nation, against nuclear Russia without war powers?” Teixeira didn’t seek to publicize the documents he leaked, though. Rather, he shared the materials with a group on the gaming-oriented platform Discord, and somebody else further distributed some of what he’d produced. It’s also just false that Biden’s team is somehow covertly “waging war” in Ukraine against Russia. The idea supports the pro-Putin narrative that the Russian regime’s violence in that neighboring country has been somehow in necessitated response to actions by the U.S. or NATO.
Trump is also, though, still at least somewhat praising Putin, having recently referred to the Russian leader as smart in a newly aired interview with Tucker Carlson of Fox News. Even if Trump adds the qualification that Putin is supposedly smart but morally evil, that’s still nothing but deference, because the Russian military has brazenly failed in strategic objectives of taking larger portions of Ukraine. American military support for that country, like the support from other allied nations around the world, has hinged on weapons — not “boots on the ground,” a prospect Biden has unequivocally opposed.
McCarthy’s top lieutenant is siding with one of the biggest traitors America has seen. I’m sorry, Marge, being white, male, and Christian is not license to betray your country and put the lives of thousands at risk. But this wouldn’t be the first time she sided with traitors. https://t.co/4RZ0TpECmo
— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) April 13, 2023
