Emma Vigeland (left) and Sam Seder (right) of “The Majority Report with Sam Seder” discussing Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-Georgia) attack on Dr. Anthony Fauci last week at a US House of Representatives subcommittee on the COVID-19 pandemic response in the US and the virus’s origins. Video courtesy of The Majority Report with Sam Seder.
“A lie repeated a thousand times remains a small thing, but a lie repeated a million times comes true.”– Joseph Goebbels (1897 –1945), Former Reich Minister of Propaganda for the German Nazi party.
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We thought about Joseph Goebbels and the antisemitic lies of the German Nazi Party while watching a video of US Congressional Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) from last week.
The video was posted on June 4th by The Majority Report with Sam Seder, a left-leaning political news and opinion YouTube channel. For readers who do not follow political news closely, The Majority Report with Sam Seder is a live, weekly call-in podcast and radio show hosted by US actor and political commentator Sam Seder.
The Majority Report began as a radio show on theAir Americaradio network in March 2004. Mr. Seder and current cohost Emma Vigeland often use comedy and political satire to make critical points supporting progressive policy proposals and legislation.
Far-right-wing national Republican Party members like Representative Greene are often the targets of critique and ridicule by Seder and Vigeland.
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Emma Vigeland (left) and Sam Seder (right) of “The Majority Report with Sam Seder” discussing Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-Georgia) attack on Dr. Anthony Fauci last week at a US House of Representatives subcommittee on the COVID-19 pandemic response in the US and the virus’s origins. Video courtesy of The Majority Report with Sam Seder.
The thirteen-minute video posted by The Majority Report focused on a hearing by a US House of Representatives subcommittee on the COVID-19 pandemic response in the US and the virus’s origins.
Dr. Anthony Fauci testified before the subcommittee. Dr. Fauci was the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and former leader of the coronavirus national task force under Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden.
The highlight of the subcommittee hearing happened when GOP Rep. Greene refused to address Mr. Fauci as a “doctor” and called out to send him to prison. Greene and many other national Republican Party members have repeatedly targeted Dr. Fauci over the last four years – including previous calls for his prosecution and imprisonment for numerous crimes for which they refuse to identify or offer proof.
Like many of the accusations lodged against Fauci over the years, Greene’s accusations have led to death threats against the doctor from Mr. Trump’s “MAGA” political base.
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What Is a Conspiracy Theorist?
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) official photo, 118th Congress. Photo image courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.
While The Majority Report is often hilarious, what former President Donald Trump and his national GOP lieutenants like Rep. Greene are doing to Dr. Fauci and US politics during the run-up to the 2024 presidential election is gravely serious.
Trump and every part of the GOP have now officially become a party of conspiracists. Indeed, as election day in November inches ever closer, Mr. Trump and the Republicans have adopted conspiracy political and media tactics wholesale.
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) official photo, 117th Congress. Photo image courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.
You might ask, “How do such tactics differ from the political strategies that Trump and Representative Greene used to gain national prominence?” Both politicians infamously began their official careers by spouting racist, antisemitic, and xenophobic conspiracy theories.
For Donald Trump, it was aggressive media promotion of the “birther” conspiracy against former President Barack Obama after he was elected the first African American President of the United States in 2008. Trump transitioned to racist and xenophobic conspiracies about Mexican migrants, Arab Americans, and Chinese nationals during the 2016 presidential campaign.
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A “QAnon” flag featuring an American flag defaced with the “Q” logo alongside the slogan “Where we go one, we go all,” at a Second Amendment rally in Richmond, Virginia, in 2020. Photo image courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.
Marjorie Taylor Greene (MTG) tapped into slightly different international conspiracies to gain national US prominence.
MTG’s entry into the political arena began with her promotion of far-right, antisemitic, and White supremacist conspiracy theories like Pizzagate, QAnon, and White genocide. She drafted articles for right-wing conspiracy news and pro-police websites in 2017. Greene also visited Washington, DC, in 2017 to protest bipartisan Congressional gun control efforts.
In 2018, MTG moderated a Facebook group called The Family America Project. She posted many conspiracy theories on her Facebook page, including claims communists are infiltrating the US government. The Family America Project also made racist posts against Barack Obama, former First Lady Michelle Obama, and death threats against some Congressional Democrats.
True notoriety found Ms. Green when she started targeting Parkland shooting survivor David Hoggin March 2019. Greene uploaded a video to her YouTube page showing her following and taunting Mr. Hogg during a visit to the Washington Capitol to testify about gun violence.
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Former Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-California) swearing Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) into Congress in 2020. Photo image courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.
MTG accused David Hogg of exploiting children for his cause and falsely claimed George Soros was funding him.
Ms. Greene also marked the Parkland shooting and the 2012Sandy Hook Elementary School shootingas fake. Donald Trump used conspiracy theories and blatant lies to defeat former First Lady, NY Senator, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016. MTG used the same conspiracist messaging and political tactics to win her House seat in 2020.
Right after Greene won her election, both she and Mr. Trump ramped up the political and cultural conspiracies to the highest degree. Representative Greene was one of the biggest supporters of Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn his loss to Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election. She also promoted Mr. Trump’s efforts to downplay the severity of the coronavirus pandemic.
As President, Donald Trump did a HORRIBLE job on the COVID-19 public health crisis.
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A Congressional campaign digital flyer from Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R) advocating firing Dr. Anthony Fauci in 2021. Image courtesy of the office of Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Mr. Trump’s incompetence during the pandemic cost people their lives, especially in African American, Latino, and poor White communities across the US.
Moreover, Trump convinced his MAGA supporters that everything would be okay as long as the coronavirus primarily affected the lives of poor minority and White working-class Americans. In aninterview with Jonathan Swan of Axioson July 29th, 2020, Trump said about the COVID-19 death toll,“It is what it is.”
Now, the national conspiracies and blatant lies have changed as Donald Trump and the GOP seek to regain the White House and the US Senate. A significant aspect of the new strategy is to demonize Dr. Anthony Fauci, national Democrats, and the federal government’s response to COVID-19.
However, as bad as Trump, Representative Greene, and the GOP are, America’s real problem is the lack of leadership from President Joe Biden, Congressional Democrats, and the Democratic National Committee (DNC).
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President Joe Biden, joined by former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Current Speaker and former Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) - at the House Democratic Caucus Issues Conference, Friday, March 11th, 2022, at the Hilton Philadelphia Penn’s Landing in Philadelphia. Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz.
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“Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” (Proverbs 16:18).
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Despite Donald Trump’s numerous legal problems and a recent criminal conviction for falsifying business records, he still leads Mr. Biden in national “swing-state” polling of voters.
Mr. Trump’s support has not wavered significantly since his conviction. A recent CBS/YouGov poll reveals that 55% of likely voters say Trump’s conviction will not sway their voting decisions. The polling suggests that the public prioritizes other issues, such as the economy, crime, and securing the southern US-Mexico border.
Biden and the DNC’s national media strategies and political tactics are much worse. The President and his national Democratic Party lieutenants are focusing on making “moderate” political appeals to conservative White voters in suburbandistricts and appeasing their “big money” donors.
Senate Leader Chuck Schumer, House Speaker Hakeem Jeffries, and Congressional Minority (Democratic) Whip Katherine Clark are running away from their political base of Black, Latino, and young White voters.
In our estimation here at Public Health Policy Reviews, President Biden and the DNC are all leading America headlong into a victory for Donald Trump in 2024.
