Wednesday was a vintage Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene day. After embarrassing herself and the Republican Party during a House committee hearing, Greene got into a verbal argument with Democratic Rep. Jamaal Bowman outside of the Capitol—in front of a lot of cameras. It amounted to being mostly political theater, and Bowman made sure to keep a consistent distance as he ribbed Greene and her party’s support of indicted New York Rep. George Santos. The one-minute interaction ended with Greene departing as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez walked past Bowman, patted him on the shoulder and said, “She’s ain’t worth it, bro. She ain’t worth it.”
During a Thursday press conference, Greene brought up her interactions with Bowman—one in March in New York City, and the one on Wednesday—and leaned into one of the oldest, most dangerous racist tropes in American history: She said she felt “threatened” by Bowman because his “physical mannerisms are aggressive.”
Greene proceeded to unleash 90 seconds of racist drivel. She began by saying that Bowman “has a history of aggression” against her and others. She then claimed Bowman had screamed that she was a “white supremacist” (though video of both interactions show he does not), and also claimed that being called a white supremacist is the same thing as hurling a racial epithet at a Black person. Greene then said Bowman “shoved” Rep. Thomas Massie a few weeks earlier (he didn’t—also on video), and warned that people should be “concerned” and “watch out” for Bowman.
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