Say What? MTG’s Call For A National Divorce Reverberates in Right Wing Media

By Kevin Howley, March 6, 2023                                                                

There was a time, way back in January, when respected newspapers like the Washington Post and New York Times confidently declared that Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), the headline-chasing heiress apparent to Trumpism, was changing her ways. Shrewdly aligning herself with Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) during his epic House leadership fight earlier this year, Greene’s “evolution” to a more rational and responsible lawmaker marked a turning point for the convention-defying, card-carrying QAnon conspiracist.

That was then, this is now.

In Trumpian fashion, the Georgia Republican spent the month of February making a media spectacle of herself. Fresh from an anti-trans screed pegged to National Girls & Women in Sports Day on the first of the month, Greene trolled President Biden in the halls of Congress and, later that same evening, heckled the President during his State of the Union Address.

Throughout the month, Greene has alienated families of fentanyl overdose victims, picked a fight with progressive Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), voted against a House resolution mourning earthquake victims in Turkey and Syria, and vowed to impeach Biden for supporting Ukraine against Russian aggression. Greene closed out February with allegations that she’d been “attacked” by “an insane woman” at a restaurant.

That’s a lot of hot air in a single month – and February’s only got 28 days.

But of all her stunts, provocations and protestations, Greene’s Presidents’ Day call for a national divorce is the most insidious. Writing in The Atlantic, Peter Wehner cautions against dismissing out of hand Greene’s latest fringe-worthy tweet. Sound advice, to be sure. But the litmus test for Greene’s thinly-veiled secessionist demand isn’t in the pages of liberal magazines, but on the conspiracy-laden websites of the right wing noise machine.

Secession Obsession

Greene’s call for a national divorce isn’t new, much less original. As Gateway Pundit noted, “Taylor Greene previously floated the idea of a national divorce but never explicitly called for one. Less than two years ago, she posted a question to her Twitter followers asking for their thoughts on the matter. By a narrow margin, they rejected the idea.”

Around the same time, The Western Journal’s Johnathan Jones cited a poll conducted by the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, which found, “a stunning number of Americans are in favor of splitting up.” Jones helpfully summarizes the nation’s irreconcilable differences this way: “Apparently, Republicans don’t want socialism forced down their throats. Meanwhile, Democrats can’t stand the idea of being able to think and act for themselves.”

That’s the sort of measured assessment of the nation’s divisive political culture that leads to headlines like this: “Marjorie Taylor Greene Calls for National Split Away From ‘Traitorous’ Democrats.” That item, also from The Western Journal, documents the “social media furor” Greene “ignited” with her Presidents’ Day tweet. The report adds that hours later Greene’s “call” morphed into a demand: “Impeach Biden or give us a national divorce.”

The Washington Examiner didn’t mince words voicing its support: “Marjorie Taylor Greene Nailed It: Support ‘Across The Board’ For ‘National Divorce.’” Writing for the Examiner, Paul Bedard, declares: “She has been mocked by elites for suggesting that politically divided liberals and conservatives stop faking it and get a ‘national divorce,’ but pollsters who have studied the controversy agree that there is widespread support” for it.

PJ Media’s Lincoln Brown isn’t so sure. “Oh Marjorie. Marjorie. Marjorie. God love ya, I know you mean well, but sometimes, you just need to know when to stop.” By the end of his column, Brown throws some serious shade Greene’s way when he recounts some of her most inflammatory remarks, including social media posts threatening Democratic opponents with violence, before offering a bit of friendly advice. “None of this helps the conservative cause,” adding that Greene should focus on “legislation and her votes.”

Fellow conservatives weren’t quite so gracious.

“An Insanely Bad Idea”

Headlined “Utah Governor Says Taylor Greene’s ‘National Divorce’ Proposal Is ‘Evil,’” Fox News seemed to welcome fellow Republican Spencer Cox’s response. “This rhetoric is destructive and wrong and – honestly – evil. We don’t need a divorce. We need marriage counseling.” Not one to avoid extended metaphors, Greene’s colleague and coup plot co-conspirator, Matt Gaetz (R-FL), told Fox News, “I do think the federal government should at least have to spend the night on the couch for a while.”

Although Gaetz isn’t ready for the country to call it quits, he believes Greene is “helping to inspire a national renewal.” Governor Cox sees things differently. He offered this pointed criticism of Representative Greene and her father-figure, Mr. Trump: “We need elected leaders that don’t profit from tearing us apart. We can disagree without hate.”

Mistaking partisanship for pragmatism, the Front Page pours cold water over Greene’s call. Headlined “A National Divorce Isn’t Happening,” Daniel Greenfield’s column acknowledges that the idea is “gaining currency” on the right and that it has “obvious” appeal. But Greenfield contends it simply isn’t realistic. “Getting a national divorce from the Left is like asking a mugger to stop beating you and just agree to split the contents of your wallet.” I dunno. Sounds like an apt description of divorce American style.

For its part, the National Review rendered its judgement in elegantly pithy style: “Why ‘National Divorce’ Is An Insanely Bad Idea.” File under: Enough said.

Let Ron Do it . . . Or Not

Meanwhile, over at The Federalist, David Harsanyi offers this all-too predictable prescription for our predicament “We Don’t Need A ‘National Divorce,’ We Need More Federalism.” Tipping his hand in the 2024 GOP presidential race, Harsanyi points to Florida Governor and Banana Republican Ron DeSantis’ leadership style as a model – you might even call it a blueprint. Leftists may not like what DeSantis is doing but, Harsanyi adds, “they have no power to stop him. Only Florida voters do. This is why federalism exists. It is why some states thrive and others don’t.” Thrive isn’t the first word that springs to mind when I hear the phrase “red state” but maybe that’s just me.

Fittingly, The Federalist tried to have it both ways a few days later. Headlined “A ‘National Divorce’ Is An Understandable Desire But A Recipe For Disaster,” Nathanael Blake agrees that “the prospect of a civil war, which is what happened last time it was tried, is horrible.” Blake’s gift for understatement is matched by his shameless partisanship that places blame for our irreconcilable differences squarely on “the dominance of cultural leftism.”

What’s a cultural conservative to do? If you’re Marjorie Taylor Greene, you’ll double down on your secessionist ways, and when the going gets tough, plead for a safe space to spin your conspiracy theories. Hypocritical? You bet. But at least Greene knows how to dress the part of a snowflake.

Kevin Howley is a writer and educator whose work has appeared in Journalism: Theory, Practice and Criticism, Social Movement Studies, and Interactions: Studies in Communication and Culture. His most recent book is Drones: Media Discourse and the Public Imagination.

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