Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Congresswoman who either seems to have escaped from, or possibly be the president of, a far rightwing extremist institution, likened President Biden's vaccine passport plan to the "mark of the beast" very recently.
This is the kind of ridiculous, over-the-top political tone that seems to have taken over among self-identified conservatives in this country. Republicans have long embraced a certain disdain towards inconvenient facts that would clearly favor policies that they are opposed to. Take climate change, gun laws, and the healthcare debates as just the most obvious examples.
However, we seem to have entered a phase where far too many Republicans are outright making what appears to be a biblical case for their policies and/or politicians. Some of them suggested that Donald Trump was basically sent by God, and some even went so far as to suggest that Trump himself was like a biblical figure. Surely, some self-identified conservatives are not entirely comfortable with this extremism, but they really need to shout this kind of ridiculous argument down, without equivocation. We really could use some standards in our national political dialogue.
Once this was accepted as more or less normal, it was only a short step to even newer lows. Policy differences are one things, but implying and/or fearing that Joe Biden and/or Kamala Harris are seemingly literally agents of the devil, or about to set up a Communist dictatorship are utterly absurd. Sorry, but you just are not dealing with rational, intelligent people when you see or hear people making these kinds of arguments. There just is no excuse for that, but we now have people making these kinds of arguments who have a national platform.
So enter Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has never seemed to shy away from making a mockery of herself with absurd, over-the-top conspiracy theories and unfounded claims. Again, claiming that Biden's vaccine policy to address the Covid-19 crisis is tantamount to the "mark of the beast" is utterly absurd. This is the kind of lunacy that made me - admittedly with some measure of reluctance - vote for Biden in the last election. I do not like Biden, and certainly have some differences of opinions with him regarding a number of policies. However, it really felt like this nation was seriously flirting with a cultish dictatorship with Trump in the Oval Office. And as I mentioned, even if Trump himself is gone (and he may not be gone forever from holding office), I nevertheless have stated in the past, and will state again here, that each step down makes the next downward step that much easier. Reagan and Bush made Clinton possible, and all of that made George W. Bush possible. Barack Obama was a disappointment, and then, all of the lunacy came together in 2016 and saw Trump elected to the highest office. At certain points, I felt like we could not get any lower, or at least tried to convince myself that we could not. But it feels clear to me that, in fact, we can get lower, especially when so many are trying to step up and replace Trump as the new voice of the political trend which has come to be known as Trumpism.
When we have elected officials like Greene holding a prominent office in our government and Washington, and having a serious media platform, and then shooting off her mouth with utterly absurd claims like this, it needs to be condemned as the lunacy it really is. This is not political dialogue. This is not even really hatred or mere ignorance. No, this clearly qualifies as being in the realm of ridiculous conspiracy theories with absolutely no basis in reality. That, to me, clearly qualifies as insanity, quite literally. I am not trying to be funny or even insulting. This is literally unbelievable, and once again, I find myself almost despairing at what feels like yet another low bar set for our national political dialogue.
I used to hope that we could not get any lower than Trump. Yet, I feared that we could. For now, the individuals making these claims are not especially high-ranking in our national government in Washington. They have a platform, but it is limited. Greene is not in the White House, or even making a run (yet). But if we allow a member of Congress to get away with making this level of insanity - yes, I am using that word - by revealing herself to be a conspiracy nut job, then we seem to indeed be moving in the direction where something or someone worse than Trump is not only possible, but inevitable.
Marjorie Taylor Greene says Biden’s vaccine passport plan should be called ‘the Mark of the Beast’ Biden administration reportedly working on new digital identification system to recognise the vaccinated population Stuti Mishra @StutiNMishra 9 hours ago
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/marjorie-taylor-greene-vaccine-passport-biden-b1824212.html?fbclid=IwAR1CXtRy1c2-8EstscJyC9m2HyrY7E3_Z_WillHX4bYKSzYm0-4HQ08kRt4
I can't help but wonder whether these people genuinely believe the staggering, mind-numbing idiocy that continually spews from their pie holes, or if they're merely pretending to believe it so as to manipulate the dumbest among us by catering to their worst instincts. Perhaps it's a moot point, because as you accurately acknowledge here, rhetoric which would have been dismissed as the rantings of the certifiable not so very long ago has now entered what passes for public discourse. The fallout of this constant lowering of standards is two-fold: morons obtain the validation and get the attention they so desperately crave, and otherwise mediocre, smarmy and disingenuous candidates manage to seem "impressive" simply by virtue of refraining from hyperbolic pandering. Something tells me people like Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson - hyperarticulate men who envisioned an enlightened citizenry engaging in thoughtful debate - would be heartbroken and disgusted to see what a grotesque farce this country has become.
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