Sometimes, over the course of many years, and even decades, I have asked myself whatever happened to integrity, and perhaps especially intelligence, in American politics. It happened a bit in the eighties, when I was still a bit too young to fully understand or appreciate the subtleties of politics, even though it felt somehow like a game, with a Hollywood star at the center, although a seemingly good economy (never mind the staggering national debt) kind of hid that fact. In the nineties, it felt even more farcical, with a Democrat who, admittedly, I actually voted for acting like a spoiled, entitled child, while the nation's problems seemed to grow, although a historically booming economy seemed to hide that fact. Then came the 2000's, and the aftermath of September 11th, when we had an inept, entitled and self-righteous, overgrown frat boy in charge, who started a serious, major war without any really serious justifications. That time, the economy was not so strong to hide all of that. We then turned to the first black president, who rode a wave of popularity that, frankly was not entirely justified, and who used this popularity to hide his elitist policies (which were largely the same as his predecessor for a huge bulk of his presidency) and did things like order drone attacks on individuals and get rid of habeas corpus (another thing he had in common with his predecessor.
All of that, however, paled in comparison to what came in 2016, and has remained since. We caught a glimpse of it during Obama's presidency, with the Tea Party and Sarah Palin. But beginning in 2015, we saw the political rise of Donald Trump, who just kept surviving past everyone else in the Republican White House race, seemingly against all odd. His campaign had historical level flops and blunders, and many expected it to sink like a stone. Yet paradoxically, the more he screwed up, it seemed, the more loyal his supporters got. He eventually survived every other Republican in the race, and stunned the country by getting the Republican nomination. Then, after another ridiculous farce during the general race against Democrat Hillary Clinton, he somehow survived one controversy after another, after problems with racism and xenophobia and tapes showing showing just how proud he was to grab women by the pussy, and Hillary still was not able to secure a huge enough lead to effectively end his campaign. Then, low and behold, on Election Day, Trump stunned the entire world by winning the White House.
Ever since then, the level of stupidity revolving around American politics reached truly historical levels. Trump himself? He seems to have no respect for the American Constitution, other than paying it lip service. But he also seemed overly incompetent to actually manage to effectively convert the United States to an authoritarian state. And his gaffes would be the stuff of comedic legend, if they were not so serious and even tragic, because they were serious and happened before the entire world. His whole administration was like that. Look at Giuliani, who kept screwing up in legendary fashion, to the point where, again, you would almost think that it was staged, or perhaps some elaborate SNL skit, or something. I mean, remember when his black hair dye was dripping down his face? Or how he got caught seemingly masterbating in thee newest Borat movie? Nor were those two clowns it, either. Indeed, from 2015 right up to the present moment, it was one major screw up and mishap after another. What made it all the more comical was the insistence by Trump and his team that they were, in fact, running like a well-oiled machine.
Right.
Then, there are the idiocies of his loyal followers. Look at the corrupt, frat boy behavior of the man who I once believed might take up the Trump mantle (and still might, given the farcical nature of contemporary American politics) Matt Gaetz. One knows not whether to laugh or to cry. Ted Cruz is another absurdly ridiculous figure who clearly wants to position himself in some kind of leadership position, even though he himself has proven to be a shameless bootlicker who tends to easily grate on people's nerves.
We have other frankly monumentally stupid and duplicitous politicians in Congress beyond these, as well, to the point that you can say with all honesty that there is not shortage of such idiots in Congress. However, there is one woman who seems to be taking the cake for her monumentally stupid conduct, unbecoming of a high-ranking member of the federal government. In other words, she fits right in with these times of Donald Trump.
It should come as no surprise that I am talking of none other than Marjorie Taylor Greene. She has made a mockery of government, and an ass of herself, to the point of becoming infamous for it. All of which, of course, apparently qualifies her as one of the leading luminaries in the Republican party.
The latest buffoonery by this ridiculous woman is a video that shows her harassing Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She went to her office, and on video, just relentlessly hounds Ocasio-Cortez, as if she is the spokeswoman of the entire American people. She demands that Ocasio-Cortez come out and face the American people, citing her right as an American taxpayer who pays the salaries of members of Congress. At some point, she taunts her like a schoolyard bully - again, in very typical Trumpist style - and tells her to come on out and play.
Absurd.
Sometimes, in keeping up with the latest goings on in Washington politics, it feels like you can feel brain cells dying a slow, painful death. And it also seems that in her short time in the public spotlight, Marjorie Taylor Greene seems to have had far more than her share of starring in these mind-numbingly stupid episodes, pretending like she has some substance, or even sanity.
Are her 15 minutes of fame up yet? Whenever her star finally fades - or perhaps it will crash and burn instead - the country will be better off for it. Someday, perhaps, we can restore dignity and some semblance of intelligence again in our political discourse. But is sure will not happen with people like Marjorie Taylor Greene dominating headlines.
Below is the link to the article, that goes in quite a bit more detail than I did her about what specifically was said between these two in the video. I could recommend you read it, but frankly, it is just another example of a mindless politician in Marjorie Taylor Greene pulling off a stupid publicity stunt to try and get attention, an all too common gimmick that seems to work far more often than it should these days. I regret even having written this post about it, but these idiocies need to be addressed at some point. In any case, this is the link to the article:
Since-deleted video shows Marjorie Taylor Greene harassing Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's office during 2019 Capitol Hill visit, By Em Steck and Andrew Kaczynski of CNN,, Fri May 14, 2021:
www.cnn.com/2021/05/14/politics/kfile-marjorie-taylor-greene-alexandria-ocasio-cortez/index.html
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