All the crazy talk is paying off financially for some in the GOP, especially one on the far fringes of the party.
Just look at Marjorie Taylor Greene. The Georgia representative who was elected to Congress in part because of her support of Qanon theories and other false claims — such as the baseless “election fraud” allegations made by former president Trump — has raised millions of dollars since she entered office, and that was three months ago.
Her $3.2 million dollar haul is a fundraising record for a rookie member of the House. It seems Taylor Greene’s focus on culture wars, social media trolling and generally following the Trump blueprint of perpetual grievance is paying off.
She’s not the only Republican who’s found a lucrative path to donations in the world of conspiracy theories. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Steve Scalise, both of whom did not exactly rush out to state the truth and say Joe Biden won the election fair and square, combined to bring in nearly $9 million during the first quarter of 2021. But it’s Greene’s war chest that has observers mystified and worried. She was kicked off a House committee due to her outrageous public statements, but has managed to become a darling of the most extreme followers of the Republican Party. Her donations come from 100,000 different donors, and her office says 98% of the donations were less than $200. Reporter Marianna Sotomayor writes in her analysis:
“But Greene’s fundraising total and the support it signifies has alarmed her detractors, who warn she represents a dangerous side of American politics bent of waging divisive battles over race and the growing diversity in the country.”
Rewarding this behavior that would have been unacceptable for a member of Congress just a few years ago. But we’re now in an age where endorsing lies and conspiracy theories pulled from the dark recesses of the Internet is not only in vogue but a financially viable blueprint for remaining solvent.
It’s also why CNN’s John Avlon reported this morning that so many qualified candidates may decide to skip running for public office.
In his story, Avlon cites a passage from former House Speaker John Boehner’s new book, “On The House: A Washington Memoir,” where Boehner slams the so-called “Chaos Caucus” , led by folks like Texas Senator Ted Cruz, for not even trying to focus on getting legislation passed. Boehner writes that these legislators cared more about stirring the pot on right-wing outlets like Fox News:
“By 2013 the chaos caucus in the House had built up their own power base thanks to fawning right-wing media and outrage-driven fundraising cash.”
What used to be part of the Washington fringe has now become mainstream after Trump.
Lacking any sort of coherent party platform, the GOP has instead decided to focus on culture wars and fighting the “Woke Left” instead of trying to craft any sort of legislation that could actually help its constituents.
That means, like it or not, Marjorie Taylor Greene is now one of the faces of the Republican Party.