House To Vote On Thursday To Strip The QAnon Queen Of Her Committee Posts

Permanent musical accompaniment: Ozzy Osbourne’s Crazy Train.

On Monday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell tried to put pressure on his House counterpart, “You are the weakest link” Kevin McCarthy, to do something about QAnon Queen, Marjorie Taylor Greene, before she dragged down the entire Republican Party’s 2022 midterm chances with her. Mitch McConnell Says Marjorie Taylor Greene’s ‘Loony Lies’ Are a ‘Cancer’ on GOP:

Senator Mitch McConnell said on Monday that the “loony lies and conspiracy theories” embraced by Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene amounted to a “cancer” on the Republican Party, issuing what in effect was a scathing rebuke to the freshman House Republican from Georgia.

In a statement reported by The Hill, Mr. McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader, never mentioned Ms. Greene by name [coward!], but he referred to several of the outlandish and false conspiracy theories she has espoused and warned that such statements were damaging the party.

“Loony lies and conspiracy theories are cancer for the Republican Party and our country,” Mr. McConnell said. “Somebody who’s suggested that perhaps no airplane hit the Pentagon on 9/11, that horrifying school shootings were pre-staged, and that the Clintons crashed JFK Jr.’s airplane is not living in reality. This has nothing to do with the challenges facing American families or the robust debates on substance that can strengthen our party.”

According to CNN, “House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, the No. 2 House Democrat, [delivered] an ultimatum to House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy, a source familiar tells CNN. Hoyer [was] expected to tell McCarthy that Republicans have 72 hours to strip Greene of her committee assignments, or Democrats will bring the issue to the House floor.”

The House Rules Committee [was] slated to meet Wednesday to approve a rule for a resolution to kick Greene off the House Education and Labor Committee and the Budget Committee.

One senior Democratic aide told CNN Monday that one of the concerns heading into a potential vote is the precedent it sets.

Even though members agree that Greene’s embrace of conspiracy theories, her past comments and actions and current lack of remorse are all reason for McCarthy to strip her of her committee assignments, some worry bringing it to the floor for a vote could potentially cause Republicans to deploy the same recourse against Democratic members if they control the House in the future.

Greene herself warned Monday that the precedent could be used against Democrats in the future. “If Democrats remove me from my committees, I can assure them that the precedent they are setting will be used extensively against members on their side once we regain the majority after the 2022 elections” she tweeted.

“Most House Republicans have remained silent over Greene’s comments, even as Democrats have expressed growing outrage, but the congresswoman hasn’t escaped criticism from all members of her party.”

This is because Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, promoter of QAnon’s baseless theories, rose with the support from key Republicans. As Michelle Goldberg says, It’s Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Party Now.

House Republicans were supposed to have cleaned up their QAnon Queen, Marjorie Taylor Greene, mess on Tuesday night. That didn’t happen according to POLITICO’s Playbook:

INSIDE MCCARTHY’S TENTATIVE PLAN TO DEAL WITH GREENE: During a two-hour meeting Tuesday night with Greene, McCarthy explained to the QAnon supporter that her controversial past statements were coming to a head. The problem, McCarthy told her: Democrats are threatening to force a vote to remove her from her committees — and that puts the entire GOP Conference in a bad spot. McCarthy tried to give Greene options, according to a person familiar with their talk: She could denounce QAnon and apologize publicly for espousing hurtful conspiracy theories and endorsing violence on Democrats. She could remove herself from the panel to spare her colleagues a vote on the matter. Or, she could face removal from her own GOP peers.

My guess is the QAnon Queen went all Bruce Wayne/Batman on The Joker, Kevin McCarthy.

It must not have gone as well as McCarthy hoped, because he then called a late-night meeting with the panel that designates committee assignments to discuss removing Greene. According to our sources, the room agreed that a House vote on this issue would be catastrophic politically for their members who are already angry at being associated with Greene’s crazy statements. That must be avoided, they concurred.

McCarthy told the room he would speak with House Majority Leader STENY HOYER to try to broker a deal. McCarthy would offer to remove Greene from one committee — Education and Labor — if Democrats back off a House floor vote to remove her from both. (Greene also sits on the Budget Committee.)

It is unclear whether Hoyer will go for this. The pressure on Democratic leaders to do something drastic to punish Greene is only increasing. McCarthy’s members also talked about re-appointing Greene to another committee Tuesday night, but that will never fly with Democrats.

It’s important to note the plans could all change if Greene apologizes or removes herself, or if Democrats refuse to back off their threatened vote. But Republicans in the room complained about how bad a precedent Democrats dictating GOP committee assignments sets — and also expressed worry about Democrats making Greene a martyr with the Republican base when they just want her to go away.

For her part, the QAnon Queen, Marjorie Taylor Green, appears unbowed and unchastened. Taylor-Greene Hits Back at McConnell and Says She’s Visiting With Trump Soon:

To no one’s surprise, Taylor-Greene took the criticism in stride. She took to Twitter, writing, “The real cancer for the Republican Party is weak Republicans who only know how to lose gracefully. This is why we are losing our country.”

The real cancer for the Republican Party is weak Republicans who only know how to lose gracefully.

This is why we are losing our country.

— Marjorie Taylor Greene 🇺🇸 (@mtgreenee) February 2, 2021

The Georgia congresswoman also took time on Monday to brag about her relationship with the 45th president. She told OAN, “But he’s doing really well. I’m excited to go visit him soon and continue to give him a call and talk to him frequently. Great news is, he supports me 100 percent, and I’ve always supported him. President Trump is always here for the people, and he’s not going anywhere. So I look forward to, to joining him and what his future plans may be.”

Insolent talk from a freshman back bencher … that will get you nowhere with party leadership.

The Washington Post reports today, House to vote on removing GOP’s Marjorie Taylor Greene from her committees:

Democrats announced plans to hold a House vote Thursday on removing Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) from her committees after Republican leaders declined to do so Wednesday on their own.

House Republicans also plan to debate Wednesday whether to retain Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) in her leadership position after her Jan. 13 vote to impeach President Donald Trump.

This GOP “civil war” is a godsend for Democrats.

POLITICO reports, House Dems move to yoke GOP to QAnon:

House Democrats are preparing to center their strategy for the far-off midterm elections on a simple, aggressive message: Republicans are the party of QAnon.

Making an unusually early move to protect their narrow majority, House Democrats’ campaign arm on Tuesday launched its first TV ad campaign, spotlighting supporters of the fringe conspiracy theory — including those who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. It is the first step in a larger plan, orchestrated by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s new chair, Sean Patrick Maloney of New York, to exploit the growing friction between Trump hard-liners and establishment Republicans in the GOP base, which Maloney sees as a major weak point for the party.

“If Kevin McCarthy wants to take his party to ‘crazy town’ and follow these dangerous ideas, he shouldn’t expect to do well in the next election,” Maloney told POLITICO in an interview previewing the party’s strategy, referring to the House minority leader. “And it’s important to the country that the Democratic Party continues to be the responsible adult.”

Maloney said the campaign message crystallized after the pro-Trump siege on Jan. 6, which was fueled, in part, by false internet theories. “It was at the heart of the violent attack on the Capitol, but it had its roots going back years,” he said.

The new chair has the unenviable task of shielding a razor-thin Democratic majority during a redistricting cycle and a midterm election, when the president’s party typically loses seats. But he’s betting Democrats can mount a successful offensive using the kind of culture-war attacks the GOP ruthlessly deployed against Democrats last cycle — including the barrage of “defund the police” ads that forced moderates to run away from their party’s far left.

“They can do QAnon, or they can do college-educated voters. They cannot do both,” Maloney said.

The DCCC’s $500,000 TV and digital ad campaign will run in the districts of seven vulnerable Republicans: Reps. Mike Garcia, Young Kim and Michelle Steel of California; Maria Elvira Salazar of Florida; Don Bacon of Nebraska; Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania; and Beth Van Duyne of Texas. The spots use footage of rioters storming the Capitol and accuses Republican members of standing “with Q not you.”

Party strategists are betting the right’s embrace of the far-fetched conspiracy theory will be politically toxic and hamper their efforts to win back the House in 2022. Already, Democrats are seeing encouraging signs: Challengers in Republican-held districts are beginning to jump off the sidelines, citing the attack last month as a motivation for running.

“Republicans have done a hell of a thing by motivating really top-tier quality candidates to raise their hand,” said Tim Persico, the DCCC’s executive director. “The events of Jan. 6, and the subsequent coddling of QAnon and the refusal to take any responsibility — I think that that has had a profound impact on people’s interest in running.”

* * *

Maloney argues there’s a big difference between the GOP’s attacks in 2020, which exaggerated Democrats’ position on policing reform and other issues, to the Democrats’ attacks against QAnon.

“Their characterization of our party in the last election was a lie and an effort to demagogue,” Maloney said. “What I’m talking about is a clear-eyed description of the power Marjorie Taylor Greene and others have right now in that caucus.”

Democrats want Republicans to spend the off year answering for Q-curious members such as Greene and Boebert, as well as the 139 House members who voted to block certification of the election results just hours after a violent pro-Trump mob overtook the Capitol.

* * *

DCCC officials say they’ve studied polling on fringe groups like QAnon and found the issue does register with most voters: A poll conducted on behalf of the DCCC by two Democratic pollsters found that 68 percent of voters surveyed in battleground districts were familiar with QAnon — and that it had unfavorable rating of 63 percent.

“The American people are knowledgeable about QAnon and know it’s dangerous,” Maloney said.

Democrats, broadly speaking, say they expect Republicans to grapple with their ties to conspiracy theorists throughout the next two years, with Greene’s profile only rising in her first month in Congress as a trove of offensive comments she made resurfaces. And that could be crucial to turning out Democratic voters in a midterm just two years after their House candidates lost seats despite President Joe Biden’s win.

“Happy, healthy voters don’t show up to vote in midterms. It’s the pissed-off, angry ones,” said Ian Russell, a Democratic strategist who works with several endangered House Democrats. “Who do you really want in charge? Do you want Joe Biden and the Democrats, or this cast of crazy? It’s not just QAnon. It’s the whole package. Republicans have thrown us a midterm lifeline that we might not have had otherwise.”

There is only one small “d” democratic party committed to democracy in America, and that is the Democratic Party. The Party of Trump/QAnon is an anti-democratic fascist party that waged a seditious violent insurrection against the American government in a failed coup d’etat to overthrow American democracy and install Donald Trump as the first tinpot dictator of a banana republic. January 6 is a day that will live in infamy … and in numerous campaign ads. It will never be forgotten.