Republicans in Washington may speak constantly of accountability, but when it comes to holding their own party members to any kind of standard, it seems there is no low too low.
Case in point?
Freshman Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. In a closed-door meeting Wednesday amid the QAnon adherent's multiple overlapping scandals—including one involving her past support of calls for Democratic politicians' execution—it seemed accountability was not on the table
Instead, her Republican colleagues reportedly gave her a standing ovation.
Source tells me that roughly half the House GOP conference gave Marjorie Taylor Greene a standing ovation after she rose to speak a few min ago.
— Cameron Joseph (@cam_joseph) February 3, 2021
The moment came during a private meeting among Republicans about whether to strip House GOP Conference Chair Liz Cheney of her position for supporting former Republican President Donald Trump's second impeachment.
So there is a standard for accountability after all, it seems—betraying Trump.
Everything else is fair game, however.
Greene has been embroiled in multiple scandals since she took office at the beginning of January. She is one of many GOP politicians who seemed to openly incite the January 6 coup attempt at the Capitol, and many believe she was part of a suspected group of Republican members of Congress who aided and abetted the insurrection.
That would be bad enough for most people, it would seem, but since January 6 Greene's unfitness for public office has become more and more manifest.
In a move many have called Islamophobic, Greene demanded in January 2019 that Democratic Representatives Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, both Muslims, retake their oaths of office on a Christian Bible, falsely claiming that to do so on the Quran is illegal.
And resurfaced social media posts and videos have shown Greene claiming Jews intentionally set the 2018 California wildfires using "Jewish space lasers," stalking and harassing Parkland shooting victim David Hogg, and most disturbingly, supporting calls to execute Democratic politicians.
According to sources, Greene apologized to her colleagues in the closed-door meeting, but House Minority Leader, Republican Representative Kevin McCarthy, has publicly confirmed that he and his party will take no punitive measures against her.Instead, Greene has been appointed to the House Education and Labor Committee and the House Budget Committee.
On Twitter, many people were disturbed by news of the standing ovation.
This sounds like the history of the end of a political party being written in real time.
— Jeanne Miller 🐉 (@JeanneMillerPV) February 3, 2021
this is the Q party. period.
— Danielle Misiak (@DanielleMisiak) February 3, 2021
American Fascism.
— csd (@csd) February 4, 2021
Anyone who still believes there is a 'fight' for the soul of the GOP isn't paying attention. This is the future of the party. This is the base.
— TruthNotConjecture (@TylerPostma4) February 4, 2021
So there is zero chance of any return to a tiny bit of decency from them.
— Girl Dwt (@GirlsDwt) February 4, 2021
House Republicans are voting to punish Liz Cheney for protecting American democracy & giving Marjorie Taylor Greene a standing ovation for inciting a violent coup to subvert it
— Ari Berman (@AriBerman) February 4, 2021
McCarthy et al are having enough trouble coping with Marjorie Taylor Greene right now. Imagine how they will cope after the mid-terms when half the caucus are of her ilk. The caucus giving her a standing ovation suggests that is exactly where this is heading.
— Forbestonow (@forbestonow) February 4, 2021
It's not that the GOP will stand for the outrageous serial offenses of Marjorie Taylor Greene...it's that they will literally stand for her, stand an applaud. What she stands for, they stand for. https://t.co/CDUi0CoYb5
— David Rothkopf (@djrothkopf) February 4, 2021
Half of the Republican representatives gave Marjorie Taylor Greene a standing ovation in the House. What has this country become?
— Jim Gallagher (@redwoodhat) February 4, 2021
That standing ovation for Marjorie Taylor Greene is one of the most disturbing things I have ever heard. #inners @allinwithchris
— irene haralabatos (@rini6) February 4, 2021
While Republicans refuse to punish Greene, she is expected to be stripped of her committee seats when the full House of Representatives, in which Democrats hold the majority, votes on the matter late Thursday.