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Georgia Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene was criticized for praying with an actor playing a Capitol rioter on display in a cage at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC.)
The bizarre moment was videotaped as the annual conference of prominent Republicans gathered to discuss the future of their party, which threw itself wholeheartedly into former President Donald Trump's lies about the integrity of the 2020 general election.
The exhibit of the Capitol rioter crying was devised by conservative influencer Brandon Straka, who participated in the January 6 insurrection, which took place after a mob of Trump's supporters attacked the United States Capitol on the false premise that the election had been stolen.
\u201cWhat I need you to understand is that I stood here for about half an hour yesterday and this guy NEVER broke character\n\nHe wept sitting on the bench\n\nHe wept sitting on the floor\n\nHe tallied days on a chalkboard set up for the purpise\u201d— Laura Jedeed (@Laura Jedeed) 1659708876
The scene at the exhibit was an emotional one. People wept as they listened to testimony of people who are still unrepentant about the attack despite being considered terrorists by the Department of Justice.
Among these people was Marjorie Taylor Greene, who went so far as to pray with the actor playing the rioter, as you can see in the photo below.
\u201cSo this \u2018performance piece\u2019 at CPAC was an actual insurrectionist playing a pretend insurrectionist who is in jail, & the actual insurrectionist flipped on his comrades to get less actual jail time? \n\nDid I get that right?\u201d— ANN is still EUROPEAN\ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7 Kansas Rocks (@ANN is still EUROPEAN\ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7 Kansas Rocks) 1659797402
The scene exposed Greene to heavy criticism online, with many accusing her and Republicans of continuing to downplay the severity of an attack against the nation's democracy.
\u201cI saw a video of this where people were praying outside the cage while MTG prayed inside the cage. I'm still not sure how one goes from being an insurrectionist to being persecuted when they are actually being prosecuted.\n\n https://t.co/6gHUzWfd7O\u201d— Mark in Purgatory (@Mark in Purgatory) 1659893555
\u201cWait a damn second. The same people who threw a fit over \u2066@AOC\u2069 \u201cfaking\u201d being arrested (it wasn\u2019t faked) are creating fake cells for seditionists and praying for them? Yet the liberals love performance activism? How is this serious? #cpac #mtgisnuts https://t.co/qsuDOzs7OS\u201d— Rachael Jones (@Rachael Jones) 1659887597
\u201cShouldn\u2019t there be a mental evaluation in order to serve in Congress? Clearly @RepMTG is a few fries short of a Happy Meal. #MAGAMORON\u201d— \ud83d\udd95\ud83c\udffbFatt Kaekes\ud83d\udd95\ud83c\udffb (@\ud83d\udd95\ud83c\udffbFatt Kaekes\ud83d\udd95\ud83c\udffb) 1659821492
\u201cIsn\u2019t that #MarjorieTraitorGreene?\u201d— Cameron Williams (@Cameron Williams) 1659822426
\u201cDafuq?\u201d— Manny Otiko (@Manny Otiko) 1659822893
\u201c(\u2018performance piece\u2019 or not)\nIt's obviously just bad actors. (inside and out)\u201d— \u2022TriXi-Quantus\u2026\u00b5Delphi\u2122 \u00af \u2014 and \u00be others (@\u2022TriXi-Quantus\u2026\u00b5Delphi\u2122 \u00af \u2014 and \u00be others) 1659824382
\u201cSo wrong on every level \ud83d\ude10\u201d— Patricia Carroll (@Patricia Carroll) 1659830353
\u201cWhen you read about Christ in the Christian Bible it is something Beautiful. Merciful. Like the old Hymn, "Come as you are." These people make Christianity look evil. Dark. Something disgusting. They are so unlike Christ.\u201d— Angel (Ask the Chief) (@Angel (Ask the Chief)) 1659830543
\u201cBuffoonery at its best\u201d— WhimsyOopsieDaisy (@WhimsyOopsieDaisy) 1659833302
In June, Greene claimed ahead of a vote on a gun control measure that the committee and the federal government at large had "fragrantly" violated the rights of January 6 defendants who have been detained pre-trial, which made it sound as if these violations had a pleasant or sweet smell, a gaffe that did not go unnoticed.
Greene has made headlines in the past for visiting insurrectionists in jail, once telling Steve Bannon, former President Trump's ex-chief strategist, that the prisoners draw pictures of the American flag and sing the national anthem every evening while crying.
Greene has described the conditions in the jail as "deplorable" and claimed that unhoused people and Guantanamo Bay detainees enjoy better living conditions.
In November 2021, she said she had "never seen human suffering like I witnessed last night" after she was granted access to enter the D.C. Department of Corrections after months of trying.