Newer GOP lawmakers like Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Madison Cawthorn are using extreme rhetoric to smear enemies — including fellow Republicans.
She called a fellow Republican congresswoman “trash,” heckled President Biden during his State of the Union address, and appeared at a conference held by white nationalists. She later claimed she didn’t know the group leader’s racist views, but was unapologetic for speaking before the audience.
Political mudslinging is nothing new. As early as 1800, the presidential race between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson featured the founding fathers trading over-the-top character assassinations. “People are making up an alternative reality and playing to that,” Geer said. “That’s a serious problem.”Observers say there is another troubling element in the two Republicans’ rhetoric — the emphasis on sexual deviancy, which is a fixation of believers in QAnon, anthat alleges a cabal of Democrats and elites are part of a widespread effort to traffic children.