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The GOP’s Longtime Love Affair with Conspiracy Theories
Freshman Congresswoman from Georgia, Marjorie Taylor Greene, has been getting a lot of attention because of her extreme conspiratorial beliefs and radical, offensive statements. But she isn’t the first in the Republican party nor is she the only.
Long ago, the Republican party built a home for conspiracies by tolerating the once “fringe” members of their caucus, such as Gohmert, Biggs, Nunes, Gaetz, and Gosar. But those fringes are now among the most powerful in the caucus, and their ranks are only growing.
Conspiracy theorists are not new to American politics. In the 1950s and 60s, Joseph McCarthy and the John Birch Society led the Red Scare. Recently conspiracy theories have exploded into the mainstream and have found refuge in the Republican party. Former president Trump pushed conspiracies from Trump Tower to the Oval Office and used Twitter as his favorite weapon in his 24/7 disinformation campaign.
With Trump out of office and banished from Twitter, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has proven she is all too eager to fill that void. In previous statements, Greene has espoused QAnon conspiracies, endorsed the execution of Democrats, and spread other disinformation.
Often described as a creature of QAnon, Greene hasn’t met a conspiracy theory she won’t spread. For…
