In a bizarre straight-to-camera speech, conspiracy theorist Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia said we should effectively embrace Christian nationalism because it would solve all of America’s problems… and anyone who disagrees with her is a traitor. Somehow.
… If Christian nationalism is something to be scared of, they’re lying to you. And they’re lying to you on purpose, because that is exactly the temperature change that is happening in America today, and they can’t control it. They can’t control it, and that’s what terrifies them the most.
You see… if we’re going to label it Christian nationalism, this movement will actually be the movement that stops the school shootings.
This will be the movement that stops the crime in our streets.
This will be the movement that stops the sexual immorality, and teaches children and brings them up in traditional families and loving homes.
This will be the movement that protects kids innocence and nurtures them into responsible adults that grow up to be successful moms and dads wanting to pursue a family of their own.
This will be the movement that that finally does something about our debt, because it’s something that all of us should be ashamed of. It should have never happened.
This will be the movement that cares about broken and lost communities. Communities that are always forgotten about. Christians should never forget about those people and we don’t. So while the media is going to lie about you and label “Christian nationalism,” and they’re probably going to going to call it “domestic terrorism.” I’m going to tell you right now, they’re the liars. And if anybody’s a domestic terrorist, it’s the radical left. They are the domestic terrorists.
We can even say the Democrats are the domestic terrorists because they funded them, and they burned down our city streets and rioted in 2020. So if we’re going to put labels on people, we should put labels where they appropriately belong, not on Christians, and not on people who love their country and want to take care of it.
The good news is that Marjorie Taylor Greene is aware of the term “Christian nationalism.”
The bad news is everything else she said. None of it makes sense. None of it is backed up by the evidence. None of the issues she’s concerned about would be made better by the injection of conservative Christian beliefs.
Conservative Christians are more likely to own guns. They don’t stop school shootings; their opposition to gun safety laws makes mass shootings more likely. (Remember that countries that are far more secular have virtually no mass shootings.)
Conservative Christians don’t stop sexual immorality. Their beliefs contribute to a culture where sex abuse thrives, where women are pressured into maintaining silence in the face of abuse, where comprehensive sex education is seen as part of some liberal agenda, and where anti-LGBTQ bigotry reigns supreme.
Conservative Christians don’t care about debt because they vote for candidates who take us into senseless wars, waste money on frivolous pet projects, and reduce taxes for the people who need relief the least.
Conservative Christians don’t care about “broken and lost communities.” They oppose welcoming refugees into the country!
But instead of acknowledging their faults, which people like Greene are incapable of doing, she paints those same conservative Christians as victims before giving them a label no Democrat has ever assigned them. Then, having created that straw man, she quickly accuses Democrats of the same thing. The people actually working to fix the very problems she raises are deemed “terrorists.” The ones pushing for church/state separation and honoring the Constitution are, in her mind, traitors.
It’s typical Republican strategy: Cause chaos. Hurt the country. Blame Democrats for whatever Republicans just did. Wait patiently while the dumbest Americans in the country elect more Republicans to power. Repeat as needed.
None of this is new for Greene, whose entire persona is stirring up anger among the most ignorant people in the country. What’s scary, though, is that she is no longer part of some fringe group. She represents mainstream Republicans. There’s no difference between her thoughtless, harmful rhetoric and the sort of stuff you’d hear on mainstream right-wing propaganda outlets.
She’s not just ranting like a maniac. She’s echoing the Republican Party’s talking points for many elections to come. I can say that with confidence because elected Republicans aren’t about to push back on anything she said. They’d rather pretend to be at a distance even though virtually no Republicans in power have the courage to say she’s full of shit.
That’s not to say all Christians agree with her, though. There are plenty of Christians against Christian nationalism. But their voices pale in comparison to Christians like Greene who have power, a megaphone, and an entire political establishment eager to spread her illogical talking points.
(via Right Wing Watch)