When Congress voted last week to strip Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of her committee assignments as punishment for inciting violence and promoting baseless conspiracy theories, the freshman congresswoman made sure to capitalize on the controversy.
Greene, a wealthy businesswoman who represents Georgia's 14th congressional district, used her well-publicized conflict with the House to create a fundraising pitch that reportedly raised $325,000 in two days. On Feb. 2—two days before the House Rules Committee passed a resolution removing Greene from her congressional committee assignments—Greene raised $150,000. She then raised another $175,000 the following day.
Greene’s latest fundraising effort comes after the congresswoman claimed to have raised $1.6 million from 60,000 donors amid the mainstream media’s coverage of her controversial comments, which include anti-Semitic and Islamophobic remarks, support for conspiracy theories such as the far-right QAnon movement, 9/11, and the Parkland shooting, which she deemed a false flag.
“I will never back down,” Greene said in a social media post on Jan. 29 thanking her supporters for their donations. “I will never give up. Because I am one of you. And I will always represent you.”
Greene’s fundraising tactics bear resemblance to former president Donald Trump, who used fearmongering and victimhood to galvanize his base: “Never before has a Republican been under attack like me since the Democrats tried to impeach and remove President Trump from office,” Greene wrote in a fundraising email last week. “And without your support, I have no way of defending myself.”
Greene also bragged about the “great call” she had with Trump ahead of the resolution, tying herself to the former president in an attempt to tap into his grassroots supporters.
The controversial congresswoman made sure to target key Democrats in her fundraising pitches, especially Rep. Ilhan Omar. On Feb. 2, Greene tweeted pictures of Omar (as well as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) along with the caption: “Democrats are trying to expel me from Congress.” Congressional Republicans followed suit by attempting to remove Omar from her House committee assignments.
When Omar released a statement on Feb. 3 condemning the Republican effort to distract from Greene’s upcoming hearing, Greene responded by promoting a debunked conspiracy theory about Omar: “And by the way, marrying your brother is ILLEGAL in Minnesota,” she tweeted.
This is not the first time that Greene has targeted Omar as part of her campaign strategy. In 2019, Greene tried to get Omar and Rep. Tlaib to retake their oaths on a Bible instead of a Quran. In November 2020, Greene used her campaign site to promote more baseless conspiracy theories about Omar.
“Flash poll!” reads a recently uncovered page on Greene’s website. “Did Ilhan Omar marry her brother from Somalia?”
Despite facing an ongoing media storm and being reprimanded by the House, Greene continues to enjoy support from Republican donors. Even her controversial actions and commitment to dangerous conspiracy theories do not appear to have made a dent in her fundraising efforts.
