Democrats feel very comfortable attacking Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia because they know that the media share their antipathy for her and therefore believe everyone else must, too. That’s a big mistake.
We were supposed to be outraged this week after Greene shared a video on social media that showed her hanging up a poster outside of her office that said, “There are two genders: Male and Female ‘trust the science!'”
MSNBC called it an “anti-transgender sign,” which is weird because the sign didn’t say anything about switching genders, only that there are two.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Greene hanging the sign was “a sad event.” I’m going to guess a lot of people who saw it didn’t suddenly feel their hearts grow heavy with grief. I’m actually going to guess a lot of people agreed with it, and if they were aware of the whole story, they thought it was funny, too.
Greene posted the video on Twitter after her Democratic colleague across the hall, Rep. Marie Newman of Illinois, posted a similar one that was deliberately meant to antagonize Greene. In Newman’s video, the camera first shows Greene’s nameplate before panning to Newman, who then plants a pro-transgender flag outside of her own office door.
Newman, who has a transgender child, shared the video on Twitter and tagged Greene.
After Greene responded with her own video, CNN rushed to Newman’s defense with a segment on the feud, complete with an on-screen graphic that said, “Rep. Taylor Greene attacks Dem colleague’s transgender child.”
The supposed attack was that Greene, in another tweet, had referred to Newman’s transgender daughter as her “biological son.” Greene’s full tweet said, “As mothers, we all love and support our children. But your biological son does NOT belong in my daughters’ bathrooms, locker rooms, and sports teams.”
That’s not an attack. And Greene’s view on transgender people and public facilities and sports isn’t extreme. The public is split on whether transgender people should be legally entitled to use the public restrooms of their choosing. When it comes to sports, the public is more opposed to allowing transgender athletes to pick the league, male or female, in which they play.
One survey showed only 36% of women agreed that it should be allowed. In other words, the majority of women share Greene’s view on that one.
Not everything Greene does is outrageous, even if she is often obnoxious. But if there’s one thing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has taught us, a lot of people like obnoxious.
To attack Greene is to elevate her, and Democrats might well regret doing that.
