'We would have won': Marjorie Taylor Greene says Capitol rioters should have been fully 'armed'
Since being sworn into the U.S. House of Representatives in January 2021, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia has generated one controversy after another. And once again, the far-right MAGA Republican congresswoman is being slammed by her critics for promoting violence.
Greene, if anything, has grown even more cocky since her landslide reelection in the 2022 midterms, which found her defeating Democratic challenger Marcus Flowers by 31 percent in Georgia’s 14th Congressional District. The very pro-Donald Trump conspiracy theorist and election denialist expects to become even more prominent in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2023 after its new Republican majority is seated, and she isn’t shy about openly calling for violence.
On Saturday night, December 10, Greene was among the speakers at the New York Young Republican Club's 110th Annual Gala, where she said that the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol Building would have been fully “armed” if she had organized it.
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Greene told the crowd, “Then January 6 happens. And, next thing you know, I organized the whole thing, along with Steve Bannon here. And I will tell you something: If Steve Bannon and I had organized that, we would have won — not to mention, it would've been armed. See, that's the whole joke, isn't it? They say that whole thing was planned, and I'm like: Are you kidding me? A bunch of conservatives, Second-Amendment supporters, went in the Capitol without guns, and they think that we organized that.”
MAGA Republicans attending the December 10 event obviously didn’t find Greene’s calls for violence disturbing; she drew a lot of enthusiastic applause. But her critics were quick to call her out on Twitter.
Liberal firebrand and former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann tweeted, “Indict and arrest @RepMTG now. This is another threat to overthrow the government of the United States. Lock this creature away. Permanently.”
The group Occupy Democrats wrote, “She's not even hiding her treasonous desires anymore…. Her call for armed insurrection is grounds for arrest in our view."
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Author Tim Wise posted, “Margarine Traitor Greed, saying the quiet (and illegal and seditious part) out loud. Lock her up.”
Progressive podcast host Dash Dobrofsky wrote: "Marjorie Taylor Greene said she would have 'won' on Jan 6 if she had 'planned it.' She also said it 'would have been armed.' Greene gave Capitol tours prior to the attack and sought a pardon for her role in the attack. DOJ (the Department of Justice) has an obligation to indict her.”
Twitter user John Norris, @JohnNor80033183, commented, “Personally I believe if Bannon organizes an insurrection, he will embezzle all funds raised for it.” And Jesse Peterson, @jpeterson1987, wrote, “I don’t care what party you support but certain things to me are inexcusable and this is one of them. How can any republican condone MTG and her speech here. It’s sick.”
Stephen Simpson, @BamaStephen, a self-described “former Republican,” said of Greene, “She is one of the main spiritual leaders of today’s neo-GOP. Lincoln would despise her words and actions. As a former Republican, I certainly do.”
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