MAGA Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) went from being a strident defender of President Donald Trump to complaining that his second term is unfaithful to the American First agenda he ran on in 2024. And in September, she argued that men in the MAGA movement don't take women seriously, saying, "They want women just to go along with whatever they're doing and basically to stand there, smile and clap with approval, whereas they just have their good old boys club."
Now, Greene is not only drawing vehement criticism from MAGA Republicans — she has also received more than 700 death threats.
Liberal New York Times opinion columnist Michelle Goldberg, in her December 9 column, cites MTG as an example of MAGA women waking up to the reality that their movement is full of "misogynists" who disrespect them no matter how much they give to the movement.
"An ambitious woman who is willing to absolve the right of misogyny can go far, but rarely can she achieve the same status as a man," Goldberg argues. "That's especially true today, in a Republican Party that's increasingly giving itself over to the most retrograde forms of sexism. Recently, several Republican congresswomen have been complaining, on and off the record, that their party's leaders, especially Mike Johnson, the House speaker, don't take them seriously."
Goldberg notes that Johnson, a far-right evangelical Christian fundamentalist, is not only clashing with Greene, but also, with Rep. Nancy Mace (R-South Carolina).
"Much has been made about the rebirth of gutter antisemitism and racism within the conservative movement," the Times columnist observes. "There's been less public alarm about the resurgence of unapologetic misogyny…. Among the sort of young men who revel in transgressive antisemitism — which is to say, among much of the conservative movement's rising generation — calls to repeal women's right to vote have become commonplace."
MAGA women, Goldberg emphasizes, are not spared their movement's "chest-being patriarchy."
"Many Republicans like having beautiful women around, and they appreciate being able to put a feminine face on their culture war crusades," Goldberg writes. "But as some women in the party are realizing, there's a big difference between being useful and being respected."
Michelle Goldberg's full New York Times column is available at this link (subscription required).
