The Problem of Marjorie Taylor Greene - The New York Times

“There’s going to beryllium a batch of investigations,” Marjorie Taylor Greene said, describing what she anticipates if the Republicans regain the House bulk this November. “I’ve talked with a batch of members astir this.”

It was aboriginal September, 2 months earlier the midterm elections, and Greene, the first-term congresswoman from Georgia, was sitting successful a edifice successful Alpharetta, an affluent suburb of greater metropolitan Atlanta. Among the chap Republicans with whom Greene said she had been speaking astir these investigations was the House number leader, Kevin McCarthy. Just a mates of weeks later, connected Sept. 23, Greene sat straight down McCarthy successful a manufacturing installation successful Monongahela, Pa., arsenic helium publically previewed what a House Republican majority’s legislative docket would look like. Among the topics she and her colleagues person discussed is the imaginable of impeaching President Joe Biden, a pursuit Greene has advocated virtually since the time aft Biden took office, erstwhile she filed articles of impeachment accusing Obama’s vice president of having abused his powerfulness to payment his lad Hunter Biden’s concern dealings successful Ukraine. “My benignant would beryllium a batch much aggressive, of course,” she told me, referring to McCarthy. “For him, I deliberation the grounds needs to beryllium there. But I deliberation radical underestimate him, successful reasoning helium wouldn’t bash it.”

Though the 48-year-old self-described “Christian nationalist” possesses a flair for utmost bombast adjacent to that of her governmental relation exemplary Trump, Greene’s appraisal of her existent lasting wrong the Republican Party — owing to the devotion accorded her by the party’s MAGA basal — would look to beryllium wholly accurate.

Over the past 2 years, Greene has gone from the far-right fringe of the G.O.P. ever person to its constitution halfway without changing immoderate of her ain beliefs; if anything, she has continued to find much utmost ways to explicit them. When she entered electoral authorities successful 2019, she had spent overmuch of her big beingness arsenic a co-owner, with her husband, of her family’s operation company. (Her husband, Perry Greene, precocious filed for divorce.)

She threw herself into her archetypal campaign, that May, with astir nary strategical readying oregon governmental networking, and a societal media past replete with hallucinatory conspiracy theories. When she switched to a much blimpish territory successful the mediate of the 2020 run and won, she was roundly dismissed arsenic an unacceptable officeholder who could beryllium contained, isolated and returned to sender successful the adjacent election. And yet successful 2021, her archetypal twelvemonth successful Congress, Greene raised $7.4 cardinal successful governmental donations, the fourth-highest among the 212 House Republicans, a feat made adjacent much singular by the information that the 3 who outraised Greene — McCarthy, the number leader; Steve Scalise, the number whip; and Dan Crenshaw of Texas — were beneficiaries of firm PACs that person shunned Greene. (As Trump did during his candidacy, Greene maintains that it is successful information she who refuses each firm donations.)

In different measurement of her power wrong the nationalist party, Greene’s endorsement and enactment person been eagerly sought by 2022 G.O.P. hopefuls similar the Arizona gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake and the Ohio U.S. Senate campaigner J.D. Vance. Within the House Republican conference, McCarthy has assiduously courted her support, inviting her to high-level argumentation meetings (such arsenic a treatment astir the National Defense Authorization Act, which sets Department of Defense argumentation for the year) and, according to idiosyncratic with cognition of their exchanges, offering to make a caller enactment presumption for her.

McCarthy’s spokesperson denies that the number person has made specified an offer. When I asked Greene if the study was inaccurate, she smiled and said, “Not necessarily.” But past she added: “I don’t person to person a enactment position. I deliberation I already person one, without having one.”

Greene’s metamorphosis implicit the past twelvemonth and a fractional from pariah to a presumption of undeniable power presents a lawsuit survey successful G.O.P. authorities successful the Trump era. The archetypal clip I saw Greene successful idiosyncratic was connected the greeting of Jan. 6, 2021. She was barreling down a crowded corridor of the Longworth House Office Building, conspicuously unmasked astatine a clip erstwhile masks were inactive mandated by U.S. Capitol rules. Her all-male retinue of unit members striding briskly beside her were besides maskless. In the precocious hours aft that day’s insurrection — 1 that the Georgia freshman arguably had egged connected with her innumerable claims that the 2020 statesmanlike predetermination had been stolen and her assertion to a Newsmax interviewer that Jan. 6 would beryllium “our 1776 moment” — Greene stood connected the House level and objected to the Michigan predetermination results, a determination that was promptly dismissed by the presiding officer, Vice President Mike Pence, due to the fact that the congresswoman had nary U.S. legislator to articulation her successful the question arsenic the rules prescribed.

The time aft the insurrection, Greene sat successful a country of her bureau successful the Longworth building, being interviewed for a right-wing YouTube amusement by Katie Hopkins, a British achromatic nationalist who had been banished from astir societal media outlets for her Islamophobic and racist comments (the transmission that carried her amusement has since been taken down by YouTube). The Georgia freshman reflected somberly connected the events of the erstwhile day: “Last nighttime and into the early-morning hours was astir apt 1 of the saddest days of my life. Scariest and loneliest days of my life. On the 3rd time connected the occupation arsenic a caller subordinate of Congress, um, conscionable having our Capitol attacked, being blamed connected the president that I love, and I cognize it’s not his fault; and past having it blamed connected each the radical that enactment him, 75 cardinal radical — 75-plus cardinal radical that person supported President Trump and person genuinely appreciated each his hard enactment and America First policies and everything astir Make America Great Again.” (Trump received 74.2 cardinal votes successful 2020.) “It was highly lonely successful there, watching, basically, the certification of the Electoral College votes for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, adjacent though we cognize the predetermination was stolen, and the Democrats were moving truthful hard connected it, but Republicans too, determination were Republicans also.”

Hopkins listened attentively, her look knotted with anguish, and observed, “It’s astir arsenic if you’re 1 of them — you’re astir similar 1 of those who could’ve been astatine the rally.”

“I am 1 of those people,” Greene said emphatically. “That’s precisely who I am.”

Hastily, arsenic if realizing the accusation of what she had said, she added: “I’m not 1 of those radical that attacked the Capitol yesterday. I wholly condemn that. I wholly condemn attacking instrumentality enforcement; I enactment our constabulary officers. And I convey them for their courageousness yesterday successful keeping america safe. I cognize determination were atrocious actors progressive and investigations are underway — and it’s Antifa.” (In consequent months, Greene would blasted the F.B.I. for perchance instigating the unit connected Jan. 6. She besides voted against awarding police officers who defended the Capitol that time the legislature golden medal, its highest honor.)

Greene besides said to Hopkins, “I’m not a politician.” Like overmuch of what she said during their interview, this connection was not altogether accurate. Her precocious acquisition for offending and demonizing qualified her arsenic a earthy for the commercialized arsenic it had travel to beryllium reimagined by Trump and his acolytes.

A period later, I sat successful the House Press Gallery arsenic Greene was stripped by the Democrat-controlled House of her 2 committee assignments aft respective of her past outrageous societal media posts surfaced. But Greene had learned from Trump the worth of ne'er admitting wrongdoing oregon asking for forgiveness. I attended her quality league the adjacent day, astatine which she declared: “The enactment is his. It doesn’t beryllium to anybody else.” The committeeless freshman proceeded to walk her ample disposable clip connected right-wing media outlets, similar Newsmax and the erstwhile Trump advisor Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast. An aboriginal motion that she was not an ineffectual outlier came that April, erstwhile she reported raising a staggering $3.2 cardinal successful her archetypal quarter, a bulk of it coming from tiny donors.

In the aftermath of Trump’s departure from the White House, Greene fulfilled a yearning from the MAGA basal for a brawler who shared their presumption that the near had stolen its mode to triumph and was bent connected destroying America. In May 2021, I attended an “America First” rally successful Mesa, Ariz., featuring 2 of the state’s well-known congressmen — the House Freedom Caucus president Andy Biggs and the seasoned right-winger Paul Gosar — on with Greene and her chap MAGA ft worker Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida. As she paced the stage, Greene’s clasp implicit the Arizona assemblage that nighttime was confirmation that her constituency extended good beyond northwest Georgia. “Who bash you deliberation won Arizona connected November 3?” she asked the crowd. When they replied by chanting Trump’s name, Greene said: “That’s however we consciousness successful Georgia, too. As a substance of fact, that’s however Michigan feels. Pennsylvania. Wisconsin. I deliberation that’s however astatine slightest 74-plus cardinal radical feel. As a substance of fact, nary 1 went retired for Biden. Did you spot rallies similar Trump had?”

By this time, I had visited her territory and had begun getting to cognize her apical aides. In February, they persuaded Greene to conscionable with maine successful Rome, Ga., for an off-the-record lunch. Three months later, I watched her run successful her territory conscionable earlier the Georgia superior arsenic she ran for re-election. She and I spent much than an hr talking 1 connected 1 connected the grounds that day. Subsequently, we met 3 times successful Washington and erstwhile successful Alpharetta for on-the-record interviews, and erstwhile much successful her Washington office, besides connected the record, truthful that I could spot her interact with her legislature unit and colleagues.

Throughout this 18-month span of reporting, Greene’s messaging instrumentality achieved a benignant of wall-of-sound inescapability. Her regular litany of often-vicious taunts, factual contortions and outright falsehoods connected societal media and down immoderate disposable lectern depicted a large federation undone by Biden’s Democrats, with allusions to undocumented immigrants arsenic rapists, transgender individuals arsenic predators, Black Lives Matter protesters arsenic terrorists, termination providers arsenic murderers and her governmental opponents arsenic godless pedophilia-coddling Communists. The Trumpian media ecosystem wherever these phantasms originated saw Greene arsenic their astir capable exponent, portion Trump himself, successful a quality merchandise earlier this year, proclaimed her “a warrior successful Congress,” adding, “She doesn’t backmost down, she doesn’t springiness up, and she has ALWAYS been with ‘Trump.’” The second favoritism mattered. By they extremity of 2021, the House G.O.P.’s astir almighty pistillate member, the league chairwoman Liz Cheney, had been booted retired of her enactment presumption and demonized by the basal for condemning Trump. Two months into 2022 — hardly implicit a twelvemonth into her vocation arsenic an elected authoritative — Greene told maine that she and the erstwhile president had already discussed the anticipation of her being his moving mate successful 2024.

“I would beryllium honored,” she said of this prospect, though she besides acknowledged that G.O.P. advisers would impulse Trump to deliberation doubly astir a campaigner arsenic divisive arsenic herself: “I deliberation the past idiosyncratic that the R.N.C. oregon the nationalist enactment wants is maine arsenic his moving mate.” Regardless of her aboriginal prospects, Greene’s reflection to maine successful September that she didn’t request an authoritative enactment presumption to bask an unofficial 1 seems beyond dispute.

What has received acold little treatment than the outrageousness of her regular utterances is what the sum full of them portends for America nether a Republican bulk with Greene successful the vanguard. In caller months, she has continued to importune that Trump won the 2020 election. She maintains that America should person a Christian authorities and that unfastened supplication should instrumentality to classrooms. She has called for the impeachment of not conscionable Biden but besides Attorney General Merrick Garland and the caput of homeland security, Alejandro Mayorkas; for the defunding of the F.B.I., aft the bureau searched Mar-a-Lago to retrieve concealed authorities documents that Trump took from the White House; for the expulsion from Congress of those she claimed were Communists (and among those she has referred to arsenic Communists are the progressive icon Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and the Jan. 6 Committee subordinate Jamie Raskin of Maryland); and for a legislature probe into the concern activities of Biden’s lad Hunter. She has introduced authorities to suspend all migration into the United States for the adjacent 4 years, arsenic good arsenic a measure that would enforce up to 10-to-25-year situation sentences connected aesculapian specialists who supply hormone attraction oregon country to transgender younker nether 18.

Greene believes that termination should beryllium banned and that gun-control laws should beryllium overturned. She favors eliminating immoderate and each regulations that were intended to code clime alteration because, successful her view, “The clime has ever changed, and nary magnitude of taxes and nary authorities tin bash thing to halt clime change.” In precocious September, and hardly for the archetypal time, she excoriated a fig of her Republican colleagues, suggesting they were abettors to a globalist conspiracy successful tweeting “21 Republican Senators conscionable voted with the woke clime agenda” by ratifying an planetary statement to signifier down the usage of hydrofluorocarbon pollutants successful coolant systems.

Her governmental vocation began successful the aboriginal months of 2019, erstwhile then-citizen Greene began showing up connected Capitol Hill — successful portion to boost her societal media lasting by posting YouTube videos of her harassing Democratic unit members but besides to effort to lobby G.O.P. senators against gun-safety legislation. Greene was outraged to spot the 18-year-old Parkland school-shooting subsister David Hogg — who, successful 1 of her much notorious videos, she taunted portion chasing him extracurricular the Capitol — sauntering successful and retired of respective Senate offices. Greene had considerably little occurrence scoring appointments with Republican senators. “I had zero,” she lamented to her societal media followers. “Guess what: I’m a weapon owner. I’m an American citizen, and I person nothing. But this guy, with his George Soros funding, and his large wide funding, has got everything. I privation you to deliberation astir that.”

Greene was surely reasoning astir it. She was reasoning astir it arsenic she got turned distant from the offices of Republican senators similar Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and her ain Georgia senators, David Perdue and Johnny Isakson. She was reasoning astir it arsenic she stood successful a enactment successful March 2019 to be a Senate Judiciary Committee proceeding to see gun-control authorities — a lone hostile surrounded by gun-safety activists. “I’ve been feeling truly outnumbered and truly bittersweet lasting successful this line,” she confided to her Facebook Live audience.

A period later, Greene acknowledged to a chap right-wing YouTuber, Alex Madajian, that not each the progressives she encountered were funded by Soros. Many of them, similar her, “were conscionable showing up. And they took disconnected enactment to beryllium there, too. I deliberation conservatives person got to halt making the excuses.” She went on: “Conservatives are going to person to get implicit themselves. Conservatives, we’re truthful selfish successful truthful galore ways. We volition spend, spend, walk connected our precise bully handbags and we volition walk connected our play clubs.”

Less than a period aft that April interview, Greene, who had antecedently identified herself connected Federal Election Commission donor forms (as a contributor to the Trump campaign) as, variously, a operation steadfast owner, a CrossFit gym proprietor and a homemaker, decided to tally for elective bureau to correspond Georgia’s Sixth Congressional District, wherever she resided. It was a communicative she would archer friends — however she, a payer and occupation creator who cared astir the Constitution, had been turned distant by Republicans whose wage she paid. That was wherefore she decided to tally for Congress.

On May 30, 2019, Greene announced her candidacy connected a blimpish talk-radio show, followed by a Facebook Live post. A section Republican activist, Lawton Sack, happened to drawback the announcement connected Facebook Live. Wondering who Greene was, Sack started searching the internet. He came upon respective of her Facebook videos, including 1 posted 2 years earlier successful which Greene suggested that the 2017 wide shooting successful Las Vegas was staged by leftists arsenic a pretext for seizing Americans’ guns. Sack posted connected his website GeorgiaPol.com that aforesaid day nether the header “Las Vegas Shooting Conspiracist Running successful GA-6.”

Sack’s station went unnoticed. Despite Greene’s preternatural endowment for attracting attention, her obscurity successful the governmental satellite worked to her payment successful the aboriginal months, erstwhile her main contention successful the Sixth District’s Republican tract was its erstwhile congresswoman, Karen Handel. As soon arsenic Greene announced her campaign, she pledged her allegiance arsenic the Trumpiest campaigner successful the primary: “Everyone knows I enactment @realDonaldTrump. Always have, close from the start!”

The past portion was untrue: Greene did not ballot successful the 2016 primary, nor did she lend to Trump’s run until a fewer weeks earlier helium was elected president. What was existent was that “right from the start” of her ain campaign, Greene was telling section Republicans that she intended to tally conscionable arsenic Trump had: each vigor and hyperbole, reliant connected tiny online donations and her idiosyncratic wealthiness alternatively than the constitution Republicans who wanted thing to bash with her. Like Trump, she described herself arsenic a palmy concern owner. His run slogan was “Make America Great Again”; hers was “Save America Stop Socialism.”

Few believed she had immoderate accidental of winning — astir apt not against Handel, and astir surely not successful the wide predetermination against the incumbent Democrat, Lucy McBath. Then Greene received a decisive break. That December, Tom Graves, the G.O.P. congressman representing the 14th District successful northwest Georgia, announced that helium would not tally for different term, 1 successful a increasing fig of constitution Republicans who had made for the exits during the Trump era. An unfastened seat, successful a territory that Trump carried by 53 points successful 2016, was abruptly up for grabs. Though Greene had made a virtuousness of her residency successful the Sixth District — adjacent telling the section podcast big Ben Burnett conscionable a mates of days earlier Graves’s astonishment announcement: “I recognize our district. I recognize it uniquely, due to the fact that it’s wherever I’ve ever lived, and it’s wherever I’ve raised my household and worked for truthful galore years” — she would present cheerfully tally arsenic a carpetbagger.

Instantly, her governmental fortunes changed. Running arsenic a Trumpist firebrand successful a abruptly vacant seat, Greene received pledges of enactment from the astir salient blimpish successful the G.O.P. House, Jim Jordan of Ohio; and Debbie Meadows, the woman of Trump’s eventual main of staff, Mark Meadows and laminitis of Right Women PAC. Greene’s run unit instantly printed a flyer highlighting Jim Jordan’s seal of approval. Her archetypal run advertisement began with “AOC wants to plunge america into Communism,” referring to Ocasio-Cortez, and ended with “President Trump needs much enactment successful Congress.” After a Black man, George Floyd, was killed by a Minneapolis constabulary serviceman connected Memorial Day and nationwide protests erupted, immoderate starring to unit and important spot damage, Greene posted connected June 2 connected her run website a video of herself holding a customized AR-15 pistol, accompanied by these words: “Here’s my connection to ANTIFA terrorists: Stay the HELL retired of NW Georgia. You won’t pain our churches, loot our businesses, oregon destruct our homes.”

Already covering 2 races that could find power of the Senate, the Georgia media took small announcement of the legislature contention successful the state’s northwestern country — overmuch little of the affluent far-right conspiracist who didn’t adjacent unrecorded successful the district. But successful her thousands of doorstep conversations successful the 14th District, Greene did not brushwood indifference. No 1 was laughing successful her look for describing AOC and Antifa arsenic enemies of America. No 1 lectured her connected the imprudence of wielding a military-style limb successful run ads. On the contrary: Walking doorway to doorway passim northwest Georgia, Greene could spot precise aboriginal on, she would archer maine much than a twelvemonth later, that its constituents saw the satellite done the aforesaid lens that she did. Within days, she was definite that a bulk of these voters would beryllium hers.

On June 9, 2020, Greene came successful archetypal successful the G.O.P. primary, 19 points up of the constitution Republican who had been expected to win, the neurosurgeon John Cowan. Trump tweeted his approval: “A large winner. Congratulations!” In the August runoff, Greene thrashed Cowan (whose endorsers included the House number whip, Steve Scalise) by 14 points. At her triumph enactment successful Rome that evening, the exultant victor said of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, “We’re going to footwear that bitch retired of Congress.”

The adjacent day, Greene received a congratulatory telephone telephone from the House number leader, Kevin McCarthy, who aboriginal told a confidant (according to that person), “Clearly, I’m going to person to beryllium her down and archer her that you can’t telephone the talker a bitch.” Instead, Greene tripled down. The time she received congratulations from McCarthy, she memorialized her “kick that bitch retired of Congress” sentiment connected Twitter. The time aft that, she told a Georgia vigor interviewer: “In a fired-up moment, I did telephone her a soiled name. But I don’t backmost down. I don’t apologize.”

In November 2020, during the weeklong predisposition play for recently elected members of Congress, Julie Conway, the manager of the salient blimpish women’s governmental enactment committee VIEW PAC, hosted a reception astatine the G.O.P.-affiliated Capitol Hill Club for the 30 oregon truthful House Republican women it had endorsed. A azygous uninvited impermanent arrived, 1 who happened to beryllium the lone maskless idiosyncratic successful the room, according to aggregate attendees with cognition of what took place.

“Julie,” 1 of the women whispered successful Conway’s ear, “she’s coming astatine you.”

Marjorie Taylor Greene introduced herself. Then she added, successful a dependable some wounded and defiant, “I cognize that you and VIEW PAC weren’t supportive during the campaign.”

Conway replied: “Well, to beryllium fair, nary 1 present was. But look, Marjorie, you’re portion of the team, if you privation to be. It’s a legislative body. If you don’t privation to enactment together, well, that’s your choice.”

Greene had arrived successful Washington for freshman predisposition connected a reddish tide of grievance. Just the week earlier, she upbraided Crenshaw, her chap Republican subordinate and a erstwhile U.S. Navy SEAL, connected Twitter for what she termed his “loser mindset” successful not challenging the 2020 predetermination results, prompting Crenshaw to occurrence back: “You’re a subordinate of Congress now, Marjorie. Start acting similar one.” Also connected Twitter, she complained that due to the fact that of the pandemic and what she termed “Democrat tyrannical control,” nary section gyms were open. (“There is virtually a gym astir the country from the edifice she is staying at,” Ruben Gallego, a Democratic congressman from Arizona, tweeted successful response.) But thing other occurred during that aforesaid predisposition week that would change Greene’s trajectory and yet that of the Republican Party arsenic well. At what was intended to beryllium a perfunctory congratulatory gathering successful the Oval Office with 3 caller G.O.P. congresswomen — Greene, Lauren Boebert of Colorado and Yvette Herrell of New Mexico — Trump met Greene for the archetypal time. She instantly launched into what she aboriginal told maine was a preconceived strategy astir however and wherever Trump needed to run successful Georgia to assistance plaything the 2 U.S. Senate runoff elections determination into the Republican column. According to a idiosyncratic acquainted with the gathering (and who requested anonymity successful bid to talk candidly): “She owned that country with Trump. Boebert and Herrell are not pushovers. But 90 to 95 percent of the speech was Marjorie and the president.”

In June, I asked Greene astir reports I had heard that McCarthy had vowed to grant her plum committee assignments successful speech for her enactment for his bid arsenic House speaker. “Robert, I don’t judge thing until I spot it,” she told me. “I’m beauteous smart. I’ve been astir people. People instrumentality maine for granted a lot. I’ve been astir the artifact 1 excessively galore times to beryllium handed a load of [expletive], truthful to speak.”

Later, she told maine what her committee preferences would be. “I would similar to beryllium connected Oversight,” she said. “I would besides similar to beryllium connected Judiciary. I deliberation some of those I’d beryllium bully on.” When I observed that serving connected some committees — high-profile investigative perches that had elevated Republicans similar Darrell Issa, Trey Gowdy and Jim Jordan into household names — constituted a beauteous large ask, Greene changeable back: “I wholly merit it. I’ve been treated similar [expletive]. I person been treated similar garbage.”

In a connection for this story, Representative James Comer, the Oversight Committee’s ranking subordinate and astir apt its president should the Republicans triumph backmost the House, said, “If Americans entrust Republicans with the bulk adjacent Congress, we look guardant to the Steering Committee adding caller G.O.P. members to the committee similar Rep. Greene with vigor and a beardown involvement successful partnering with america successful our efforts to rein successful the unaccountable Swamp and to clasp the Biden Administration accountable for its galore self-inflicted crises that it has unleashed connected the American people.”

But Greene’s comments astir what she deserves and however she feels she has been treated uncover a profoundly idiosyncratic grievance against her chap Republicans that abides to this day, contempt the party’s accommodations to her. It extends backmost to erstwhile she was denied an assemblage with Republican senators arsenic a visitant to the Capitol successful 2019; past to her being shunned by the G.O.P. constitution during her 2020 campaign; and yet to what she views arsenic a less-than-fulsome defence of her a period into her legislature tenure, erstwhile House Democrats on with 11 Republicans voted to portion her of her committee assignments. This event, a rarity successful the past of Congress, was prompted by the surfacing, precocious that January, of much of her erstwhile societal media posts. They included her outlandish suggestions that the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School wide shooting successful Parkland, Fla., was staged, and that a wildfire successful California that aforesaid twelvemonth was ignited by a laser beam changeable from abstraction by a salient Jewish family, the Rothschilds, the subjects of galore antisemitic conspiracy theories. Such delusions were commonly embraced successful the assemblage of QAnon followers.

A week aft Greene’s past musings were disclosed, the House G.O.P. league convened to sermon whether to region Liz Cheney from her enactment station aft she voted to impeach Trump. But midway into the four-hour discussion, the different elephant successful the country stepped up to the microphone.

“Well,” Greene began, according to a signaling of the gathering I obtained, “many of you I’ve enjoyed getting to cognize successful my 1 period that I’ve been present successful Congress. But there’s besides galore much of you that I haven’t gotten to conscionable yet, and you haven’t gotten to cognize me. Some of you onslaught maine each azygous day, and usually I find that it’s those of you attacking maine are the ones that don’t cognize me, and that’s unfortunate.”

Greene past tried to explicate however it was that she came to clasp the conspiracy theories of the QAnon assemblage that present scandalized the Republican Party and jeopardized her governmental career. “I was upset astir Russian collusion conspiracy lies that I was seeing connected the quality each azygous day,” Greene recalled to her colleagues. “So I looked into the net — and was like, ‘What is going on?’ I stumbled crossed thing called QAnon. Yep, I did. I work astir it, I posted astir it, I talked astir it, and I asked questions astir it.”

Here, much precisely, is what she did: By the summertime of 2017, Greene had made interaction online with a counsellor successful the New York nationalist schoolhouse strategy who shared her affinities for some President Donald Trump and acheronian conspiracy theories. That July, she began penning for the counselor’s online publication, American Truth Seekers, nether her great-grandmother’s name, Elizabeth Camp.

Greene’s statement was that the “Russian collusion conspiracy lies” had created a benignant of support operation successful her mind. As she would accidental connected the House floor, “I was allowed to judge things that weren’t true.”

In this passive-voice explanation, Greene was “allowed to believe” that a Democratic unit subordinate named Seth Rich had been murdered by Hillary Clinton’s apical adviser, John Podesta, successful bid to screen up the information that it was Rich, not Russia, who had leaked Democratic emails to WikiLeaks. (Later, Greene would modify this conspiracy theory: It was the Latino pack MS-13, “the henchmen of the Obama administration,” who had murdered Seth Rich.) Greene was “allowed to believe” that Robert Mueller, the peculiar counsel investigating Trump’s ties to Russia, was really softly moving to bring down the Clintons. And that “many successful our authorities are actively worshiping Satan.” And that Trump was single-handedly battling evil — that, arsenic she reposted from the website MAGAPILL, “thousands of Pedophiles and Child Traffickers person been arrested since Trump was sworn in.” This “Global Evil,” she was allowed to believe, was each being funded by the Saudi royals successful performance with Jewish billionaires: George Soros and the Rothschild family.

Greene believed each this, she claimed, not lone due to the fact that the media had made up lies astir Trump but besides due to the fact that successful immoderate acheronian country of the internet, an anonymous idiosyncratic claiming to person subject quality “Q clearance” had said so.

She concluded her monologue to her caller G.O.P. colleagues with an admonition: “Let’s marque definite we support our eyes connected the enemy. Because they’re truly wanting to instrumentality each of america out.” About a 3rd of her colleagues roseate to applaud her arsenic she took her spot among them.

Not everyone successful the league was moved. “The header tonight,” warned the South Carolina freshman Nancy Mace, “is that we tried to footwear retired Liz Cheney, and we gave a lasting ovation to Marjorie Taylor Greene.”

Tom Reed, a mean from New York, spoke earlier Mace and was adjacent much pointed. “I’m committed to winning the majority,” helium told his colleagues. “So however is this going to look if we footwear retired Liz Cheney and support Marjorie Greene? How is this going to play crossed the United States of America? How americium I going to basal successful beforehand of my kids and go, You cognize what you did, Tom?” He went on, “‘Dad, you kicked retired a idiosyncratic who stood connected her conscience and voted for impeachment, but you retained an individual’ — and this is what the perception’s going to be, Marjorie, and I don’t mean to offend you — ‘that stood for achromatic supremacy, that stood for a laser successful the entity that supposedly the Jews controlled to commencement a occurrence successful California.’”

The question present confronting McCarthy, the House number leader, was whether helium could dissuade the Democratic bulk from stripping Greene of her committee assignments. The time earlier the Feb. 3 Republican meeting, according to a root with cognition of the exchange, helium contacted the House bulk leader, Steny Hoyer — the lone Democratic person with whom helium had a relationship, arsenic Pelosi spoke openly of her deficiency of respect for McCarthy — and asked, “What if we conscionable enactment Marjorie connected the Small Business Committee?” Hoyer advised McCarthy that this would astir apt not alert with the Democrats.

On the greeting of Feb. 3, according to the aforesaid source, McCarthy called Hoyer erstwhile more. Hoyer conveyed his caucus’s presumption that if McCarthy wasn’t going to instrumentality attraction of his party’s Marjorie Taylor Greene problem, past the Democrats intended to bash so.

McCarthy was apoplectic. “You people this down successful the past books,” helium said heatedly, threatening that erstwhile the Republicans took backmost the majority, they would portion Democrats of committee assignments with impunity.

“Kevin,” Hoyer replied, “you people this time down. This is the time I told you that your pandering for Trump is atrocious for your party, atrocious for the state and atrocious for your career.”

Greene emerged from the occurrence unrepentant and unburdened of lawmaking responsibilities — and enjoying the continued enactment of Trump, who called to connection solace the time her committee assignments were taken away. Greene did not consciousness the aforesaid allyship from House Republican leaders similar McCarthy. “I deliberation they stood backmost and said, ‘Let it happen,’” she asserted to Steve Bannon connected his podcast a fewer weeks later.

There stay immoderate Republicans — albeit less who inactive clasp bureau — who judge that, acold from being “treated similar garbage,” arsenic she sees it, Greene has been coddled by Republican leadership. A erstwhile longtime mean Republican member, Charles W. Dent of Pennsylvania, told maine that helium recalled saying connected CNN successful 2020 that the G.O.P. should person explicitly marginalized Greene from the infinitesimal she won her election: barring her from the House conference, offering her nary committee assignments and instantly endorsing a 2022 superior opponent. “They evidently chose a antithetic course,” Dent said with evident chagrin. “Letting her into the structure to immoderate grade normalized her.”

And, Dent went connected to say, granting utmost elements similar Greene truthful salient a relation successful the enactment was astir definite to marque beingness harder for Republicans successful plaything districts, starting with the 2022 midterms, which were shaping up to beryllium little of a definite triumph for the G.O.P. “If the Republicans underperform successful the midterms,” Dent told me, “then possibly they’ll commencement realizing you can’t conscionable propulsion distant these seats. Maybe losing is what it’ll instrumentality to course-correct.”

This September, on a Wednesday day successful Greene’s bureau successful the Longworth gathering successful Washington, I bumped into Ed Buckham, an unassuming 63-year-old antheral who seemed retired of spot amid the walls covered with instrumentality notes written to Greene from each implicit the nation. Buckham has been the Georgia freshman’s main of unit for astir a year. “She’s been truthful large to enactment for, an implicit pleasure,” helium told me, adding that his past occupation connected the Hill was 2 decades earlier, erstwhile Buckham served arsenic main of unit for the Republican House bulk whip, Tom DeLay, 1 of the astir effectual legislative operators successful modern times.

“I hired him due to the fact that I privation to beryllium a precise superior legislator,” Greene told maine aboriginal that evening, aft she had formed a succession of “no” votes to assorted bipartisan House resolutions. (One of them established a National Center for the Advancement of Aviation.) “I privation to beryllium a precise superior subordinate of Congress. And it’s due to the fact that I person existent goals successful Congress, and past besides for the Republican Party. I deliberation our enactment needs a batch of work.”

Greene had antecedently and notoriously hired arsenic a unit adjunct the right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos, who had go a leper successful blimpish circles aft remarking approvingly successful 2016 of “relationships betwixt younger boys and older men.” (Greene softly parted ways with Yiannopoulos earlier this year.) By contrast, the information that Tom DeLay’s erstwhile apical lieutenant was present her ain had received nary attention.

Among Ed Buckham’s virtues that Greene enumerated for maine was that helium was “a beardown Christian.” Greene has precocious identified herself arsenic a “Christian nationalist”; this, she maintained to me, meant thing much and thing little than a Christian who loves her country. “I didn’t adjacent cognize determination was a past with that phrase,” she insisted. This past summer, she stood connected a signifier during a unrecorded broadcast of the religious-right programme “FlashPoint” and was prayed implicit by the right-wing Christian writer Dutch Sheets, who has stated, “Don’t abstracted God and government,” and who concluded his supplication implicit Greene with “You are highly favored, you volition not fail, successful Jesus’ name, Amen!” Two months ago, astatine a Turning Point USA event, different far-right pastor, Rob McCoy, concluded an interrogation with Greene by saying, “Someday, delight God, whitethorn she beryllium president of the United States.”

Greene told maine that portion she wasn’t advocating that Christianity go America’s nationalist religion, she believed that “right now, Christianity is practically persecuted successful America.” She wants to spot teachers starring students successful supplication and to spot American presidents acceptable a Christian example. Invoking Jesus, Greene said: “He fought against what was wrong. He ran the wealth changers retired of the temple. He threw their tables over. So helium stood powerfully against things that were wrong.”

Though she readily volunteers that she is “a sinner,” Greene has often utilized the connection “godless” to picture Democrats, including Pelosi, a practicing Catholic. (Greene told maine that Pelosi’s enactment of termination rights fundamentally disqualifies the House talker from being a existent Christian. She does, however, ruefully respect however Pelosi wields power, and she precocious told the blimpish activistic Charlie Kirk connected his podcast that if she ever managed to clasp that aforesaid position, “I would reign with an robust fist.”) When I mentioned this to Emanuel Cleaver, a 77-year-old United Methodist pastor from Missouri who has been a Democratic subordinate of Congress since 2005, helium replied: “I judge that she really believes that astir us. But arsenic I punctual myself each the time, sincerity unsocial does not marque a anemic doctrine strong.”

Cleaver went connected to say: “We are successful an epoch of nationalism, each crossed the satellite and present astatine home. And there’s a symbiotic narration betwixt nationalism and religion. Human beings often premix their governmental content with spiritual fervor. It allows them to deliberation that they’re God’s agent.” Cleaver told maine that helium had been incapable to hide the video clip from the Jan. 6 insurrection successful which a QAnon adherent named Jacob Chansley joined different rioters successful storming the vacant enclosure of the Senate. Chansley, the alleged Q Shaman, stood astatine the rostrum and led others successful prayer, saying: “Thank you for allowing the United States of America to beryllium reborn. Thank you for allowing america to get escaped of the Communists, the globalists and the traitors wrong our government.”

“It doesn’t instrumentality overmuch theology to recognize that what galore of them astatine the Capitol that time believed was that they were an service of God,” Cleaver told me. “And that’s what scares maine astir Christian nationalism present successful America.”

But the attraction system manifestly rewards her performative combativeness, some successful online donations and successful societal media ubiquity. That this was not conscionable immoderate blessed coincidence, but successful information an assiduously strategized halfway of Greene’s governmental machine, became evident much than a twelvemonth ago, erstwhile I met 2 of her seniormost advisers (who, arsenic a precondition for our conversation, requested anonymity truthful that they could talk freely astir their boss) astatine a edifice successful the Atlanta suburbs.

One of them challenged me: “Who bash you deliberation are the apical 5 Republicans successful the House, different than the ones successful leadership?” The advisor past clarified that this was not a Beltway lobbyist popularity contest. “I’m not talking astir who K Street wants. I’m talking about, if you had 5 House Republicans connected a nationalist ballot, who would the nationalist ballot for?”

It was a revealing question. Tom DeLay had erstwhile told maine that determination were 3 vocation paths for immoderate subordinate of Congress: to beryllium successful leadership, to beryllium a committee stalwart oregon to beryllium a tireless advocator for your district. Greene had chosen a 4th path. Her ambition was to beryllium a nationalist figure.

She has achieved this favoritism successful portion done an extremist posture that whitethorn good beryllium earnestly felt but is besides politically calculated. In May, I accompanied Greene connected a 13-hour primary-campaign plaything done her district. Two years earlier, her run slogan was “Save America Stop Socialism.” Now her gait signs read: “Save America Stop Communism.” Her elder advisor Isaiah Wartman said, “We’ve moved the needle.”

That Greene honestly believes America has present fallen prey to a Communist authorities seems unlikely. (When I asked her astir a assertion she had made that Jamie Raskin is simply a Communist, Greene responded: “Yes! Have you work astir his father?” Marcus Raskin was a longtime progressive authorities unit subordinate and ne'er a subordinate of the Communist Party.) It has truthful been tempting for her detractors, and for that substance galore Washington journalists, to respect her arsenic pernicious but yet unserious — and, similar her governmental godfather, Trump, arsenic idiosyncratic who appears much attuned to what works arsenic an applause enactment than what fits her halfway beliefs. I tended toward this presumption successful my aboriginal appraisal of Greene, peculiarly aft she accosted Ocasio-Cortez connected the House level and challenged her to a statement successful April 2021, promoting the hashtag #MTGvsAOC and a period aboriginal chasing the Democrat down a corridor of the Capitol, yelling successful afloat presumption of reporters: “Alexandria! Alexandria! Why won’t you statement me?”

But capable clip spent successful her orbit revealed that Greene’s ceaseless quest for attraction did not beryllium oregon disprove thing astir her right-wing fervor. Her committedness to the MAGA docket equals if not surpasses Trump’s. More significant, she has each volition of enacting what her Republican colleagues failed to ratify of Trump’s agenda.

“I’ve said it to them astatine conference,” Greene told maine successful May successful the backmost of her achromatic S.U.V., headed to a run lawsuit successful the northwest Georgia municipality Ringgold. “I’ve said it implicit and over: ‘The full crushed I ran for Congress was, you fundamentally [expletive] the furniture erstwhile you had your chance. You didn’t money and physique the wall. You didn’t repeal Obamacare — you didn’t bash thing astir it. You telephone yourselves pro-life, and you guys funded Planned Parenthood. You can’t neglect immoderate worse than that!’ So, no: I virtually ran for Congress due to the fact that they failed truthful severely that Nancy Pelosi became talker again.”

Among the questions facing Greene is whether the pugnacity she displays toward her chap Republicans is politically sustainable. “When you inquire yourself however things could extremity up for her,” Brendan Buck, who served arsenic counsellor and main communications advisor to the erstwhile talker Paul Ryan, said to me, “one apt anticipation is that it ends erstwhile you commencement becoming a occupation for your colleagues. Steve King became a occupation for his colleagues, and truthful did Madison Cawthorn.” Buck was referring, respectively, to the erstwhile Iowa congressman who was marginalized by the House G.O.P. for expressing white-supremacist views, and to the freshman from North Carolina who was defeated by a Republican superior challenger aft a bid of incidents that included claiming that chap Republicans had invited him to cocaine-fueled orgies. Buck continued: “It’s precise casual to spot her becoming a occupation arsenic well, whether it’s continually claiming they’re not blimpish capable oregon them continually having to respond to her craziness. That’s the quickest mode to spot yourself retired of the chamber.”

Even without alienating her Republican colleagues, Buck said, Greene faced an further conundrum. “The driving dynamic among members similar her has been the conflict for relevance,” helium told me. “Everything revolves astir making your dependable substance and making your dependable heard successful the blimpish media ecosystem writ large. Turning the enactment successful the absorption you privation requires your viewpoint being echoed hundreds of thousands of times.”

Greene erstwhile told maine that erstwhile the Georgia G.O.P. constitution archetypal encountered her successful 2019, “They looked astatine maine similar I was a three-headed monster.” This was hardly the lawsuit anymore. Every Republican campaigner successful her authorities — and much crossed the state — seemed to beryllium mimicking her. Georgia’s 10th Congressional District, to instrumentality conscionable 1 example, had been vacated by the Republican incumbent Jody Hice and subsequently had a tract of candidates that included 3 Greene wannabes. One was a demolition-company proprietor whose kickoff advertisement featured the campaigner bashing assorted walls and doors with a sledgehammer portion promising to “crush the woke mob and their cancel culture.” A 2nd pledged to present articles of impeachment against Biden connected his archetypal time successful office, conscionable arsenic Greene had done. A third, Mike Collins, who ended up arsenic the nominee, vowed during his announcement speech, “I’ll marque a large teammate for Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene.”

When I brought this up to Greene, she replied, “It’s astir cookie-cutter for immoderate of these candidates.”

She didn’t look oregon dependable particularly blessed to beryllium the recipient of specified flattery. I thought I understood why. “If everybody starts acting similar Marjorie Taylor Greene,” I said, “then Marjorie Taylor Greene is nary antithetic from anyone else. And successful the presumption of immoderate people, this is Trump’s occupation now.”

“Too overmuch Trump?” She asked it rhetorically; it was wide that the question was 1 she had already been pondering. Neither of them was an wrong relation similar Kevin McCarthy oregon Mitch McConnell. Both derived their outsize power successful the G.O.P. from their quality to bid the airspace of the right-wing ecosystem. They achieved this not simply by being the astir outrageous voices successful the country but besides by being much outrageous contiguous than they were the time before. They were competing against themselves and against their adoring mimics. Their rhetorical one-upmanship was progressively acheronian and violent. At a Trump rally successful Michigan connected Oct. 1, the erstwhile president claimed, “Despite large extracurricular dangers, our biggest menace remains the sick, sinister and evil radical from wrong our country.” Greene, arsenic portion of Trump’s warm-up act, was consenting to get adjacent much ominously specific: “Democrats privation Republicans dead, and they person already started the killings.” The erstwhile month, sharing an representation of a darkly lit Biden code successful which the president warned that immoderate connected the close were threats to democracy, Greene tweeted, “Joe Biden is Hitler,” with the hashtag #NaziJoe.

Such was the unsafe crippled of relevancy that Greene was pursuing. In victory, her dependable mightiness good go drowned retired amid the increasing chorus of MAGA supplicants. Impeach Biden? When she archetypal projected it successful January 2021, eyes rolled. Now it was each but a fixed that a G.O.P. House bulk would prehend upon immoderate rationale to swiftly statesman impeachment proceedings. Democrats were not conscionable extremist socialists but Communists? Greene had begun making this assertion astir Democratic members of Congress backmost successful June 2021. Now adjacent the National Republican Congressional Committee — the House G.O.P.’s authoritative governmental enactment — has solicited donations informing of creeping Communism nether Pelosi’s Democrats.

Greene’s connection was prevailing. What her inflammatory rhetoric mightiness devour oregon ignite, and whether that would bring her ever person to the halfway of powerfulness oregon pb to her being formed out, was yet to beryllium known. “Part of my occupation is,” she said softly arsenic her S.U.V. rolled done northwest Georgia, “I’ve been excessively early.”

This nonfiction is adapted from “Weapons of Mass Delusion: When the Republican Party Lost Its Mind,” published this period by Penguin Press.

Robert Draper is simply a contributing writer for the magazine. He is the writer of respective books, astir precocious “Weapons of Mass Delusion: When the Republican Party Lost Its Mind,” from which this nonfiction astir Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene is adapted. Stephen Voss is simply a lensman successful Washington known for his portraits of governmental figures. His photographs are held successful the imperishable postulation of the Library of Congress.