Marjorie Taylor Greene's "space lasers" show how the GOP gets away with escalating violence [View all]

Marjorie Taylor Greene's "space lasers" show how the GOP gets away with escalating violence
From Kari Lake's "strap on a Glock" to the Supreme Court coddling Capitol rioters, GOP threat levels are growing

By AMANDA MARCOTTE
Senior Writer
PUBLISHED APRIL 22, 2024 6:00AM (EDT)


(Salon) Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene sure knows how to get the attention she craves by saying something incredibly stupid.

"I’ve previously voted to fund space lasers for Israel’s defense," she tweeted Wednesday, demanding that the U.S. put this imaginary tech up for "defense for our border."

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Greene can be touchy when mocked about "Jewish space lasers." But she also knows that the best way to get her message out is to frame it in the dumbest terms possible. That ensures that the press covers it and liberals re-post it, while also engaging the MAGA audience that rushes forward to defend her from liberal "elites" making fun of her. (I call this the "stupid-victim cycle." ) Most of the time, this is a win-win situation. Her followers get to feel victimized, news websites get some easy traffic, and liberals get more evidence to build the case that the GOP is beyond redemption. But in this case, what got overlooked was deeply troubling: Greene is encouraging the cold-blooded killing of asylum seekers, many of whom are children.

In case that's not obvious, let me spell it out: Setting aside the factual errors, what Greene is saying is that tech used to shoot down drones and missiles should now be aimed at refugees who are entering the United States, to make use of their legal right to seek asylum. Now, the U.S. government will not do this, at least under President Joe Biden. It's both evil and violates all sorts of international law. But Greene's rhetoric is still dangerous. She's normalizing the idea of mass murdering unarmed civilians, and encouraging her supporters to enact the violence if the government won't.

....(snip)....

But of course, it is a threat. It's not even a subtle one. Whether it's the due process of the justice system or the ballot-counting process of elections, Lake is consistent: If MAGA gets an outcome they don't like, they should try to force their will through violence. As these above examples show, she's not an outlier in the Republican Party. It's become routine in the GOP to speak positively of violence against innocent and unarmed people, for the "crime" of simply not bending to their will. ................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2024/04/22/marjorie-taylor-greenes-space-lasers-show-how-the-gets-away-with-escalating-violence/