CNN
,
Over the weekend, Republican Reps. Marjorie Taylor Green of Georgia and Paul Goser of Arizona spoke at a conference Organized by a prominent white nationalist.
Yes, you read that right. Terrible.
Now the question is what will Republicans do about it. Or, more specifically, what House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy would do about it.
on monday night, McCarthy tells CNN’s Melanie Zanona That it was “horrendous and wrong” for Green and Goser to speak at an event set up by far-right activist Nick Fuentes. McCarthy added: “There’s no place for any of this in our party. It’s unacceptable.”
McCarthy was noncommittal when asked about Green on Tuesday. “I understand your work” he told reporters, “I understand what you’re trying to do. I’ve already commented on it.”
To which I would say: yes, but what are you going to do about it?
If the past is the preamble, the answer to that question is more likely no.
Go back to early 2021, when a series of previous incendiary and violent statements came to light created by green, McCarthy met with Greene, but took no action to punish him for his actions.
“Previous comments and endorsements by Marjorie Taylor Green on school shootings, political violence, and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories do not represent the values or beliefs of the House Republican convention,” McCarthy said in a statement at that time. “I categorically condemn those comments.”
eleven republicans – not involving McCarthy – voted with House Democrats to remove Green from his committee assignments.
A few months later, Green was in the news again when He compared mask-wearing policies to the Holocaust,
Again, McCarthy was not happy. “Marjorie is wrong, and her deliberate decision to compare the horrors of the Holocaust to wearing a mask is appalling,” he told“The Holocaust is the greatest atrocity committed in history. The fact that it needs to be said today is very disturbing.”
And, again, he took no formal action to reprimand her.
So, what can McCarthy do this time?
1) McCarthy can sign a motion of censure in the House. While condemnation is not common, It does happen. In fact, Gosar was condemned by the House last year Following the promotion of a photoshopped video in which he was depicted killing Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and attacking President Joe Biden.
2) McCarthy may push for a formal reprimand. The last member to be reprimanded in 2020, Arizona Republican Rep. David Schweikert, after a House Ethics Committee investigation found he had committed a crime Series of campaign finance violations,
3) McCarthy could have decided that Republican campaign committees would not accept contributions from Greene (or Gosar) or use one of them to raise money for those campaign weapons.
At this point, McCarthy’s scolding Greene is pointless. As has been repeatedly demonstrated over the past year, the party leadership’s strong words do little to slow Green’s saying and doing.
So, the ball is (again) in McCarthy’s court. Will he (again) punt when he takes real steps to punish Greene?