MTG’s day in court
A strange spectacle has been playing out in a Georgia courtroom in recent days. A sitting member of Congress has had to testify in a lawsuit that seeks to remove her from the ballot.
The lawmaker in question is outlandish Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene, and she finds herself having to deny the accusation that she was involved in an insurrection to obstruct Congress. The lawsuit cites a post-Civil War provision of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution that bars from Congress representatives who “shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the United States or who have “given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”
There are two things worth saying about this collision between one of Congress’s most bone-headed lawmakers and an attempt to keep her off the ballot. First, that while Marjorie Taylor Greene is not fit to serve in the House of Representatives, it would be a deeply undemocratic and worrying development for her to be legally prevented from doing so. Far better to ditch her the old-fashioned way: at the ballot box.
Not only would legally barring Greene be an unjust outcome in and of itself, it’d also set a worrying precedent. “Win at all costs” is becoming the default setting in American politics. And so it’s not hard to see the proliferation of similar cases if the lawsuit against Greene succeeds. The downward spiral in which both sides of American politics refuse to accept the legitimacy of the other side’s electoral victories would continue, albeit with an ironic twist: those concerned about Republicans ignore and overturn election results by refusing the very free and fair elections they claim to cherish.
It would be a strange and regrettable development for a court to tie Greene to legally defined insurrection, especially when none of those people who have faced or will face trial for their actions on January 6 have been charged under any of the laws against insurrection.
But, even though the case against Greene is ill-advised, the hearings have nonetheless been worth paying some attention to. Greene’s appearance in court was clarifying: to watch a peddler of so many bombastic, outlandish and reprehensible nonsense about the 2020 election have to answer questions under oath was a fresh reminder of just how irresponsible her rhetoric really is.
When presented with her past statements and questions about her actions in the build up to January 6 — calling Nancy Pelosi a traitor, comparing 2021 to 1776 and all manner of other unhinged hyperbole — the congresswoman could muster little better than, “I don’t remember” or “I don’t recall.”
Greene’s attention-seeking political theatrics struck a discordant note in the solemn atmosphere of a courtroom. And her inability to stand by her words and actions last January spoke for itself. That shouldn’t stop her from standing for re-election, but it should force her constituents to ask themselves whether they could do better.
*** Sign up to receive the DC Diary in your inbox on weekdays ***
Manchin is Mr. Popular
For his opposition to parts of Joe Biden and his Democratic colleagues’ big-spending agenda, Joe Manchin has endured a steady stream of vitriol from the left. Among the claims and threats that Manchin has shrugged off: the suggestion that his stance it at odds with the views of the West Virginians he represents, and the possibility that he might be challenged in a primary.
New polling by Morning Consult would suggest that — shockingly! — Manchin has a better sense of what West Virginians want from their senator than the average DC Democrat. Their latest survey finds that Manchin’s popularity among voters in his home state has increased by more than any other senator since this time last year. Manchin has seen a sixteen-point boost to his approval rating since Biden took office. Second and third on the list of senators who have improved their standing in their home states are John Thune of South Dakota and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, two Republicans who have often found themselves at odds with Donald Trump.
Will Trump return to Twitter?
It’s official. Elon Musk has bought Twitter. Perhaps the most immediate political question following the purchase is whether Trump will be allowed back on the site. This, paradoxically, could be the silver lining to the news for some Democrats convinced that a return of the former president to the social media site would damage the Republican Party’s chances in the midterms. It’s not hard to imagine ways in which Trump’s idle thumbs might find ways to distract from the Democrats’ failings in office. For his part, Trump says he is sticking with his own social network for the time being. “I am not going on Twitter,” he said on Fox News yesterday. “I am going to stay on Truth.”
What you should be reading today
Alexander Larman: The perverse joys of Elon Musk buying Twitter
Bill Wirtz: Macron’s fleeting win
Richard Koenig: Masks on, masks off in Philadelphia
Noah Rothman, Commentary: Nobody’s priority
Vivek Ramaswamy and Jed Rubenfeld, Wall Street Journal: How Elon Musk can liberate Twitter
Collin Anderson, Washington Free Beacon: Are menthols the GOP’s newest midterm issue?
Poll watch
President Biden Job Approval
Approve: 41.1 percent
Disapprove: 53.8 percent
Net approval: -12.7 (RCP Average)
Would you approve or disapprove of allowing up to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees to come to America?
Approve: 78 percent
Disapprove: 21 percent (Gallup)
