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If Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene enjoys getting attention, yesterday was a banner day for the Georgia Republican. After all, the right-wing congresswoman declared that the United States needs “a national divorce,” in which “red states and blue states” are kept “separate,” and the rhetoric did not go unnoticed.
In fact, as The Hill noted, one GOP governor was especially sharp in his denunciation of Greene’s radicalism.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R) on Monday hit back at Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s calls for a “national divorce” of Republican and Democratic states, saying the lawmaker’s rhetoric is “evil.” ... “This rhetoric is destructive and wrong and — honestly — evil. We don’t need a divorce, we need marriage counseling. And we need elected leaders that don’t profit by tearing us apart. We can disagree without hate. Healthy conflict was critical to our nation’s founding and survival,” Cox wrote on Twitter.
The governor’s reaction stood out in part because of Cox’s pointed choice of words: It’s not often that Republicans condemn other Republicans’ rhetoric as “evil.”
But just as important, if not more so, was the degree to which Cox stood alone.
To be sure, former Republican Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger seemed only too pleased to condemn their former colleague and her support for the dissolution of the United States.
But neither of them currently holds elected office. There are 222 Republicans in the U.S. House, and as best as I can tell, not one stepped up to denounce Greene or condemn her extremist idea.
In fairness, the context matters: Yesterday was a federal holiday. Members and their aides were not on Capitol Hill, and there were no reporters in congressional hallways pressing lawmakers for their reactions to yesterday’s news.
With this in mind, it’s possible that today will be entirely different. Maybe, in the coming hours, GOP leaders and rank-and-file members will express contempt for Greene and her rhetoric. Maybe Republicans will decide her role on the House Homeland Security Committee is now untenable. Maybe today will be the day that Speaker Kevin McCarthy and his members say that the Georgia extremist has gone too far, and they can no longer see her as a member in good standing of the House Republican conference.
But I rather doubt it.