By Ben Nadler
Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene, who expressed racist views and support for QAnon conspiracy theories in a series of online videos, has won a U.S. House seat representing northwest Georgia.
Her candidacy was bolstered by President Donald Trump, who has called her a “future Republican Star.”
Greene was heavily favored in the conservative district even before Democratic challenger Kevin Van Ausdal suddenly dropped out in September, saying he was moving out of state.
Greene thanked her staff and asked supporters to pray for President Donald Trump to win reelection at a watch party Tuesday night, video of which was livestreamed on Facebook.
In her remarks, Greene pledged to “fight hard to make sure that Nancy Pelosi and the squad and the radical Democrats in the House do not steal anything away from America, because this country was never ever meant to be a socialist nation.”
Greene is a businesswoman and political newcomer who’s gained large followings on social media in part by posting incendiary videos and comments.
Greene has claimed in online videos that Black and Hispanic men are being held back by “gangs and dealing drugs,” alleged an “Islamic invasion” of government offices and accused Jewish billionaire George Soros of collaborating with Nazis.
She has also embraced QAnon, a far-right U.S. conspiracy theory centered around the debunked belief that Trump is fighting a secret campaign against “deep-state” enemies and a child sex trafficking ring of satanic pedophiles and cannibals.
In more recent videos and posts, she has attacked everything from the Black Lives Matter movement to the use of facemasks to protect against the coronavirus.
After some of her comments came to light, Greene was condemned by some future House colleagues within her own party, but many other Republicans including Trump and Republican U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler have embraced her.
She had a blunt message for her detractors in a speech after winning a GOP primary runoff in August: “I will not apologize.”
“Congratulations to future Republican Star Marjorie Taylor Greene on a big Congressional primary win in Georgia against a very tough and smart opponent,” Trump tweeted after her primary win. “Marjorie is strong on everything and never gives up - a real WINNER!”
Greene initially started campaigning for a different House seat, challenging Democratic Rep. Lucy McBath in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District, made up of suburbs north of Atlanta. She switched to the more conservative 14th District after Republican Rep. Tom Graves announced that he wasn’t seeking reelection.
Democrats weren’t able to replace Van Ausdal on the ballot because he dropped out too close to the election, leaving Greene essentially unopposed in the race.
The seat has been open since Graves stepped down in October.
Young Americans face a double burden from crushing student debt and the ballooned federal deficit that is the result of President Trump's tax cut, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told Cheddar's J.D. Durkin in an interview that aired Wednesday. Pelosi called the economic position many millennials find themselves in, even as the economy remains strong, "unconscionable." "Republicans foisted onto future generations [an] economy that is unfair, that is not really lending itself to growth in a strong, predictable, confident, certain way," Pelosi said.
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Between changes in the tax code and the government shutdown, H&R Block knows this year's tax season is likely to be stressful for many. That's why the company's introducing a slate of tools, some artificial intelligence-enabled, to help make it easier and more transparent to file. "This year we are introducing upfront, transparent pricing, so every single consumer will know what's it going to cost before I start," H&R Block CEO Jeff Jones told Cheddar.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2019.
The battle of the billionaires may be heating up ahead of the 2020 presidential race, as former mayor and media mogul Michael Bloomberg took a swipe at ex-Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz after he announced a potential run for president as an independent during an interview on "60 Minutes" Sunday. The two billionaires are looking in part to capitalize on their corporate success to gain an edge against President Trump, who leveraged his business career to gain the presidency. "Anything is really possible at this point, and you don't want to ignore a white billionaire announcing a candidacy for president," Julia Manchester, reporter at The Hill, told Cheddar Monday. "We saw it happen in 2015 and \[Trump]\ won."
The U.S. Treasury on Monday announced sanctions against Venezuela's state-owned oil firm in an effort to undermine incumbent president Nicolás Maduro and reinforce support for interim president Juan Guaidó. Brett Bruen, a former diplomat and director of global engagement under President Obama, called the administration's decision a "rare bright spot" in Trump's foreign policy. "The Trump administration is holding firm to defend democracy, they are standing up for human rights, they are standing up for the rule of law," Bruen told Cheddar Monday.
Trump's political calculus to appeal to his base ー an older, whiter, more conservative demographic ー is coming at the expense of his popularity among millennials, said Kristen Soltis Anderson, a Republican pollster and author of "The Selfie Vote: Where Millennials Are Leading America." That poses a problem for the GOP as it seeks to broaden its tent in anticipation of a future when Donald Trump is not on the ballot.
