The term “Fascism” gets thrown around a lot in our current political climate. It makes sense: the term evokes an emotionally charged and binarily immoral image: one of World War II dictators, oppressive regimes, and high crimes. To equate an opponent to a fascist is to relegate them to taboo and rarified air, along with some of the most despicable humanity has to offer. Perhaps the title should not be used as liberally as it is today, but that doesn’t mean it should be avoided at all costs, either.
Although there are many targets of the left’s use of fascism, one of the most prominent has to be Georgian Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. She is often raised up by Democrats as a paradigm of the radical right run amok, and dangerous ideas’ infiltration into the highest levels of government. She has been in the news countless times, mostly for baiting comments that fuel the cycle of shock at the core of modern American politics. She earned herself particularly notoriety during the COVID-19 Pandemic, and in the lead up to and aftermath of the January 6th attack. In both of these cases, Congresswoman Greene gave the alternative right stance a bullhorn by not only endorsing, but building on their fringe ideas. While most people agree that Greene is in some way “radical,” many might stop short of calling her a Fascist. Let us analyze.
In an attempt to be as impartial as impossible, let’s start with a dictionary definition of Fascism:
“A political philosophy, movement, or regime (such as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition.” (Merriam-Webster)
- Exalts Nation and often race above the individual
Overt nationalism is baked into most of Congresswoman Greene’s statements, and she is proud of this fact. She is an incredibly loyal supporter of Trump, whose entire presidential campaign was based on the Nationalist “America First” philosophy. It doesn’t really get more on the nose than “America First” when it comes to identifying Nationalism: although it is not an explicit exaltation of nation over individual rights, an obsession with military service and sacrifice of the past along with ideations of martyrdom, sacrifice, and persecution in the name of country are littered throughout Greene’s public statements:
This tweet from nearly a year ago is, as of now, pinned on her congressional twitter account. It is one of many statements made by Congresswoman Greene that seems to advocate for supporters to prepare to sacrifice their life in order to defend their country, but more importantly their ideology:
Although not necessarily as explicit, this tweet calls for Republicans to go “scorched earth” seemingly suggesting that they should do all in their power to prevent any loss of influence. Greene also takes a highly prosecutorial tone, which represents a running theme of self serving and victimizing language: it seems that in her statements, Green is constantly warning of one grand conspiracy or another, whether it be the rampant fraud in the 2020 election, or the deployment of space lasers by Jewish Americans.
This tone is purposeful: it permeates a sense of urgency and fear among supporters, and keeps them highly engaged and interested. In fact, both the conspiracies that Greene endorses and the way she spreads them are cited as common strategies of Fascists when they are attempting to take power in research papers researching the topic.
Although the exaltation of a particular race is also part of this definition, the use of this strategy is not a necessity in labeling someone a fascist. Despite this, there are signs that Congresswoman Greene partakes in this behavior.
Recently, Greene faced blowback for speaking at a White Supremacist conference planned by the leader of the proud boys in Orlando Florida. She has also faced criticism for her use of various anti-semetic and anti-muslim dog whistles, including her echoing of rampant conspiracy theories about George Soros, and her propagation of countless conspiracy theories targeteed towards these groups. More bizarrely, she has recently faced blowback after suggesting that Ukraine and the Ukraine military opposition to the Russian invasion had been infiltrated by Nazis, which is literally a talking point created by Russia.
- centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation
This part of the definition is the hardest to directly prove from Congresswoman Greene’s public statements alone, but there is still considerable evidence that she is in support of a highly regulated regime of government with a leader that has a high degree of autonomy and impunity from the law.
Shock of all shocks, the dictatorial leader that Congresswoman Greene expresses her fealty to is the one man at the root of seemingly all of these stories about the new Republican Party: Donald Trump. Greene’s expressed loyalty to Trump goes beyond any political alliance that is considered “normal” in the United States. Greene and other Trump loyalists have built such an unrelenting cult of personality for the former president that some of her rhetoric about the man often comes off as some equivalent of religious worship, with rampant falsehoods mixed in.
Her total loyalty to Trump has only been exemplified by the indictment of Trump. Ever since news of the indictment hit the news late last week, Greene has been using her platform on Twitter to attack the move as partisan in motivation, completely baseless, and in some way a violation of The Constitution. She has also used her platform to draw an equivalence between the prosecution of Trump and the prosecution of those present at the Capitol during the January 6th protests, presenting all of these indictments as a unified conspiracy to silence supporters of Trump and Trump himself:
This last tweet is especially indicative of Greene’s rhetoric–she presents the indictment of her movement’s leader as one of the darkest moments in U.S history, and as a moment where the opposition has truly crossed the rubicon. If anyone were to take everything that Greene said as truth, the rubicon moment seems to come once a week for the Democratic party, and her calls to respond to such drastic injustices have become increasingly dramatic and alarmist.
Greene has also published an ample body of evidence that suggests she has strict regulatory ambitions, both for social and economic sects of our society. Perhaps most evident in her recent statements is her aggressive pursuit of, public shaming of, and denial of transgender people and their existence in general.
Greene has grouped together Transgender people with her favorite target of attacks, the progressive left. This has spawned a number of nicknames and titles for transgender people and events: “trantifa,” “The trans mob,” and “Trans day of vengeance” (this describing International Transgender Day of Visibility).
In the past two weeks, she has accused Transgender people of planning insurrections, she has called the Trans Rights movement of being “just another political movement,” and perhaps most shockingly, has blamed puberty blockers as the motive for the recent school shooting in Nashville. Her rhetoric around this shooting has been the most galling out of these in recent days though, as she has drawn a connection between the shooting and the International Transgender Day of Visibility, somehow suggesting that a event in Washington DC related to the day was in some way untruthful or seditious because it did not acknowledge the shooting. In a subsequent tweet, she compared demonstrations on the Trans Day of Visibility to the January 6th protests in a negative light, even though she also claimed in the same week that the January 6th protests are being unjustly persecuted.
Even more interesting in this tweet is the use of the “global brands” dog whistle for globalization and modern economic policy that threatens her constituents. Greene has essentially framed all of her rhetorical targets as all belonging to the same group that is attempting to prosecute her and her supporters. Congresswoman Greene has also used this school shooting and the identity of its perpetrator to push support for her bill that bans gender affirming care for minors. She has also used the shooting as an opportunity to advocate for an increase in the presence of armed guards at schools across the country, and loosened gun laws. This creation of a common enemy and the targeted use of certain tragic events in order to alienate certain groups and call for increased regulation of civil liberties are all actions consistent with fascist leaders throughout history.
On the economic side, Congresswoman Greene has also used apocalyptic language to build a narrative of the United State’s global fall from grace, and has blamed the Biden administration and his policies for causing it:
In this final tweet, Greene’s endgame with this narrative becomes clear. It appears that she is using this doomsday narrative to support the deregulation of corporate fossil fuel interests, and to criticize the green energy transition currently underway.
- Forcible Suppression of Opposition
Congresswoman Grene’s actions under this label are perhaps the most damning of all presented thus far. Although Green frequently stops short of inciting violence directly as this would likely result in a ban from social media platforms and criticism from even her own party, she constantly suggests and refers back to retribution for the grand crimes of opposition which she frames as unambiguously evil, on almost every issue.
Although there are frankly too many examples of this to count, Congresswoman Greene has recently been on a spree of labeling all Democrats and the Democratic Party in general as pedophiles, including in this recent 60 minutes profile, and this example from her twitter:
The rhetoric that will cement Greene’s legacy as a fascist has only been touched upon so far, though: her incredible attempts to whitewash the January 6th insurrection are tantamount to propagandizing and glorifying an attempt to overthrow the government of the United States.
Greene has used her platform on numerous occasions to defend those who were involved in the January 6th insurrection, spread conspiracy theories about the involvement of the federal government in the planning of January 6th, and even suggesting that it would’ve been successful if only the insurrection had been better armed and organized by herself. It seems unnecessarily duplicative at this point to remind readers that Marjorie Taylor Greene had a role in inciting and ginning up support for the January 6th insurrection. Congresswoman Greene has managed to successfully incite a rebellion against the Government of the United States, and then defend those who perpetrated it while remaining in one of the highest offices of this government. This approach to gain more power and undermine the rule of law is also consistent with fascist leaders of the past.
So, to conclude: is Congresswoman Greene a fascist? It’s not our place to definitively state yes or no, but to us, it certainly seems like it. Perhaps the fact that this is even a question should be warning enough.
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