Despite Death Threats, House Dems Still Can't Agree That Marjorie Taylor Greene Should Be Expelled

Freshman Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has only been in office for three months, but the Georgia Republican already earned a top spot on Democrats’ shit list. From her evangelism of QAnon conspiracy theories, to her covid-19 skepticism, to her penchant for harassing school shooting survivors and falsely claiming President Biden stole the 2020 election, Greene is the face of Trumpism in the post-Trump era.

But her cavalier approach to politics has landed her in hot water. In February Green was stripped from Congressional committees for old social media posts supporting violence against elected Democrats, and now, some Democrats are taking things a step further: Trying to expel her from Congress entirely.

On Friday, Democratic Congressman Jimmy Gomez formally introduced a resolution that would expel Rep. Greene from Congress over violent remarks she made on social media before her congressional run.

“I believe some of my Republican colleagues, and one in particular, wish harm upon this legislative body,” Gomez said. “And I’m not saying this for shock value. It’s the conclusion I drew after a member of Congress advocated violence against our peers, the Speaker, and our government.”

Gomez then implicated Greene as complicit in the deadly January 6 Capitol riot, in which pro-Trump insurrectionists penetrated the Capitol grounds and left lawmakers under lockdown, many worried that they wouldn’t make it out alive.

“I take no joy in introducing this resolution,” Gomez said. “But any member who incites political violence and threatens our lives must be expelled. And I’ll do everything I can in my power to protect our democracy and keep all my colleagues safe.”

That violence includes Greene liking a Facebook comment that said “a bullet to the head would be quicker” as a way of ousting House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and responding to a proposal to hang President Obama and Hillary Clinton with “Stage is being set…We must be patient. This must be done perfectly or liberal judges would let them off.” During her run, Greene was responsible for a Facebook ad of herself holding an assault weapon next to the portraits of Democratic Reps. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, three members of the so-called Squad. The ad read “SQUAD’S WORST NIGHTMARE”. Facebook removed the ad for violating its rule against “language that incites or facilitates serious violence.”

Only five members of the House of Representatives have been expelled since its founding.

So far, 72 Democrats co-sponsor Gomez’s resolution, including Reps. Ocasio-Cortez, Maxine Waters, Eric Swalwell, Joaquin Castro, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz. But it’s an uphill climb even if every single House Democrat supports the resolution: two-thirds of the House would have to vote in favor, and the current partisan split makes this an impossible feat. It doesn’t help that the most powerful Democrat in the House doesn’t support the legislation either.

During a Friday press conference, Pelosi said, “Members are very unhappy about what happened here, and they can express themselves the way they do. What Mr. Gomez did is his own view. And that is not [the] leadership position.”