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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is eagerly working to secure the title of head cheerleader for the GOP's push to convert American democracy into a conservative Christian theocracy.
For years, the Georgia Republican has supported the most vile right-wing viewpoints, often under the guise of extreme religiosity. For example, she’s referenced Christianity while lobbing bigoted attacks against Muslim members of Congress like Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, and she’s claimed Christians have a godly duty to make a pilgrimage to visit Jan. 6 defendants (whom she's described as "patriots") in jail as they await trial.
Greene is an avowed Christian nationalist, the descriptor for those who believe the United States is divinely favored by God and want the country's laws to be based on Christianity. She's spent the past few weeks trying to encourage other people to adopt the overtly anti-democratic moniker as well.
On multiple occasions at the right-wing Turning Point USA conference over the weekend, Greene called on conservatives to embrace Christian nationalism, which — to be clear — is the precise view that motivated murderous white supremacist groups like the Ku Klux Klan.
“We need to be the party of nationalism and I’m a Christian, and I say it proudly, we should be Christian nationalists,” Greene said during an interview at the conference Saturday.
Those comments mirrored remarks she made during a speech at the conference, in which she told a sea of largely white attendees that “I also call myself a Christian nationalist — and that’s not a bad word.”
If you’re not getting the hint, (white) Christian nationalism is her obsession.
“I have no problem saying I’m a Christian nationalist, and I think that’s an identity that we should embrace,” Greene said during a livestream last week, making the ludicrous argument that extremist pro-Christian policies benefit all Americans “regardless of how they vote.”
And during a livestream last month, Greene claimed that nationalism is “a good thing” and that Christian nationalism isn’t “something to be scared of.”
As a rule, none of us is well-served taking Greene's claims as truth. Ever.
Thankfully, far more educated people have documented the Christian roots of American bigotry and violence. And the modern ties that bind are clear, too. Today, the Christian nationalist movement is united around oppressive ideas such as rescinding federal abortion rights, overturning elections its supporters don’t like and pushing racist conspiracy theories, including the "great replacement theory," which allegedly inspired a suspect to gun down 10 Black people in a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, in May.
The fact that one of the most anti-democratic members of Congress wants to become the movement’s loudest cheerleader tells us all we need to know about where Christian nationalism leads.