The measure of the insanity that the political world possesses is that one thinks nostalgically of old caricatures of the extreme right such as former North American president George W. Bush and his vice president, Dick “Darth Vader” Cheney, both today implacable detractors of Donald Trump.
What I wonder is if the day will come when we also remember Trump as an example of moderation, good taste and good sense. I mean, thinking of Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. Don’t you know who Marjorie Taylor Greene is? And, she is already playing, because Trump has acknowledged that he has her on his “list” of possible vice presidential candidates for the November general elections.
In other words, one day not too far away this character could become the first woman to occupy the presidency of what is still by far the most influential country on Earth. Who is she? We will first define it in general terms.
Think of all the worst things about politics. Think about the ignorance, vulgarity, cynicism, lies, impudence and irresponsibility that define the political discourse of the right in the United States and that infects more countries every day. Think of the principle of winning for winning that defines both the left and the right everywhere, as if it were a sport, only a sport without rules in which anything goes. Think about all this, add a bottle of vodka to the cocktail, sprinkle it with cocaine and steroids, play heavy metal music in the background (‘Paranoid’ by Black Sabbath, perhaps) and The result, ladies and gentlemen: Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Before going into details, I will address those who They could accuse me of being sexist. It is precisely because I believe in the principle of gender equality that I give a woman the opportunity today to stand alongside men, always men, who I have the habit of identifying as the idiots and evildoers of the earth. I confess that I have sinned against sexism by not doing it before.
And although I am one of those who senses that If women were in charge we would live in a world in which empathy, finesse and peace would prevail over barbarism that has defined much of our species during the long reign of patriarchy, I believe that out of responsibility and a critical spirit I must question my instincts and consider the possibility that there are exceptions to the rule.
Taylor Greene, 49, would be one of them. More Trumpist than Trumpalmost as adored by the MAGA (“Make America Great Again”) masses, Taylor Greene was elected to the House of Representatives in 2021 after a campaign in which banners filled her state of Georgia with photos of her posing like Rambo with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle. As part of her appeal to voters, she posted videos on social media in which she was seen chasing and insulting an anti-gun survivor of the 2019 Parkland school massacre (yes, with an AR-15) in which they died. 17 people.
Taylor Greene is not only in favor of ending all laws that restrict the sale of firearms, but also of banning abortion in all circumstances and abandoning all measures aimed at curbing climate change. She delivers daily harengas against “rapist” illegal immigrants and against all of her political rivals, starting with President Joseph Biden, who she claims are communists and pedophiles. She hardly coherently, let’s say, supports the Israeli massacres in Gaza but she declared during a forest fire in California that she had been caused by Jewish space lasers.
Known lately as “Moscow Marjorie”, defends Putin’s war in Ukraine, repeating within Congress the Russian propaganda that the Ukrainian government is Nazi. Defender of the thesis that NATO was the cause of the war, “Vladímir Putin’s Special Envoy to the United States Congress,” according to a Democratic rival, declares that “The Ukrainian government is attacking Christians. The Ukrainian government is executing priests. “Russia doesn’t do that.”
It is no surprise that it has become on Russian state television idol, where she is described, among other things, as “a beauty of a woman.” A couple of weeks ago she addressed an audience of faithful in Florida who chanted “Putin! Putin!” while she denounced the attempts of the Congress in which she serves to approve military aid to Ukraine. Following the success of the motion this week, Taylor Greene has called for the head of her party leader, House Republican Speaker and fervent Trumpist Mike Johnson.
Is there really a chance that such a character could become vice president of the United States? Well, Trump himself always speaks wonders about her, since he has no more unconditional follower or follower of her, and he has not denied that he seriously thinks about her as a candidate. The main argument against it is not that Taylor Greene is a matchmaker, but that the devotion she inspires in the MAGA world is such that it would dawn with take all the spotlight away from Trump, whose narcissism brooks no rivals.
If I had to bet, I would say that Trump will not choose Taylor Greene. But if I had had to bet in 2016, I would not have risked a penny that Trump would be the Republican presidential candidate, or that he would later defeat Hillary Clinton. Nor would I have imagined after his electoral defeat in 2020 and the invasion of Congress on January 6, 2021 that he would not only run again in the presidential elections, but that today he would be the favorite to win them.
Therefore, it is not ruled out that the greatest nonsense in the history of democracy in the United States, or anywhere, will be overcome. I wrote in my first column of 2024 that my main wish for the good of the world was that Trump died. I’m not so sure anymore.
