Marjorie Taylor Greene is a Georgia construction company owner and proud believer in the QAnon conspiracy theory, who is favored to win the state’s traditionally Republican 14th Congressional District seat after a strong primary finish last week.
Greene won 41 percent of the vote in the Republican primary and will proceed to a runoff election versus fellow Republican John Cowan in August, Northwest Georgia News reported. Cowan won 20 percent of the vote. Both are vying for the Republican nomination to replace outgoing Rep. Tom Graves, who is retiring.
Greene is adamant about her unconditional support of President Donald Trump and has on video professed her belief in the outlandish QAnon theory, alleging that many of the predictions made by “Q” have “really proven to be true,” according to the Daily Beast.
Here’s what you need to know about Marjorie Taylor Greene and her belief in the QAnon conspiracy theory.
1. She Has Aligned Herself Strongly With President Trump & Alleges That Democrats Are Socialists ‘Trying To Destroy The Country’
Greene is the owner of a construction company and contributor to the online pro-police journal Law Enforcement Today, according to her campaign website. Her campaign motto is “Save America, stop socialism.”
She claims to want “secure borders, healthcare security, low taxes and less government.” Greene also boasts of being 100 percent pro-life, pro-Second Amendment, pro-Trump and pro-America.
Greene told Northwest Georgia news that “radical left Socialist Democrats” are “trying to destroy the country” by defending looters and rioters. “They want to cut our police. And they want to open our borders,” she claimed.
Greene said in a campaign video that she would like to see President Trump’s border wall finished and lower taxes. She also said she would push for an end to all federal funding for abortion. The Hyde Amendment still prohibits federal tax dollars — Medicaid — from paying for abortions except in the cases of the mother’s life being in danger, rape or incest.
2. She Is a Believer in The Bizarre, Pro-Trump Conspiracy QAnon, Also Appearing To Believe Hillary Clinton Is ‘Involved’ in Satan Worship
Getty/Rick LoomisA supporter holds a large “Q” sign at a Trump rally in August 2018.
If elected, Greene would be the first representative to enter Congress believing in the bizarre QAnon mythos. A YouTube video she recorded professing her belief in the theory is readily available online, despite her allegedly trying to scrub it — and other posts — from her social media history.
It’s difficult to map out entirely what QAnon followers believe, because the theory morphs regularly, but it generally posits that a secret elite cabal, consisting largely of high-profile Democrats, billionaires and Hollywood personalities, regularly abduct, rape, sacrifice and/or eat children. President Trump is the hero of the story, alongside the mysterious Q — an anonymous 4Chan, then 8Chan, then 8Kun poster who claims to have high-level security access and knowledge of the president’s thinking.
The size of QAnon’s following has grown significantly since the theory first began to spread online in late 2017, and reached the White House on several occasions, with President Trump himself retweeting conspiracy theory and QAnon-focused accounts 145 times, the Atlantic reported.
In the aforementioned video, Greene enthusiastically reports that much of what Q “says tends to come true.” She also asserts that Hillary Clinton is involved in Satanic worship.
Referencing an August 2009 email to Clinton that was released by Wikileaks in 2016, in which an unidentified state department employee or aide makes an apparently joking reference to “sacrificing a chicken in the backyard to Moloch,” Greene says that there is no doubt Clinton is part of the cabal.
“If that’s not evidence that there’s Satan worship in our government, and if Clinton wasn’t involved, why would she tell Hillary that in an email?” Greene says. “If someone told me that in an email, I would freak out and tell everyone what they said. So Hillary is obviously involved, too, because [the aide] wouldn’t have told her that, right?”
Folks, a QAnon supporter is probably going to Congress: Marjorie Taylor Greene, who extensively supports QAnon, came in 1st in her primary yesterday by a wide margin & will go a runoff in August. She’s likely favored in the runoff & then in November in this very GOP district.
Conspiracy theory researcher and author Mike Rothschild told Heavy that Greene’s comments online and in the video indicate that her beliefs fit “perfectly within the structure of the conspiracy theory.”
He said that Greene has also shown support for theories that Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar married her brother and that the Las Vegas shooting was staged to promote gun control.
“Greene isn’t as prolific in her espousal of Q beliefs as others, and there are some believers that are way further off the deep end than her,” Rothschild said. “But the prospect of having a person who thinks that U.S. military intelligence is on the verge of holding massive extrajudicial trials and executions of Democrats in the U.S. House is disturbing and dangerous.”
Greene’s campaign spokesman did not return an email from Heavy requesting comment.
3. She Made a Campaign Ad in Which She Threatens ‘Antifa’ With a Semiautomatic Rifle
Aside from the QAnon video, Greene has released a campaign ad in which she brandishes what appears to be a semi-automatic rifle and threatens “Antifa.”
In her campaign ad, Greene claims that President Trump declared Antifa a “domestic terrorist organization.”
She then racks the slide on her gun and says, “I have a message for Antifa terrorists: Stay the hell out of Northwestern Georgia. You won’t burn our churches, loot our businesses or destroy our homes.”
Antifa is a loose movement, with no traditional structure, that has roots in anti-fascist efforts in Western Europe in the early 20th Century, according to WBUR. Despite many conservative commentators — and Attorney General Bill Barr — insisting that the group is responsible for mass violence and looting, no one affiliated with the group has yet been charged with killing anyone and there is no apparent command structure, the outlet reported.
Many on the right, as well as much of the QAnon community, also believe that billionaire philanthropist George Soros funds and controls Antifa, as part of an effort to destroy the United States.
Greene has apparently also endorsed this extremely dubious claim — which is widely believed to be motivated in part by anti-Semitism, according to the Anti-Discrimination League. Soros is Jewish and his family escaped the Nazi occupation of Hungary by getting fake papers — and they helped other families to do so, according to his Open Societies Foundations website.
4. President Trump Congratulated Her on Her Primary Victory Last Week
GettyPresident Donald Trump speaks during a round table discussion with African American supporters in the White House on June 10.
On her website, Greene boasts of endorsements from Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs, the House Freedom Fund and right-wing commentator and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk.
She also appears to have the implicit endorsement of President Trump, who congratulated her via Twitter on June 12 for her primary win and called her a “big winner.”
Trump will regularly post extensive batches of Tweets endorsing or congratulating conservative Congressional candidates, usually writing that they have his “total and complete endorsement.” He does not appear to have Tweeted this message referencing Greene, so it’s unclear whether Trump officially endorses her candidacy over Cowan’s.
An email from Heavy requesting clarification from the White House press office was not answered as of Wednesday morning.
5. She Has Called Her Primary Opponent a ‘Republican in Name Only’ & Claimed He Donated To Chris Christie During The 2016 Primary While She Donated To Trump
John Cowan for CongressJohn Cowan is also running for Congress in Georgia’s 14th District.
Greene will face her opponent, John Cowan, in a runoff election in August, because state law requires the nomination go to a candidate who wins a majority of votes, rather than a plurality, according to the Athens Banner-Herald. Greene got 41 to Cowan’s 20 percent of the vote in the primary.
Cowan, a physician, describes himself from the get-go as “Pro-Trump” on his campaign website. Still, Greene has blasted him as being a “Never-Trumper.” In an Instagram post, Greene showed herself posing with Trump’s sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump and accused Cowan of donating to Chris Christie’s 2016 primary campaign while she was donating to help Trump defeat Hillary Clinton.
“While I was supporting Donald J. Trump and donating to help him defeat Hillary Clinton, my opponent cut a $2,700 check to anti-gun, pro-abortion Chris Christie to DEFEAT Donald Trump,” she wrote.
According to Federal Election Commissions records, Cowan did cut a check for $2,700 to Christie in 2015, when Christie was running for the Republican nomination.
FEC.gov screenshotJohn Cowan donated $2,700 to Chris Christie’s 2016 Republican primary campaign.
The same records show Greene donating to Trump in late 2016, after he was already the nominee, with Greene sending the campaign a $360 check. She has donated around $6,000 to Trump since the November 2016 election, according to FEC records.
FEC.gov screenshotMarjorie Greene has donated around $6,000 to Trump’s campaigns since he was elected. She does not appear to have donated during the 2016 primary.
Cowan says he will “stand with President Trump” on border security, a strong economy, anti-abortion measures and the Second Amendment on his website. In a campaign ad, he called Greene “Atlanta Marjorie” — in reference to her exiting the 6th Congressional District race and entering the 14th District’s, according to Northwest Georgia News.
“Atlanta Marjorie, we can take care of ourselves in Northwest Georgia,” Cowan says in the ad. “Go home.”
Heavy could not reach Cowan for comment.
Whoever wins the August runoff election will face Democrat Kevin Van Ausdal, who ran unopposed in his party’s primary, the Hill reported.