Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia), a staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump, recently decried a ruling from the Colorado State Supreme Court barring Trump from appearing on the ballot for the 2024 presidential election, calling for President Joe Biden to be prosecuted for treason instead.
Such a demand is an extreme reaction, even for the far right lawmaker, given what it entails — the federal crime of treason is defined as “levying war against the United States, or adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort,” and can carry a penalty of death. Greene offered no evidence warranting charging Biden with treason, other than the fact that she wants him to enact more xenophobic immigration policies.
Although Biden’s policies have nothing to do with the Colorado State Supreme Court’s ruling, Greene appeared to insinuate that the two were connected by a conspiratorial plot — likely in an attempt to defend Trump by attacking Biden, his main competition in the 2024 race.
Greene’s demand to prosecute Biden came in a series of posts on X, the site formerly known as Twitter.
“America is in a constitutional crisis,” Greene wrote the morning after the ruling was rendered, listing a number of political grievances regarding Biden and alluding to the Colorado high court’s ruling.
“The courts are engaging in judicial tyranny,” Greene added in the post on Wednesday morning, providing no evidence to back her claim. “The government is politically weaponized against the people.”
“Soon national divorce may be our only option,” Greene continued.
In subsequent posts, Greene issued a call for Biden to be charged with treason. In one post, the Georgia lawmaker shared a news article in which she said that impeachment and removal of Biden from the White House — referring to the baseless impeachment inquiry into Biden opened by the House of Representatives — “is not enough.” Instead, Biden should “be held accountable for treason” for not enacting xenophobic immigration policies she and other Republicans want, she said in the article.
In a post she made later on Wednesday, Greene stated more definitively that “Joe Biden is guilty of treason” — again, using only her opposition to his policies (particularly on immigration) and the court cases Trump is facing to make her case.
Greene’s demands for Biden to be charged with treason echo her past suggestions that certain lawmakers deserved to die over their political leanings. After she was first sworn into Congress, for example, it was revealed that Greene had expressed support for executing public officials, and that she had previously liked a post that called for a “bullet to the head” of then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-California).
Greene made similar comments earlier this year, calling for a “national divorce” by “separat[ing] by red states and blue states.” The secessionist rhetoric from her at that time was due to her belief that so-called “woke culture issues” were supposedly being “shoved down our throats.” Critics condemned her comments as a racist dog whistle and an attempt to promote white nationalism.
Greene and other Trump allies have a different view of the Colorado Supreme Court ruling this week than the majority of Americans. According to a YouGov poll that was published on Wednesday, 54 percent of voters support the ruling, with just 35 percent saying they disapprove.
Republished from Truthout (Chris Walker, author) under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
