Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s behavior may be, as one of her targets/obsessions said Friday, indicative of deeper mental health issues (Daily Beast):
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) expressed concern on Friday for conservative firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s mental well-being amid Greene’s obsessive harassment of the Democratic lawmaker. Greene (R-GA) pursued and aggressively screamed at Ocasio-Cortez outside the House chamber earlier this week, prompting AOC to raise security concerns. CNN’s KFILE also unearthed a since-deleted 2019 livestream of Greene hurling abuse. “Get rid of your diaper,” Greene, who wasn’t yet a congresswoman, yelled through Ocasio-Cortez’s locked office door. “Stop being a baby and stop locking your door and come out and face the American citizens that you serve!” (One of the livestreamers with Greene at the time, Anthony Aguero, was later seen at the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.)
Considering Greene has pulled this stunt in the past with others, specifically with Parkland survivor David Hogg, Ocasio-Cortez told reporters on Friday that she’s worried Greene is “deeply unwell and clearly needs help.” “At this point, I think, the depth of that un-wellness has raised concerns for other members,” she said “I’m concerned about her perceptions of reality.”
Greene may be the most publicly unwell of the grifter caucus — Greene appears to think her job as a congresscritter is to raise money off trolling — but that condition seems more of a feature than a bug. Insert your favorite head case [here].
As I suggested the other day, just because Greene has a need to start arguments doesn’t oblige Ocasio-Cortez to give her one.
Add to Greene’s antics this report on a lawsuit filed Thursday by a former staffer of Rep. Doug Lamborn. Lamborn shares Colorado’s Republican congressional caucus with pistol-packing Rep. Lauren Boebert.
Brandon Pope filed the lawsuit over unsafe working conditions in Lamborn’s office and a disregard for his employees’ safety (Slate):
The suit says Lamborn was “reckless and dangerous” in his approach to the coronavirus, often calling it a “hoax,” and it’s hard to argue with Pope’s characterization. Lamborn, Pope alleges, refused to wear a mask or enforce any safety protocols in the office while simultaneously refusing to allow staff to work from home. The result was—surprise, surprise—many of them got sick! When Lamborn himself was exposed to infected staffers, he refused to wear a mask or isolate. “Well, I don’t care about you guys getting it,” Lamborn allegedly told his staff. When Pope raised concerns with the chief of staff, the suit says, he was branded a troublemaker and, in retaliation for raising his concerns, was ultimately dismissed in December.
In addition to allegations of generalized pandemic terribleness, the suit also offers up a host of ethics violations by Lamborn, mostly having staff run personal errands for their boss and allowing “his wife to take the Office’s supplies for her own personal use.” There is also this delightful nugget on Lamborn allowing his son to sleep in a U.S. Capitol storage room while he was in D.C. looking for a job that Lamborn had his staff help him try to land! From the suit:
The whole ethics/public servant/governance/democracy thing seems to be a foreign concept to the current class of GOP officials on Capitol Hill.