Following remarks indicating support for violence against Democratic leaders and espousing conspiracy theories, the House voted to strip Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA-14) of her committee assignments on Feb. 4. The very next day, Paul Kane, a congressional reporter for the Washington Post, tweeted out a picture from the Capitol of a glob of reporters surrounding Greene, waiting with anticipation to write down and highlight the kooky rants of the congresswoman. The New York Times posted a similar thumbnail of the event. With former President Donald Trump milling about in Florida and not having a Twitter anymore, it seems the political press has found a new ball of crazy to hype up as the next big headline.
A more responsible press corps might have reflected on the 2015 results of amplifying an outrageous fringe GOP candidate to national prominence over the course of four years, but such introspection rarely becomes anything substantial after a few news cycles. While it is amusing to take quick glances at articles about more conspiracist Congress members, it becomes quickly draining as they are soon elevated to the center of the news cycle for a few days, as though their craziness makes them newsworthy.
Greene herself has been all too eager to keep the fight going, reveling in a huge battle against the media as she gets to parlay her newfound fame into a lot of donations and rising popularity. It appears that giving her this kind of extreme exposure has only emboldened rather than marginalized her, now that she has a foil that is all too eager to fight with her.
After this initial glut of coverage, the press moved on until a couple of weeks later when, amidst the escalating debate about the House’s “Equality Act”, Greene posted a sign outside of her office declaring, “There are TWO genders: MALE & FEMALE …‘Trust the Science!’” She hung the sign in response to Rep. Marie Newman (IL-03) posting a video of herself hanging a trans-pride flag outside her office and criticizing Greene’s opposition to the bill over Twitter. And sure enough, the move became another hot topic with loads of coverage from major outlets.
This kind of undue attention is exactly what representatives like Greene want, amplifying their profile far above their actual importance within Congress or skills as a legislator — and raking in cash for their next election. She betrays a total lack of dedication to the job, engaging in pugnacious performances rather than serious legislative discussions. Her first legislative act was trying to impeach President Biden on inauguration day, and it is interesting to note that most of her website’s issue pages are rather empty. Still, she craves attention, and the political press is all too eager to shower her in it. News media is not bereft of coverage about the workings of Congress, but there is little value in elevating fringe figures to frontpage status or featuring them in endless opinion pieces that drown out any substantial reporting on what the nation’s legislature is actually doing.
Though Greene seems like a novelty because of her unique brand of Rothschild-funded space lasers speculations, the press has a longstanding disposition towards elevating either radical or controversial representatives that make flashy pronouncements with much less legislative importance. Of course, it is imperfect to compare the full conspiracists to those who are (usually) only political radicals, but both receive coverage disproportionate to their electoral or legislative importance.
Take the group of four, now six, new left-wing Democratic representatives, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14), who have successfully maintained their brand as “The Squad.” Many articles and think-pieces were sure to capture their public pronouncements, active social media presence, and clashes with former President Trump while rarely describing any actual legislative contributions they have made. Advocacy is still integral to being a representative, but social media is hardly representative of the general public, let alone their own districts. The Squad is more known for their sarcastic Twitter throwdowns than any significant congressional achievements. On the other hand, coverage of the many less outspoken congress members is much less likely to go trending.
The Blue Dog Coalition is a house caucus of more moderate and conservative Democratic representatives that currently make up the party’s margin of control over the house. One of their members, Rep. Jim-Cooper (TN-05), introduced a bill to create fuller transparency of government program spending that was passed through the 2021 Natural Defence authorization act in December. The group also sent a letter asking Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to expedite vaccine funding plans by separating them from an omnibus COVID relief bill. But aside from that push and from profiles immediately after elections, it is unlikely most people would have heard of any of the Blue Dogs, even though they have more importance in terms of both congressional power balance and legislation than a few vocal representatives from noncompetitive districts.
Or to return to the current Greene-Newman issue, for all the energy devoted to a Twitter spat around the act, there is relatively little focus on the actual sponsor of the Equality Act, David Cicilline (RI-01), outside of his role as an impeachment manager some weeks prior. He first introduced the act in 2015 and has continued much work in Congress since his election in 2020. How much focus will his work on crafting and pushing the bill over half a decade receive compared to yet another culture war stunt?
It is hard to deny that the coverage of random more extreme representatives is not often entertaining, but that is the exact problem: entertainment is valued over substance. Unless Greene or any other outlier representative does something substantive as a legislator, it makes little sense to reward them with abundant coverage and popular circulation when they have much less impact on the House’s actual operations. Covering the people who actually get bills passed is more dry, but it is more informative to the public about what actually happens in the legislature. The laws debated and passed now will matter more to any citizen than a conspiracist’s social media fit.
Image Credit: “Marjorie Taylor Greene swearing in” from the United States Congress is in the public domain.
