The GOP Gives Away The Whole Game
The contemporary Republican Party, that authoritarian entity which gave us Donald Trump, the first former President to be indicted for multiple felonies, revealed their true ideologies this past week, and both politicians who gave voice to them, uttered truths that cannot be spun away, no matter how hard their PR flacks try. The first such demonstration of the GIOP’s true colors came from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) who had occasion to publicly flail Randi Weingarten, the current president of the American Federation Of Teachers (AFT). The occasion for Greene’s verbal assault was a Congressional hearing on school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Weingarten had been called to testify on her recommendation to the Centers For Disease Control (CDC) on whether the nation’s classrooms should be shut down.
It’s important to note at the outset, that issues of workplace safety — read: protecting her members from hazardous conditions like a global plague — are, literally and figuratively, part of Weingarten’s job. The educator, labor leader, and mother made gave her advice and counsel to the health officials, based on her responsibilities and experience in all three of those areas. That was part of her portfolio as the AFT head. None of that, however, especially Weingarten’s role as a mother (more anon on that in a moment), deterred Greene from immediately launching into a blistering ad hominem attack against Weingarten.
Greene started her cross-examination of Weingarten by asking if the union chief was a “mother”. Weingarten replied, ““I am a mother by marriage, and my wife is here with me. So I’m really glad that she’s here.” Greene, her voice dripping with contempt, continued, “by marriage. I see.” Having identified herself as LGBTQ, Weingarten seemed to further agitate a clearly indignant Greene, who insisted that she, Weingarten, wasn’t qualified to speak to the CDC on matters involving school closures.
“You have no business advising the CDC what the medical guidelines were for school closures, because now we have a nation of schoolchildren who suffered because of it,” Greene fulminated. “The problem is people like you need to admit that you’re just a political activist. Not a teacher, not a mother and not a medical doctor.” Even after that tongue-lashing, Greene wasn’t finished berating her witness. The Georgia legislator, who has made her anti-LGBTQ bigotry hallmarks of her political career, then proceeded to bring up a purported correlation (specious at best, and almost certainly inaccurate) between COVID school closings, and an increase in the number of trans children. “[S]ince this time, these school closures, we’ve seen a dramatic increase in trans-identifying children,” Greene spat, “which is not something that was normal nor common many years before this, and I think that’s completely devastating.” Burnishing her far-right credentials by badgering a witness is stock in trade for GOP lawmakers, but did her harangue actually have a legitimate legislative purpose?
I discussed this with Jess Branas, the current director of Pennsylvania’s 163rd Legislative District Office, until recently held by former PA State Rep. Mike Zabel. Jess is a lesbian and former teacher, just like Weingarten, a bestselling author, and host of the popular Drinks With Jess podcast. “No, there was no legislative purpose to that vicious attack,” Jess observes, “except to smear [Weingarten} and bully her.” Branas noted that Greene’s lack of education was apparent in her recent remarks on Tucker Carlson’s ouster at Fox News, saying “that [Greene] was attacking a teacher, just shows she didn’t listen to her own teachers in school.” Instead of a thoughtful, relevant line of questioning, Branas points out, Greene “just spewed her usual hateful rhetoric. No legislative value at all.” In so doing, Greene gave away the lie that the GOP isn’t the party of wanton cruelty. But wait, as the TV ads say, there’s more.
Just in case anyone was inclined to think Greene’s broadsides against Weingarten (and the LGBTQ community collectively) were mere shots fired in isolation, consider now the words of Florida State Rep. Jeff Holcomb (R-Spring Hill). He’s not the least bit reticent about stating certain items for the record, so everyone can see. Railing against inclusivity in our Armed Forces, specifically his view of “woke social engineering and experimentation practices” at the Defense department, Holcomb had a shocking moment of candor. Comparing and contrasting the summary execution of gay men by the Taliban in Afghanistan with his own party’s attitudes, he dropped this little nugget of truth about the GOP: “Our terrorist enemies hate homosexuals more than we do”. In that one sentence, Holcomb laid bare the real attitude of his party towards the LGBTQ community. It was never, nor is it now, about “protecting children” — or anyone else. The Republicans have introduced or passed 650 anti-LGBTQ bills in 46 states around the country so far this year.
That’s the whole game, and it’s not about children, education, or anyone’s actual well-being. Simply put, it’s about who they hate, which is also who their constituents hate, which wins elections for the GOP. Two of their lawmakers (among many others, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has made homophobia and transphobia the foundation of his administration), have made this manifestly clear: They want LGBTQ people removed fromour society, and they’re following their playbook to the letter. Know the game.
