Marjorie Taylor Greene selling out Jackson County event reveals dangerous GOP values | Opinion

This weekend, Kansas City is going to be the site of a very expensive magic show — one where it would be easier to pull a rabbit out of a hat than offering a sheen of respectability to U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.

The Republican superstar from Georgia is coming to town as the Jackson County Republican Party‘s keynote speaker at its Lincoln-Reagan Dinner in Blue Springs.

In another sleight of hand, the GOP also wants to portray itself as the party of American values, while hosting a headliner who spouts the very talk that puts many Americans at risk.

Obviously, the party can invite whomever it wants to lead its event. It’s not like it was going to bring Al Gore or Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to town. And in 2023, it seems even less likely it would stick to its own and ask a Republican like Sen. Mitt Romney or Mike Pence.

But since the invitation could go to any prominent Republican in the United States, selecting Greene pretty concretely tells us what doesn’t matter to local Republicans:

Facts.

Common sense.

Civil discourse.

Democracy.

Equality for all Americans.

A firm grasp on reality.

At one point in the not-so-distant past, Republicans acted as if they were fans of the proverbial big tent of inclusiveness where — in theory — they want more young people, minorities and moderates to build their base.

But clearly, the Jackson County GOP thinks that putting its stamp of approval on a conspiracy theory-loving firebrand who hugs up on QAnon reflects who its voters are. That they believe her illogical, hurtful rhetoric is what they want their party to sound like. That they want a woman who claimed rich Jewish financiers arranged for space lasers to start California forest fires to be the face of their party.

The paid VIP event (price tag: $60 to $5,000) is scheduled for Saturday at the Blue Springs Elk Lodge. It’s understandable that the county GOP proudly thinks that Greene is a good “get” for them, since seats are sold out. She’s a ride-or-die for Donald J. Trump, and has carried his water for every outrageous, false claim about how he was cheated out of the 2020 presidential election. The party must consider that a plus.

Republicans can believe what they want to believe. Their party holds a lot of positions that work for them, even if most Americans disagree, or don’t find them to be pressing emergencies.

But Greene rarely just leaves it at the usual GOP talking points. No, she has to go for the outrageous characterization repeatedly. Who knows whether she really swallows it herself?

For example, Greene went off this week on a House bill that would strengthen protections for the tiny minority of transgender Americans, amid an onslaught of Republican-led legislation around the nation that targets that community as its current favorite chew toy. But Greene has to refer to the modest proposed update to the Civil Rights Act as “apocalyptic” and a “weapon to destroy all of our rights.”

That kind of hyperbole from a member of Congress is dangerous. And by Greene’s standards, that was almost mild.

Greene said that 9/11 was a hoax. She calls for a “national divorce” to separate red states from blue states. She got elected openly supporting QAnon. She called Democrats pedophiles on “60 Minutes” earlier this month. She excuses the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrectionists while equating Black Lives Matter protesters to the Ku Klux Klan.

In mid-2020, Republican leaders around the country were openly critical of then-candidate Greene. Today, she’s the party’s leading lady.

Marjorie Taylor Greene has zero ties to Missouri or Jackson County. But if her malicious, unhinged, fraudulent, bigoted rhetoric is worthy of a keynote speech to local Republicans, that makes it particularly noteworthy. It’s a window into just what the present and future of Missouri GOP politics look like.