Opinion | Marjorie Taylor Greene Has a Decision to Make

Source: The New York Times

Ms. Cottle writes about national politics for Opinion and is a host of the podcast "Matter of Opinion."

Marjorie Taylor Greene seems even thirstier for attention than usual. The Georgia congresswoman recently caused a rumpus in a House Oversight Committee meeting by mocking the eyelashes of a Democratic colleague, Jasmine Crockett. (The episode went viral. Of course.) Days later Ms. Greene dialed up the lunacy, claiming knowledge of a deep state plot to assassinate Donald Trump.

"The Biden DOJ and FBI were planning to assassinate Pres Trump and gave the green light. Does everyone get it yet???!!!!" she posted on X. "What are Republicans going to do about it?"

Um, nothing. Because it is not true. Ms. Greene was just running wild with new details about the government's 2022 efforts to recover the piles of documents Mr. Trump hoarded at Mar-a-Lago and spinning out a bonkers conspiracy theory. So, you know, the usual M.T.G. antics.

Except for this: In the wake of Ms. Greene's failed crusade to depose House Speaker Mike Johnson, her craziest-clown-at-the-carnival act seems to have descended into a sad clown party of one. Not long ago, people were buzzing about the MAGA radical as a kind of shadow speaker, the woman who had her party's leadership running scared. For weeks this spring, her threats against Mr. Johnson had reporters swarming all over her like flies on ... honey. But now? Even MAGA-friendly conservatives sound tired of her.

Three years into her congressional tenure, Ms. Greene has reached a defining moment of sorts. Does she want to remain a fringy, bomb-lobbing troll in the backbenches, or will she try to become something more? Thinking about this, I put in a call to Newt Gingrich, another Georgia conservative who once made a major transformation along these lines. The former House speaker had some pointed thoughts about Ms. Greene's path forward.

She is like that fractious cousin who comes to Thanksgiving dinner, said Mr. Gingrich. "They're cute up through the salad. Then they start to become obnoxious, and by dessert, you want to send them outside."