There is increasing pressure on House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to reign in a rogue freshman representative who has spouted conspiracy theories and racist views.
The latest push came from the most powerful Republican in the country, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who condemned the newly elected Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia as a "cancer for the Republican Party."
McConnell referred to the many conspiracy theories Greene has espoused as
"loony lies."
Greene supports the QAnon conspiracy theory, a belief with no supporting evidence that claims that Democrats, celebrities and wealthy individuals are part of an international cabal of cannibalistic Satan worshippers who engage in child sex trafficking.
She has also claimed the Parkland shooting, which killed 17 people and injured 17 others, was staged and suggested that the California wildfires were intentionally set by lasers from space in order to clear land for the high-speed rail project.
Green’s social media accounts have "liked" posts calling for violence against Democratic leaders.
McConnell’s admonishment has aligned him with Democratic leaders who have called for Greene to lose her committee assignments.
"Suggesting that the California wildfires were created by a laser? I mean there’s just an absurdity to this," said Rep. Jackie Speier of the Bay Area.
Speier said Greene and other freshmen Republicans have promoted violent and divisive ideas, including the theory that the presidential election was illegitimate.
"It appears that Kevin McCarthy, who is the Republican leader is ill-equipped to shut it down. And they have taken on the mantle of the rioters that stormed the Capitol," she said. "It’s vicious and it’s violent and they are using the pulpit they have as members of Congress to incite criminal behavior."
Speier said there is a level of hostility in Congress that she has never experienced before.
Sonoma State political science professor David McCuan believes the divide has been growing for some time.
"In 2012 and 2014 and 2016 and subsequent elections, more and more members moved farther and farther to the right. Of course, many on the Democratic side moved farther and farther to the left. So the divide got deeper within Congress. But the divide on the right, on the Republican side, is much deeper and more fractious."
McCuan said while Trump’s presidency heightened the divide, it has only grown worse since he left office in an extremely contentious transition. "You have a whole bunch of very deep divisions that are now exposed when the principal is gone, when the president has left."
Divisions that will almost certainly grow when the Senate begins Trump’s second impeachment trial next week.
