Marjorie Taylor Greene, the QAnon lunatic who is on her way to Congress with a mutual admiration for Atlanta Dream co-owner and racist coup d’etat enthusiast Kelly Loeffler, already is showing just what a disaster she is going to be for everyone who comes within six feet of her.
Following the first session of new member orientation for Congress, Greene tweeted about her opposition to masks, saying that, “I proudly told my freshman class that masks are oppressive” and that in Georgia, “we work out, shop, go to restaurants, go to work, and school without masks.”
Maybe so, but maybe that’s also why there were 3,107 more cases of COVID-19 in Georgia on Thursday. Elected officials also do not have a special immunity, as state Senator David Lucas is hospitalized in Macon, and 11 percent of the Georgia Senate has been infected.
The most galling thing about Greene’s tweet is an anti-abortion Congresswoman-elect co-opting “My body, my choice” to talk about her own negligence in wanting to put her colleagues at risk of a deadly virus. She can fuck all the way off for that bit of rhetorical malice, but also, while abortion is legal in the United States, her #FreeYourFace message does not apply to workplaces, such as Congress.
One such example is the NFL, where punter Scott Player was the last man allowed to wear a single-bar facemask on his helmet, the look that Reggie Roby paired so well with his wristwatch and made Gary Anderson look like he was about to jump the Snake River Canyon.
It’s not just football. Tim Raines was the last player in Major League Baseball allowed to wear a helmet with no earflaps. Since Craig MacTavish retired, everyone in the NHL has to wear a helmet.
And now, in Congress, the representatives are required to wear masks during committee meetings, and those members of the House who do not wear masks can be barred from speaking.
Greene is right that she does have a choice. Her choice is either to be a responsible grown-up, put on a damn mask, and help stop the spread of a virus whose death toll in this country is nearing a quarter of a million… or she can face consequences and not be allowed to speak in Congress.
Given what Greene has to say when she does speak, that’s a win-win.