Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) have a lot in common: They both love guns, have no idea how to legislate, and use their platforms to spread racist, unhinged conspiracy theories. Despite having a little spat here and there over things like one attending a white nationalist event that the other would prefer to quietly cheer on, these two have every reason to be bosom buddies in Congress. But as of roughly 6:50 p.m. ET Monday night, whatever friendship existed between Marge and Bobes was officially pronounced dead.
First, some important background: The House Republican caucus, just a couple weeks from taking power, has spiraled into chaos. They’re steeped in drama and infighting over Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s bid for Majority Leader—Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) told CNN last week that “you can’t govern with a gun to your head,” referring to his own caucus—and 13 GOP members sent a letter to Senate Republicans Monday night threatening to block all legislation they care about in the next session if they let the Democrats’ omnibus bill pass. In short: Republicans underperformed in the midterms, and they’re coping by eating their own.
It was in this context that Boebert appeared alongside Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) on the Charlie Kirk Show Monday night. Both were asked about the fact that they disagree with Greene over her unconditional support for McCarthy’s leadership. Gaetz answered the question carefully, noting that while he’s a “fan” and “admirer” of Greene, he has a different opinion on this issue. Boebert took a less diplomatic approach and just threw Greene under the bus.
“I’ve been aligned with Marjorie and accused of believing in a lot of the things she believes in,” Boebert said, laughing condescendingly. “I don’t believe in this, just like I don’t believe in Russian space lasers...Jewish space lasers.”
The Boebert soundbite, of course, deeply offended Greene, who called it “high school drama” in a multi-tweet rant Monday night and threw back some shade of her own. Boebert, Greene pointed out, just nearly lost her reelection race to a Democrat in a solidly red district (which is probably why Boebert is so aggressively trying to distance herself now from Greene)—and she’s turning on the Republicans who helped her hold onto her seat. “She childishly threw me under the bus for a cheap sound bite,” Greene wrote.
Now, Greene does have a tendency to overreact about perceived slights: She wants to impeach President Joe Biden, for instance, for bringing Brittney Griner home from a freezing cold Russian prison camp, and she recently gave a speech about how upset she is that Target and CVS sell butt plugs. But I can see, in this case, why she’d be upset that a former friend and colleague who’s equally as terrible as she is—and in all the same ways—just kind of randomly shat on her on national television. And while I rarely take pleasure in two women fighting, I’ll admit there’s something satisfying and funny about seeing these two particular ones engage in combat.
The Greene and Boebert feud doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things, except that they represent real people, and their petty drama is just a symptom of a bigger disease plaguing their party—which is about to control a whole chamber of Congress. So 2023 is going to be interesting.