Mitch McConnell Calls Marjorie Taylor Greene’s ‘Loony Lies’ a ‘Cancer’ for the GOP

After spending weeks defending former President Donald Trump’s wild conspiracy theories about the election being stolen, GOP Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is now pushing back against the “loony lies” being shared by Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.

“Loony lies and conspiracy theories are cancer for the Republican Party and our country,” McConnell said in a statement Monday evening, first reported by the Hill.

“Somebody who's suggested that perhaps no airplane hit the Pentagon on 9/11, that horrifying school shootings were pre-staged, and that the Clintons crashed JFK Jr.'s airplane is not living in reality. This has nothing to do with the challenges facing American families or the robust debates on substance that can strengthen our party.”

McConnell’s decision to hit out at Greene comes after weeks of high-profile exposés about conspiracy theories the freshman lawmaker has been spreading over the last four years, including some of the most extreme and debased QAnon fantasies.

While there’s much GOP hand-wringing about Greene’s extremist views now, they were well-known long prior to her victory in November’s election. However, neither McConnell nor any other member of Republican party leadership publicly criticized her during her candidacy.

For her part, Greene took the latest criticism in her stride and lashed out at McConnell, questioning his Republican credentials.

“The real cancer for the Republican Party is weak Republicans who only know how to lose gracefully,” Greene tweeted. “This is why we are losing our country.”

In fact, rather than being ostracized by the Republican party for her views, Greene was promoted. The GOP leadership appointed her to the House Education and Labor Committee, despite the Georgia lawmaker repeatedly claiming school shootings like Parkland and Sandy Hook were “false flags.”

But Democrats are now moving to force Republicans to sanction Greene.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer delivered an ultimatum GOP House Leader Kevin McCarthy on Monday, according to Politico, saying that either Republicans strip Greene of her committee assignments within 72 hours, or Democrats will bring the issue to the House floor.

While McCarthy is scheduled to meet Greene this week to discuss her embrace of practically every conspiracy theory under the sun, the more consequential meeting is likely to be between Greene and Trump, who still holds a huge amount of power within the Republican party.

Ahead of November’s vote, Trump called Greene a “future star” of the Republican party—without any blowback from the party’s leadership.

On Monday night, Greene told right-wing media outlet One America News, that she had been speaking to the former president and would be meeting him in person “soon.”