Marjorie Taylor Greene Came So Close to Getting the Joke
In a revealing exploration of the political landscape shaped by former President Donald Trump and his allies, a recent article highlights the stark contrast between those who “get the joke” in Washington and those who do not. The commentary centers on Marjorie Taylor Greene, a controversial figure in Congress known for her promotion of conspiracy theories such as Pizzagate and QAnon. Greene’s resignation coincided with accusations against Richard Grenell, Trump’s appointee to the Kennedy Center, who allegedly misused the institution’s substantial budget for personal favors. This situation exemplifies the kind of self-serving manipulation that Jack Abramoff, a notorious lobbyist, once described as the essence of Washington politics—where the rhetoric of ideology often masks a more sinister agenda of self-enrichment.
Greene’s political journey reveals a complex interplay of belief and exploitation. Initially, she embraced outlandish conspiracy theories, positioning herself as a leading voice within the MAGA movement. However, as the political tides shifted and her relationship with Trump deteriorated, Greene began to realize the extent of her own gullibility. Despite her earlier fervor, she found herself at odds with the very culture she had championed. Trump’s public dismissal of her, branding her a “traitor,” underscores a growing rift within the MAGA faction. Greene’s resignation was strategically timed to secure her congressional pension, highlighting her acute awareness of personal gain amidst political turmoil. While she may have profited from her time in office, her inability to grasp the deeper manipulations at play serves as a cautionary tale for others in the political arena.
The article ultimately suggests that Greene’s failure to “get the joke” may serve a greater purpose. By exposing the contradictions and moral vacuity of the MAGA movement, her story provides a lens through which the American public can better understand the underlying dynamics of political exploitation and corruption. As the political landscape continues to evolve, Greene’s experiences may resonate with those who have fallen victim to the very machinations she once championed, revealing the stark reality of a political system where manipulation often trumps genuine ideology.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JM73begEkYQ
When Jack Abramoff dominated Washington lobbying in the 1990s and early 2000s, he observed that there were two kinds of people in town: those who “get the joke” and those who don’t.
Those who got the joke understood that all of the city’s talk of ideas and principles was flimflam to conceal self-enrichment at the public’s expense. Those who didn’t, didn’t.
On the same day that Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene resigned,
The
New York Times
reported
accusations that President Donald Trump’s handpicked director of the Kennedy Center, Richard Grenell, had used the fine-arts institution’s $268 million budget to dole out favors and enrich friends and allies. If the claims—which Grenell disputes—are correct, Abramoff would recognize a fine example of “getting the joke.”
Greene didn’t get the joke. Elected to Congress in Georgia in 2020, she became one of the loudest voices in American life for
crackpot conspiracy claims
: Pizzagate, QAnon, 9/11 trutherism, and a fantasy that California wildfires might have been caused by
space lasers
controlled by Jewish bankers. She
repeated
2020-election denialism and
promoted
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s propaganda about his war on Ukraine.
For a long time, Greene’s seemingly fathomless gullibility qualified her as a MAGA leader in Congress. But the gullibility actually did have a limit. Sometime after her election, she
began to realize
that she’d been made a fool of.
[
Jonathan Chait: Marjorie Taylor Greene knows exactly what she’s doing
]
Of all the ridiculous things Greene believed, perhaps the single most ridiculous was that Trump, of all people on Earth, was leading a heroic fight against a
global network of pedophiles
.
Trump has a long and ample record on the sexual abuse of vulnerable people by powerful men. He’s for it. “When you’re a star, they let you do it,” as he explained. He has been
accused
of sexual assault by about two dozen women. One of them won a multimillion-dollar defamation verdict against him after he called her a liar. He boasted to a
radio interviewer
about intentionally walking into the changing room of a teen beauty pageant that he sponsored. He fantasized aloud about dating his daughter. He maintained a close friendship for years with Jeffrey Epstein, knowing full well that the financier liked girls “on the younger side,” as Trump told
New York
magazine in 2002. Even before Trump went into full cover-up mode about Epstein this year, you had to be as thick as a pallet of bricks to imagine that Donald Trump would want justice for sex-abuse victims.
MAGA-world insiders got the joke. They knew that some of their supporters had convinced themselves that the Democratic Party was led by
Satan-worshipping
, child-sacrificing-ritual cannibals. They also understand that any actual investigation of Epstein regarding child abuse had to be shut down, lest it implicate Epstein’s former friend and fellow accused sex offender Donald Trump. MAGA insiders played games with the Epstein story, as J. D. Vance did in a
tweet
during the Joe Biden years: “What possible interest would the US government have in keeping Epstein’s clients secret? Oh …” Vance was tickling the paranoia of the crazy fringe—without committing to any specific action that might be embarrassing to Epstein’s most intimate associates.
The double game was best symbolized by an incident in February 2025. Attorney General Pam Bondi invited 15 right-wing social-media influencers to the White House, where she
distributed
thick, white binders labeled
The Epstein Files: Phase 1
. The binders in fact
contained
no new material
of significance. Even the influencers themselves
carefully admitted
their disappointment. But what could they do? The joke must go on.
But maintaining the joke became more difficult in the fall of 2025. Even as the FBI and Department of Justice reversed former promises of transparency on the Epstein issue, materials began to leak from the deceased financier’s estate: a birthday greeting to Epstein that
bears Trump’s signature
and features a cartoon image of a naked woman; emails from Epstein himself attesting to his close relationship with Trump—including one that
described
Trump spending hours alone with one of Epstein’s trafficked victims.
Doubts spread among the non-joke-getters. Doubts expressed themselves in murmurings, then in open rebellion. Republican House members joined Democrats in supporting a discharge petition to urge the release of Epstein materials from the DOJ and FBI.
Trump resisted for many weeks. He called the Epstein story a “hoax,” his go-to move for maximally damaging accusations. He endorsed
primary challenges
and
other pressures
against Republicans who persisted on the Epstein trail after had Trump ordered them to stop. The speaker of the House, a close Trump ally,
kept the chamber closed for weeks
to give the president time to push Republican petition signatories to reverse themselves. In the end, it was Trump who
reversed himself
. He had to accept a vote to release the Epstein materials and then look for more subtle ways to continue covering up whatever it is that Trump wants to conceal.
[
Idrees Kahloon: The GOP is realizing that Trump won’t be around forever
]
But somewhere along the way, Greene’s defection became more radical and permanent. On November 14, Trump
posted
on his social-media platform about his efforts to explain the joke to her:
It seemed to all begin when I sent her a Poll stating that she should not run for Senator, or Governor, she was at 12%, and didn’t have a chance (unless, of course, she had my Endorsement — which she wasn’t about to get!). She has told many people that she is upset that I don’t return her phone calls anymore, but with 219 Congressmen/women, 53 U.S. Senators, 24 Cabinet Members, almost 200 Countries, and an otherwise normal life to lead, I can’t take a ranting Lunatic’s call every day. I understand that wonderful, Conservative people are thinking about primarying Marjorie in her District of Georgia, that they too are fed up with her and her antics and, if the right person runs, they will have my Complete and Unyielding Support.
The joke still eluded Greene. Trump
called her a “traitor” on camera
and shrugged off the death threats she received. Efforts to recruit a primary challenger to her accelerated. As the split widened between Greene and Trump, the embattled congresswoman began to receive friendlier media attention: a
respectful interview on CNN
, a
guest appearance on
The View
.
Gullible as Greene was about crackpot theories and her political associations, she seems to have been clear-eyed about her own direct personal interests. She was one of the most active and successful
stock traders in Congress
, in a number of cases betting for or against companies about which
she likely had advance information
. She
timed her resignation
to take effect two days after her congressional pension vested. She’s
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
only if the cinematic Mr. Smith had returned home to Montana hugely enriched by timely speculations on land holdings near the Boy Ranger camp he championed.
But she never did get the joke on the biggest joke in town, the joke that MAGA is about anything more than manipulation, exploitation, corruption, lust, and cruelty. She seems to have sincerely believed the lies that shrewder players merely mouthed. She gained her own millions without appreciating that her allies were scheming for billions. She balked at the self-abasement before every one of Trump’s whims that is indispensable to MAGA survival and success. Her failure on those scores is her one service to the country—because it helps other Americans, the joke’s ultimate victims, better understand what is happening to them and why.
