White House Responds to Greene's Latest 'Violent Rhetoric'

Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene once again offered herself as a pincushion for Democratic backlash over the weekend when she suggested that she and Steve Bannon would have "won" the Jan. 6 insurrection if they had actually been the ones to organize it. Per CBS News, White House spokesman Andrew Bates reacted Monday in a statement saying that it "goes against our fundamental values as a country for a Member of Congress to wish that the carnage of January 6th had been even worse" and that Greene’s "violent rhetoric is a slap in the face to the Capitol Police, the DC Metropolitan Police, the National Guard, and the families who lost loved ones as a result of the attack on the Capitol."

Greene was just one among many "high-profile conservative firebrands" at a Saturday dinner hosted by the New York Young Republican Club, the New York Post, reports. In her speech, Greene said, "If Steve Bannon and I had organized that, we would have won. Not to mention, we would've been armed." As the Hill points out, many supporters of then-president Donald Trump did have weapons on Jan. 6, including but not limited to guns. The warfare theme was popular, according to the SPLC, which reports that club president Gavin Wax said Republicans "want war" against the left. "We want to cross the Rubicon. We want total war … in every arena. In the media. In the courtroom. At the ballot box. And in the streets," Wax said.

Greene defended her speech on Monday, saying, "The White House needs to learn how sarcasm works," per NBC News. Prominent Democrats lined up to condemn her, including the newly promoted House Democratic leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, who said Greene “promoted violence and armed insurrection." Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego extended the criticism to Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy the likely House Speaker in waiting who promised to restore Greene’s committee assignments after they were stripped by the House last year in response to her "violent rhetoric against Democratic lawmakers." (More Marjorie Taylor Greene stories.)