Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene are now eating each other alive
Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert are now openly attacking each other. Boebert is publicly mocking Greene over “Jewish space lasers,” while Greene is accusing Boebert of “high school drama.”
These are both villains, so you love to see it. But it’s also important to understand what’s really happening here. Whatever their personal feelings are, this comes down to their desire to get reelected in their fundamentally different districts. Greene is in a far right R+22 district where reelection hinges on being as hideous as possible for fear of losing a primary challenge to an even more awful right winger. Boebert is in an R+7 district and nearly lost to Democrat Adam Frisch in November, and now she’s presumably trying to tone down the hideousness for fear of losing in 2024.
Boebert sees an opportunity to portray herself as a reasonable person by distancing herself from Greene, so she’s taking it. Greene sees an opportunity to cement her hideousness by attacking Boebert for not being hideous enough, so she’s taking it.
Who knows (or cares) if they like or hate each other for real. Either way, they’re each doing what they think will give them the best odds of reelection in their respective districts. These things are about reelection – and that comes down to the ideology of each of their House districts.
Or course when two of the most controversial House Republicans begin viciously feuding in public like this, it makes the entire party look bad, and if it continues through to 2024, it’ll hurt some other House Republicans’ reelection prospects in moderate districts.
This is why a strong leader like Nancy Pelosi (or Hakeem Jeffries) doesn’t allow this kind of thing to happen with their caucus. And it serves to underscore the total lack of leadership in the House Republican caucus, where it’s every creep for themselves, with no viable leader there to protect the party’s overall prospects.
So rather than merely speculating about whether Boebert and Greene are actually pissed at each other or are just putting on a show in public, let’s keep in mind why this kind of thing happens at all. Everyone in the House, good or bad, righteous or corrupt, wants to be reelected. But everyone comes from a different kind of district, where the path to reelection looks a bit different. So everyone looks at the board a little differently.
The two takeaways: 1) Even with their narrow majority, House Republicans are already feeling the pressure of a potential wipeout in 2024, and they’re already publicly attacking each other in a selfish attempt at improving their own reelection odds at the expense of their party. 2) There are no House Republican leaders with the gravitas to stop this kind of public infighting over the next two years. Let the games begin.
