Moscow Marge and the Transcarpathian Gambit

The GOP’s most colorful Congresswoman has a well-developed penchant for pushing Kremlin lies at Ukraine’s expense – what’s going on here?

After months of dithering and howling, the U.S. House of Representatives over the weekend finally passed a $95 billion foreign aid bill, with the lion’s share of that appropriation, $61 billion, going to Ukraine. Israel gets $26 billion while most of the $8 billion allotted to Asia will be going to Taiwan. The bill now goes to the Senate, where Majority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has urged rapid passage, given the parlous state of Ukraine’s defenses. Without U.S. aid, soon, Kyiv is on track to lose the war to Russia this year.

House Speaker Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA), who functionally has no majority, took a big political risk by defying many members of his own caucus who are opposed to more aid for Ukraine, notwithstanding that most of the military portion of that $61 billion will be spent on American-made weapons and munitions to send to Ukraine. Intelligence Community briefings helped convince Johnson of the gravity of Kyiv’s military crisis. Nevertheless, the MAGA rallying cry that Congress cares more about defending Ukraine’s border than America’s has taken root on the Right, despite the fact that GOP nominee Donald Trump praised Speaker Johnson as a “good person” for finally making the aid bill a reality.

MAGA aficionados were enraged by Congress appropriating more U.S. taxpayer funds for Ukraine, despite Trump’s support, and on cue no member of the red-hat brigade was louder about it than Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA). Since entering the House in 2021, the ubiquitous MTG has energetically played the role of Trump superfan to a level surpassing any actual member of the Trump family, Donald included. She has made herself an all-purpose hate figure for liberals by promoting every new kook-right idea that comes along: Pizzagate, QAnon, anti-vaccine rants, Jewish space lasers, you name it. If it’s wacky and it upsets Democrats, Marge is on it.

Accompanying the scattershot policy lunacy is MTG’s in-your-face persona. She never misses a chance for media attention: big hair up, boobs out front, yelling regularly. Her superfans love her for it. Sneering liberal contempt for MTG only makes her more popular among her devotees. Even her messy personal life, with multiple reported extramarital affairs, which might prove a deterrent with the GOP’s family values set, caused her no problems at all. The now-divorced mother of three has been busy beyond politics. One of her side-guys was a polyamorous tantric sex guru who walks around in skin-tight gold pants, runs an X-rated Only Fans account, and offers visitors a stay at his “Mongolian soul yurt.” Say what you like about Marge, she’s expanding the GOP tent in her own unique way. MTG claims she wants to be the Republican vice president candidate in the 2024 race, but that’s too edgy even for Donald Trump.  

On top of all that, Rep. Greene has taken a special interest in the Ukraine war that was re-started by Moscow in early 2022 – in a distinctly pro-Kremlin way which requires discussion. It’s not just that MTG has castigated Kyiv many times in the same way that Moscow does, citing identical trash-talk, such as recycling the absurd claim that a Nazi junta runs Ukraine while ranting about Kyiv’s corruption problem. Rep. Greene has praised Russian President Vladimir Putin, while voting against admitting Sweden and Finland to NATO. Her opposition to more U.S. aid for Ukraine has been vociferous and consistent. MTG attempted to derail the bill which just passed the House with absurd amendments, including a provision that any Congressmembers who support it should enlist in the Ukrainian military. She erupted with fury when the House passed the bill on Saturday, tweeting that Speaker Johnson is “so proud to work for Ukraine. Not the American people!!! It's despicable!”