Could the new videos of Marjorie Taylor Greene made a difference?
We've all seen the recently circulated videos of Marjorie Taylor Greene revealing just how loathsome she is - looking for Muslim members of Congress to force them to swear an oath on a Bible, calling for violence, and so on.
On a recent thread, I asked why these videos hadn't come to light before the election, when they might have made a difference. A couple of you suggested that they wouldn't have made a difference in that district - that there was no way a Democrat could have won, and that a lot of people in her district are as unhinged and ignorant as she is.
On the whole, I now agree with that point of view. By November, the results in that district were a foregone conclusion. BUT - I do think one of the videos might have made a difference during the primaries.
I have several Facebook "friends" who are Republicans. They're mostly either family or people I knew in high school; some people in my social and professional circles consider themselves conservative, and may vote Republican, but they had no use for Trump and his core.
Some of them would have no problem with voting for a candidate who'd previously called for the execution of a Democratic congresswoman, or who had the mistaken belief that swearing an oath on anything other than a Bible is somehow un-American.
But most of them would have a very real problem with the video showing her pursuing and shouting at David Hogg. They might like their guns, but they don't think Parkland was some sort of "false flag" operation, and they would recoil at the thought of someone accosting the young survivor of that mass shooting, or any other, to promote conspiracy shit. It would cross too many lines - lines of credibility (however one stands on gun control, these mass shootings happened) as well as lines of decency (someone who actually survived a mass shooting might have a different opinion on gun control than you, and it would be morally wrong to attack that person for sharing it).
Not all of them would feel that way. I saw plenty of commentators on Fox Jazeera attacking David Hogg, and Trump's base will believe anything. But assuming at least some of the conservatives in MTG's district would, there's a reasonable chance they might have preferred a different candidate during the primaries.
Hindsight hope springs eternal, I suppose, but due diligence by the media is central to making sure nutbags don't get elected to Congress.
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