Lost in all the Marjorie Taylor Greene craziness is how she made her opponent's life a living hell.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/10/17/kevin-van-ausdal-qanon-marjorie-greene-georgia/?arc404=true

There was a time when Kevin Van Ausdal had not yet been called a “loser” and “a disgrace” and hustled out of Georgia. He had not yet punched a wall, or been labeled a “communist,” or a person “who’d probably cry like a baby if you put a gun in his face.” He did not yet know who was going to be the Republican nominee for Congress in his conservative district in northwestern Georgia: the well-known local neurosurgeon, or the woman he knew vaguely as a person who had openly promoted conspiracies including something about a cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles.

***

The comments kept coming, and Kevin, trying to calm his nerves, went into a spare bedroom, shut the door, and stayed there long enough that his wife finally texted him from another part of the house to see if he was okay.

“She is calling for a civil war!” he texted back, referring to Greene. “And I am expected to call her out tomorrow!”

He waited for a response. He and his wife had been having marital problems for a while, and the campaign wasn’t making anything better. When she did not write back, he texted again.

“F-----g crazy ass white supremacist terrorist support her. She is radicalizing them and I am supposed to call her out and become her enemy.”

As a Democrat, Kevin Van Ausdal would have had an uphill battle against MTG in the heavily Republican 14th District. But as Doug Jones' brief but glorious tenure as Alabama's junior Senator, having a highly controversial opponent can be a game changer in a traditional Republican stronghold.

Unfortunately, as this Washington Post piece pointed out, the stress of running against someone as volatile as MTG was emotionally overwhelming against Van Ausdal. It literally ruined his marriage, forcing him to move out of state and end his campaign. Even still, because his name was still on the ballot, he managed to get over 25% of the vote.

I'm sure you could argue that MTG alone wasn't responsible for what happened to Kevin Van Ausdal.

But imagine you are a good, earnest guy running for office, and the first thing you see your opponent tweeting is this:

Link to tweet

She will remain forever a despicable piece of shit.

[Mike 03]

1. Kicking. This has only recently been discussed. It surprised me because

people have been saying Marjorie Taylor Greene "ran unopposed," and I've even echoed that myself because it was presented that way on MSNBC and CNN, but it's not true.

This part of the story is so important.

[MagickMuffin]

2. And yet she is a murderer of children, and adults

With her stupid no masks conspiracies.


I'm so sorry Kevin Van Ausdal, may you find solace in knowing This White "TRASH" Suprematist will be gone before too long.

[stopdiggin]

3. well, you know -- "owning the libs"

this is why I keep telling people -- DJT was elected BECAUSE he is an assh*ole -- there were other (better) choices available.

[dalton99a]

4. Greene is thoroughly evil, like her cult leader

[Blue Owl]

5. There are few things more disturbing than MTG's worldview