Commentary: Reagan Reed
One of the byproducts of the internet age and the current populist mood is the proliferation of grifters. Congress is full of people who, rather than doing the hard work of enacting actual policy into law, find it easier to intentionally make idiotic and provocative statements and then cash in on the outrage.
On the pages of this publication and on my show, I have repeatedly referred to Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) as a prime example of a “grifter”. While a number of my more right-wing friends have asked me why I don’t think highly of the Georgia Congresswoman, I feel that it should not have to be explained why someone who talks about “Jewish space lasers” has no business in Congress (unless we’re talking about these).
Nevertheless, if you remain unconvinced, I present to you Exhibit A of why MTG is the queen of grift:
First reported by the Chattanooga Times Free Press, financial disclosure forms submitted by Greene reveal she owns stock in the different major companies that manufacture vaccines: Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Johnson&Johnson. Greene disclosed that her incomes from stocks in each company were between $201 and $1,000. Her Pfizer and Johnson&Johnson assets are valued between $15,001 and $50,000 each and AstraZeneca assets are valued between $1,001 and $15,000.”
Now, I do not have a problem in the slightest with Greene owning stock in major pharmaceutical companies. It’s a smart investment. What I have a problem with is MTG’s hypocrisy. She has been one of the most vociferous purveyors of anti-vaccine propaganda in Congress, using her platform to spread conspiracy theories and pseudoscience to her followers.
“I’m not getting the vaccine because I’m an American,” Greene said in an interview with Steve Bannon. “They’re ruining our country, these vaccine Nazis.” Greene has also compared un-vaccinated people to Jews forced to wear a yellow star during the Holocaust.
What Greene failed to tell her supporters is that she is right there profiting off, in her words, the “ruining” of the country. (Also, unless millions of people are being systematically rounded up and murdered, can everyone just stop making comparisons to Nazis or the Holocaust.)
While the faux populist Greene (who’s net worth is somewhere around $30 million) publicly milks her gullible followers for campaign donations rewarding her vocal anti-vaccine stance, she has been quietly making money off the thousands of dollars she owns in Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Johnson&Johnson stocks. If that’s not a grift, I don’t know what is.
Apparently, if you’re Marjorie Taylor Greene, you get to have your cake and eat it too.
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