Not sure which was the more shocking political development last week: Georgia U.S. Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene’s resignation from Congress or President Trump’s Oval Office lovefest with Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.
Taken together, they represent the most unpredictably pleasant developments on the political scene since Jimmy Carter got Egyptian President Anwar Sadat to shake hands with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin at Camp David in 1977.
Rep. Greene was the First Lady of the MAGA movement. Coming out of the reddest, rural Georgia district, she was perhaps the most obnoxious politician the Peach State has ever produced, not counting old school white supremacists.
Her militance predates her 2020 election to Congress. It’s on tape. In 2019, while touring the Capitol, she hung out outside U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s office, screaming through the mail slot to “get rid of your diaper,” stop being a baby, stop locking your door, and come out and face the American citizens that you serve.”
Few who watched can forget when, with her partner-in-bad-taste, U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, she booed trans rights and screamed “Liar!” at President Joe Biden as he attempted to deliver the State of the Union Address in 2023.
In 2024, she chanted “Build the Wall!” and borrowed a phrase from Black Lives Matter, “Say Her Name,” a reference to Laken Riley, a nursing student slain by an illegal immigrant.
Jeffrey Epstein changed everything for Marjorie Taylor Greene.
By campaigning relentlessly for the release of the files of the deceased serial sexual predator, she incurred the wrath of her political God and mentor, Donald J. Trump.
When she refused to retract her support for releasing the files Trump responded aggressively. He called her wacky and changed her name to Marjorie “Traitor Brown,” explaining that green things turn brown when they go bad.
More substantively, he pledged to back a Republican primary opponent against her in next year’s midterm elections.
In despair and no doubt enjoying her newfound celebrity among the ladies of “The View” and other mainstream media outlets, last week, she stunned the political world by quitting Congress as of Jan. 1.
It was a bravura moment, instantly transforming an entirely unpleasant radical fringe politician into a woman of principle and charm who is being mentioned without snickering as a possible candidate for Georgia governor or senator.
Equally stunning and reassuring was the Oval Office meeting between President Trump and Mayor-elect Mamdani. Proud of both for putting aside their enormous ideological differences to meet in Washington face-to-face, and then to meet the media and field tough questions about their entirely unexpected respect for the office held by the other.
Remember, Trump referred to the mayor-elect as a “Jew hater” and a communist during the campaign. For his part, Mamdani called Trump a “fascist,” a characterization he stood behind last Sunday on Meet the Press.
Hopefully, neither will forget the good manners displayed during that highly anticipated meeting.
Without a doubt, the beneficiaries of that goodwill will be ordinary New Yorkers. For starters, they could tackle decrepit Penn Station. They both love New York. Get it done.
