The unsavory truth behind the Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert drama

In true soap opera fashion, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert let a man come between them

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Watching Marjorie Taylor Greene call her fellow far-right Republican Congresswoman, Lauren Boebert, a “little b****” presumably felt how other gay men feel when watching a Real Housewives episode. I can only assume because I do not watch reality TV. I don’t need to. I write about politics for a living– it’s basically the same thing.

Yet, in true soap opera fashion, they let a man come between them – Kevin McCarthy. Their friendship fractured over Greene’s support for McCarthy’s speakership, which Boebert and other far-right members of the House Republican caucus opposed. In January, the pair reportedly found themselves in a screaming match in the women’s restroom of the Speaker’s lobby. Now, multiple sources who witnessed the latest brouhaha claim Greene cursed at Boebert over their competing resolutions to impeach President Joe Biden.

“I’ve donated to you, I’ve defended you. But you’ve been nothing but a little b**** to me,” Greene reportedly told Boebert. “And you copied my articles of impeachment after I asked you to cosponsor them.”

The drama is delicious. It is also disgraceful. These women are not Real Housewives but members of the House of Representatives. Their behavior is unbecoming of the offices they hold. Americans should be embarrassed, their constituents should be furious, and these two Representatives should be ashamed of themselves.

Beneath this dreadful behavior, however, lies several unsavory truths about this moment in American history and about who we are as a people. While this lacks the gravity of the caning of Charles Sumner, it certainly demonstrates how fractured our body politic is.

Boebert and Greene are not from competing parties. They are not even from competing wings of their own party. As Greene said after the fracas, “we have virtually the same voting record. We’re both members of the House Freedom Caucus. We should be natural allies.”

The fact that they’re not says a lot about the motives driving the two women. Greene and Boebert are both in this for themselves, as evidenced by their petty squabbling over who gets credit for impeaching Joe Biden. Greene chose to advance her career in a more traditional way, by ingratiating herself with leadership in hopes of climbing the ladder. Boebert is attempting to secure her position by continuing to play to the far-right, which so far has worked for both of them.

Indeed, I imagine both think their feud is a political winner. For a great many Americans this kind of behavior is not only acceptable but appreciated. We saw it in 2016, when many voters found Donald Trump’s bullying and crassness refreshing and relatable.

“He says what I’m thinking,” a Trump voter told me at a rally in Chicago.

“What are you thinking?” I asked.

His wife pulled him away before he could answer, giving me a pretty good indication that whatever he was thinking, it was not fit for print. Yet as a son of both the Rust Belt and Appalachia, I understood instinctively what he meant. “Trump says the things I want to say but do not have enough power and privilege to get away with saying.” His vulgarity and pugilism spoke to Middle Americans of all classes because it’s the kind of varicose masculinity this country has long celebrated, from John Wayne to Joe Rogan.

Yet despite the stereotype of conservatives wanting women to fulfill a June Cleaver role as submissive housewives, there is a long tradition of assertive and even aggressive women being idolized by the base that makes up the current Republican Party. These are folks who grew up on the brashness of Roseanne Barr, the “redneck women” Gretchen Wilson sang about. They’re the “Mama Grizzlies” Sarah Palin celebrated – pit bulls in lipstick who look traditionally feminine but will rip your head off if it comes to it.

I can somewhat understand why this might be appealing. Greene said it to Boebert’s face; there is something about that many will applaud. Too few politicians say what they think, let alone to one another, in public, and even less frequently when they are in the same party. It feels authentic, and authenticity matters in politics.

Many of us have long wished politicians would dispense with the pretense. I do not condone her language, but credit where it’s due – Greene is not couching her language or attempting to spin this. She said what she said, and she’s standing by it, telling the Daily Beast that their reporting was “impressively correct” rather than denying she called Boebert a b**** and claiming that the Colorado congresswoman “has a great skill and talent for making most people here not like her.” If this were Twitter, I’d be using the gif of Kelso from That 70’s Show screaming “burn!”

That authenticity seems great until you remember that these two women are United States Representatives. They are tasked with making laws to govern our nation. In that context, this kind of squabbling is not refreshing or authentic, but rather ridiculous and asinine. When you remember that they are arguing over who gets to file articles of impeachment against the President of the United States – something that should be one of the gravest moments of any politicians career – it becomes downright revolting.

This argument betrays the utter unseriousness of these two politicians and of this moment in our nation’s history. Their articles of impeachment are not actually about any high crimes and misdemeanors President Biden may have committed, but about their own vainglorious attempt to play to the MAGA base and grab the attention of the rightwing media. If Greene and Boebert were serious about impeaching Biden – or rather, if their reasons were serious – they would come together.

Instead, Greene is upset that Boebert tried to steal her spotlight the way Donald Trump tried to steal the 2020 election. No one should be surprised that they would emulate him. The twice-impeached, criminally indicted ex-president is himself responsible for much of this. He was a reality TV star before he was ever president, and he brought that same bombast and melodrama to our civic life.

Four years of him in the White House has so thoroughly debased our politics that intraparty schoolyard spats on the floor of the House of Representatives, replete with expletives and insults, is now something to be gawked at but not surprised by. Gone are the halcyon days when a member shouting “you lie!” at a president was considered a scandal. One Representative calling another a “little b****” is now but another episode of the never-ending spectacle that passes for the news.

It makes for compelling television, I’ll give it that, but God does it make for terrible governance.