Marjorie Taylor Greene: The 60 Minutes Interview
It's rare for a member of the House of. Representatives to become well-known. nationally, especially someone in only. their second term. But Marjorie Taylor Greene, MTG, is as. famous as they get. She's gained her national celebrity, some say notoriety, with a sharp tongue. and some pretty radical views, like her. proposal for a national divorce where. red and blue states would go their. separate ways.
But she has managed in just 2 years in. Congress to accumulate real power, landing on important committees and. influencing the direction of Republican. policies. Before Congress, she helped run the. family construction company in Georgia, known to be smart and fearless, and has. a history of believing in conspiracy. theories. We interviewed her earlier this week. before former President Trump was. indicted.
The story will continue in a moment. We looked up some words that have been. said about you. Okay. Crazy. Q clown. Looney Tune. Unhinged. [ __ ]. Pretty. ugly stuff. Looks like the average troll in my. Twitter feed. So, I don't really care. You're used to it. So, I don't let name-calling bother me.
or offend me. I just don't. How much have you styled yourself after. Donald Trump? Hmm. People say. that you are Trump in high heels. I didn't intentionally style myself. after President Trump, but I can see how. people draw those similarities. We both. come from the same industry, construction. Um I also have pretty much a plain. speaking style, and and so does he. But also, he's often in attack mode.
Mhm. And you appear to be. Yeah, I think but I think our government. deserves it. They don't really deserve. to be respected that much. Including for her, the president. While many consider Marjorie Taylor. Greene's behavior outlandish, even. thuggish, MAGA activists and right-wing. media eat it up. God bless you guys and keep up the good. work. Thank you. In just 2 years, Greene at age 48 has.
moved from the fringe of the party to. the front row. The House will be in order. Without changing either her style or her. views. On an issue when I'm outspoken about it. and I take my stand or my position, the. first reaction is Marjorie's crazy. Marjorie's extreme. Marjorie's a. right-wing extremist. And then what will. happen is my colleagues will go back. home to their district and their own. constituents are coming up and saying,
"Are you supporting Marjorie? Do you. agree with Marjorie? Have you. co-sponsored Marjorie's bill?" And then. they find out, "Oh, maybe she's not. crazy." And then they end up agreeing. with me. Hi, good morning. This is fueling her clout in the. Republican Party, as is her record as a. top fundraiser and a close advisor to. Kevin McCarthy. After MTG helped him win the. speakership, he rewarded her with. positions on two powerful committees.
House Oversight that's investigating the. Biden family business dealings and. Homeland Security. Now, what she thinks. about the issues matters, like. preventing the government from going. into default by raising the debt. ceiling. Janet Yellen, the Treasury Secretary, says that if we don't raise the debt. ceiling, um that this country will be. thrown into an economic and financial. catastrophe. And so, I'm asking you if you're willing.
to risk that. You know what has put us in an economic. catastrophe is, again, the people that. have spent $31 trillion. that forced this situation to happen. a minute. Trump is as much responsible. for that as anybody. Everybody, Republicans, Democrats. Okay. It was all before I got here. Would you be willing to vote for. compromise? In other words, raise some taxes. I don't think we have a revenue problem.
in Washington. We have a spending. problem. You know something? That's glib. That's glib. That. What does that mean? The two sides have. to come together and hammer it out. Cut spending. Both sides Both sides need to cut. spending. Where do you want to cut it? COVID bailout money and a lot of green. energy spending. But are you willing to let us go into. default? No. I've always said I wouldn't do that. So, would you compromise? It depends. On taxes. You won't.
No, I'm not raising taxes. Greene complains that the news media. harp on things she did in the past, like, as in this video, chasing after a. survivor of the Parkland, Florida school. shooting. Well, if school zones were protected by. with security guards with guns, there. would be no mass shootings at schools. And things she says that are over the. top, like, The Democrats are a party of pedophiles. I would definitely say so. They support.
grooming children. They are not pedophiles. Why would you. say that? Democrats Democrats support even Joe. Biden, the president himself, supports. children being sexualized and having. transgender surgeries. Sexualizing. children is what pedophiles do to. children. Wow. Okay, but. my question really is, can't you fight. for what you believe in without all that. name-calling and without the personal.
attacks? Well, I would ask the same question to. the other side because all they've done. is call me names and insult me non-stop. since I've been here, Leslie. They call. me racist, they call me. uh. anti-Semitic, which is not true. I'm not. calling anyone names. I'm calling out. the truth, basically. Pedophile? Pedophile Call it what it is. Anyone. She also still calls the 2020 election. stolen, as she made clear in February.
I'm going to tell you it's. There was blatant outright fraud in the. 2020 election. Complete and total fraud, you know it. I come home as often as I can when we're. not in session. Born and raised in Georgia, she now. lives in an upscale section of her home. district in the northwest corner of the. state. How many acres do you have? Uh I have 10 acres. Her net worth is estimated at $11. million, but she says when she was a child, her.
parents struggled financially trying to. start their construction company. She told us that her dad, an. arch-conservative, listened to. right-wing talk radio all day long. And naturally, me being with my parents. a lot, I I listened as well. Your dad knew you as a politician. What. did he think of your style, your. pitbullness? He was very proud of me. Your mother, did she ever say,
"Marjorie, you need to tone it down"? Yeah, she did, actually. She's a. Southern mom and she believes in. manners. You know your problem is you're just. another one of those liars on. television, and people hated it. She says her combative style came later. in her life after she graduated from the. University of Georgia. This is our family photos. and had three children with her now. ex-husband. She worked for the family. construction business that she and her.
then husband bought from her dad and. grew into a lucrative enterprise. What are you up to now? Uh this is 205. Oh my god. Green didn't discover her brazen. gutsiness, she says, till after 2011. when she got hooked on CrossFit. workouts. She got into the extreme. exercising with a passion. One more Mark, one more. ending up in competitions, gaining. self-confidence. She opened her own gym with a business.
partner. But at age 43, she sold her stake and. turned to politics in 2019. What made me run for Congress when I saw. the Republicans in Congress, the House. and the Senate, completely fail to. deliver the agenda that we had all voted. for, the reasons why we voted for Donald. Trump. It was the Republicans. Yep. Not Joe Biden, not Nancy Pelosi, but the.
traditional Republicans who she says. failed to rein in federal spending, repeal Obamacare, or fund President. Trump's border wall when Republicans. controlled both chambers of Congress. They failed us. Like who? Uh Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, Lindsey. Graham. Those Yeah, those types of Mitt Romney. I'm not even sure why he calls himself a. Republican. Why don't you blame Donald Trump?
Well, I blame I blame all of them for a. lot of things. But again, well, the. president doesn't control everything. Hey, how are you? Most of her constituents in her. conservative, largely white, working-class district agree with her on. the issues and especially like the way. she fights for her beliefs. I'm a New York transplant to Georgia and. I just love you. Well, welcome to freedom. Nice to meet. you. Shortly after she arrived in Washington,
the Democratic-led House ousted her from. her committees because of her past. endorsement of violence against some. Democratic leaders and her history of. embracing QAnon that she explained in a. speech on the House floor. I stumbled across something and this is. at the end of 2017 called QAnon. I was. allowed to believe things that weren't. true and that is absolutely what I. regret. Well, I apologized to my. colleagues. I think apologies are. important.
Okay, did you ever apologize to Nancy. Pelosi. about the bullet to her head? I didn't say that, so I don't need to. apologize for words that weren't mine. like it? Other people also ran my social media. I. don't think I did that. Are you saying that you don't stand by. what's on your social media? Well, of course I stand for what's on my. social media, but at times not you're. not always in control. We have all kinds. of people that work on our social media. Did you apologize for your position on.
Parkland, Florida? What was my position on Parkland, Florida? That it was a false flag. if you actually have my No, I never said. Parkland was a false flag. No, I've. never said that. School shootings are. horrible. I don't think it's anything to. joke about. And we fact-checked before I got to this. interview. Have you fact-checked all my statements. from kindergarten through 12th grade and. in college and as I've paid my taxes and. never broken a law and the only I got a. few speeding tickets. Do we need to talk. about those, too? Because I think where.
you're going down is the same attacks. that people have attacked me with over. and over and over. Well, if this is what you're known for, I think it's good that you're responding. to the charges. I think it's. that's what happens because people. constantly focus on it, but never focus. on anything good about me. Let me button this up and we'll move on. You want to bring the Republican Party. closer to your views. You want to bring. the country closer to your views.
You've said that. Mhm. Okay. Uh here is some of the things you've. said. um that America should have a Christian. government, that abortion should be uh. banned nationally, that you want to. defund the FBI. Yes. Uh you want immigration to stop for 4. years. You've said those things, correct? these are these are some of my views. The Constitution, the very first.
amendment, prohibits having a religion. in the government. Yeah, the Founding Fathers quoted the. Bible constantly and were driven by. their faith. Marjorie Taylor Greene. As a fervent supporter of the now. indicted Donald Trump, she was a. featured speaker at his rally in Waco. last weekend. While she's adored here, the latest national poll has her. approval rating at just 29%.
Marjorie Taylor Greene, you happen to be. here. Would you like to run for the Senate? And I will fight like hell for you. I. thought. The question for her and the country is. can she expand her brash MTG brand. beyond the right-wing populist base? Yes. Marjorie Taylor Greene on her opposition.
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