'The perils of leaded drinking water': Marjorie Taylor Greene buried over spy balloon conspiracy theories
United States Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) told a roomful of her constituents this weekend that she disagreed with the military waiting to shoot down the Chinese spy balloon that was spotted over the American Northwest last week until it drifted out to sea.
The Pentagon explained at the time that blowing up the surveillance instrument risked damaging property and injuring people on the ground.
On Monday, February 6th, Air Force General Glen VanHerck, the head of US North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and Northern Command (NORCOM), clarified to reporters that while there were multiple hypothetical hazards, bombs falling onto civilians and buildings from the 200-foot-tall inflatable was not one of them.
"Anytime you down something like this, we make an assumption that that potential exists," the general added. "We did not associate the potential of having explosives with a threat to dropping weapons, those kinds of things, but out of a precaution, abundance of safety for not only our military people in the public, we have to make assumptions such as that.”
Greene, however, revealed that she was completely unconvinced:
I'm pretty sure, I'm pretty sure I'm right about how you think and feel because it's the way I think and feel and I try to take your voice with me in Washington. And so when it got to be my turn, I said to them, gentlemen, I respect and I'm grateful for your service to our country. Because after all, they were sitting up there with their beautiful uniforms. And I'm telling you, I come from a military family. My father was in the Navy. He served in Vietnam. I have many other family members that served in the military. Respect our military. I respect our veterans. I said, 'I respect you, and I thank you for your service. I respect your positions, but this is also why I have high expectations of you and from you.'
Greene, who in 2022 declared that joining the armed forces was "throwing your life away," also suggested that the government's patient solution risked one of her conspiracy theories coming to fruition.
She continued:
And you allowed, allowed, you set by and allowed this Chinese spy balloon that could have contained a bioweapon like COVID. It could have contained a nuclear bomb, an EMP attack, or hypersonic missiles like the Chinese government, the CCP, has shown their own people of these weather balloons dropping hypersonic missiles.
They show those on video, absolutely. This is a common thing. They allowed, I said, 'you allowed this to go across the country, and then you wanna stand up here and give us, give us our excuses, your excuses on why you didn't shoot it down, because you're gathering intelligence or you didn't wanna risk endangering anyone's lives?
I said, 'that is the biggest bunch of bullsh*t.'
Twitter users responded with their own observations.
Pit1971: "Funny how those ppl constantly talk about respect for the military but still believe they know better and can tell them what's what... Sure thing General Greene!"
Accountabilabuddy: "I'm not taking advice on how to run the government from someone who tried to overthrow it."
Thaddeus Kramer: "Probably complained it was too quick for the two in Alaska and Yukon and too watchful of the current one flying over Montana."
Charles Primm: "MTG graphic reminder of the perils of leaded drinking water."
Kristen Cook: "'cause her decades of service in the US military intelligence make her the best judge of that. How can people listen to her with a straight face!?"
Suzanne W. Never forget January 6: "She’s a national security expert now?"
Lettie LaTuna: "Taking MTG as is coarsens our society. This language and behavior, as seen at the SOTU address last week, should not become the norm."
Sheena Queen of the Jungle: "As if Ms. Peachtree dish would know."
A Mind is a Terrible Thing: "So she's now a military expert. Like Trump, who was 'smarter than all my generals.'"
TW Wolf: "@RepMTG That's what space lasers are for, isn't it?"
JHT: "Only @RepMTG could suggest the balloon could have been a nuclear weapon, but then complain that it wasn’t shot down immediately. And by the way, could you let the American people know what military qualifications you have to make any accurate judgments?"
Winged Turtle: "Who does she think she is? Seriously. If ever there was a time to stay in your lane it is now, Marge."
Watch below:
\u201cMarjorie Taylor Greene called the military\u2019s rationale for not immediately shooting down the spy ballon, \u201cbullshit.\u201d\u201d— PatriotTakes \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 (@PatriotTakes \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8) 1676166079