Judas Iscariot was one of Jesus’s 12 Apostles.
In the Garden of Gethsemane the night before Jesus’s crucifixion, Judas betrayed Jesus to the Sanhedrin who eventually arrested Jesus.
Jesus predicted this betrayal during the Last Supper. In exchange for his treachery, Judas received thirty pieces of silver. Could he have also been threatened? Who knows? The Bible says nothing about that.
Modern day betrayals, particularly of leaders, occur via carrot or stick, reward or kompromat.
For Judas, the price was a pocket of silver coins. For members of Congress, the price may be a do-nothing board seat, a cable news gig, or stock options worth millions.
The stick may be revelations about personal indiscretions, financial, sexual, or otherwise. The same intelligence and law enforcement agencies that spied on candidate and President Donald Trump are almost certainly spying on elected officials, enlisting their support to avoid embarrassment to themselves and their families, or even legal consequences.
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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene may be the latest Judas Iscariot in the GOP circle (or noose) around Donald Trump.
How so? I thought she was a solid MAGA Trumpster. I am rethinking that premise.
MTG is a “far-right rabble rouser” angling to be Trump’s vice presidential pick, according to The Guardian.
NBC News calls her a “Trump loyalist.” She seems an unlikely traitor to Donald Trump. She is one of only a few Republicans willing to call out the uni-party deep state ruling state cabal of corruption.
But her recent actions, while appearing to be America First, could actually sabotage this movement, relegating her party to permanent back-bench minority status.
MTG is making moves to hand the U.S. House to Democrat control. As USA Today reports,
Conservative firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., said on Wednesday she’s calling up a vote next week to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., setting up a high-stakes clash inside her own party and where Democrats are vowing to help avoid another lengthy vacancy in the job that is second in line of succession to the presidency.
Greene’s move is unlikely to succeed but still is certain to roil internal GOP tension as she continues to target Johnson, the most powerful elected Republican in the country.
Through a “motion to vacate,” MTG can force a vote on Johnson’s speakership. This tactic was used to dismiss former Speaker Kevin McCarthy from GOP leadership last fall.
Her move will probably fail, not because of Republican resistance, but due to Democrat support of Speaker Johnson.
Huh?
Democrats are getting everything they want legislatively from Johnson and the Republican-controlled House. Omnibus spending bills are passed with little or no scrutiny, reminiscent of the Nancy Pelosi days. America is funding an unpopular and fruitless war in Ukraine to the tune of over $60 billion, with tens of billions for Israel and Taiwan. They gave the corrupt FBI a new headquarters and renewed FISA so the government can continue to spy on Americans without obtaining a warrant.
The Johnson GOP Congress is hellbent on securing the borders of countries thousands of miles away from America while doing absolutely nothing to stop over 10,000 illegal migrants crossing into America every day, enjoying food, shelter, healthcare, education, transportation, and spending money courtesy of overtaxed Americans.
How would anything be different if Democrats controlled the U.S. House?
MTG’s frustration is justified and appropriate. She recently coined the phrase MUGA, the uni-party’s version of MAGA, as they choose to make Ukraine, rather than America, great again.
But her agenda to oust the Speaker will betray Donald Trump and the Republican Party.
How so?
Republicans have only one vote to spare in a party-line House vote. Reps. Kevin McCarty, Ken Buck, and Mike Gallagher abruptly resigned. George Santos was expelled rather than finishing his term, in sharp contrast to Democrat treatment of also indicted, but not convicted, Democrat Sen. Robert Menendez.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries “vows to save Mike Johnson from MTG’s motion to vacate.”
What if MTG takes up Jeffries on his taunt and forces a vote? What if a couple of disaffected or compromised Republicans vote with the Democrats for Jeffries as Speaker? MTG must know this is a possibility, yet she pushes this motion anyway.
Is she MAGA on the outside, NeverTrump in the inside?
She is deliberately playing a dangerous game. What are the implications of a Democrat-controlled House if a few of Ken Buck’s buddies also decide to abruptly resign “to spend more time with the family”?
A Democrat-controlled Congress could declare Trump an insurrectionist and ineligible to run for President. They could stack the U.S. Supreme Court with four far-left justices, putting an end to free speech and the right of self-defense.
Congressional investigations into Biden corruption, COVID malfeasance, and government weaponization would immediately morph into witch hunts against Trump and conservatives.
Trump and the RNC know the consequences of outing Speaker Johnson. Trump recently endorsed him saying, “He’s doing a really good job under very tough circumstances.”
Trump had no trouble calling for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to be replaced, yet he supports Speaker Johnson. Trump’s support is most likely due to House control, not Johnson’s agenda.
The RNC agrees. Trump’s hand-picked head of the Republican National Committee, Michael Whatley, “Urged House Republicans to hold off the removal effort before the fall election that will determine which party controls the White House and Congress.”
The House should be backing their party’s candidate Donald Trump, rather than potentially losing House control a few months before the presidential election. Trump maintains a 6 point lead over Joe Biden in a recent CNN poll. GOP energy should go toward winning in November, not picking each other off.
Voters favor Trump. Republican members of Congress should be campaigning with and for Trump. MTG and her America First colleagues should sit with Trump in the Manhattan courthouse during his nonsensical lawfare trial rather than splitting and potentially destroying her Congressional caucus. Unless that’s her intention.
Is that the same intention of the suddenly resigning Republicans? Or those eager to add a trillion dollars to our national debt every 100 days, benefiting foreigners but ignoring struggling Americans. Is the intention of Republicans to so despise and disregard their voters that they stay home on November 5, handing the country to socialists and communists?
What is Marjorie Taylor Greene’s true intention? America First or America Last? Her recent actions make this a fair question.
Jesus knew who his betrayer was. Does Donald Trump?
Brian C. Joondeph, M.D., is a physician and writer. Follow me on Twitter @retinaldoctor, Substack Dr. Brian’s Substack, Truth Social @BrianJoondeph, and LinkedIn @Brian Joondeph.
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