A Trump-loving Republican congresswoman who told a British journalist to ‘go back to your country’ because of her accent acted like she was in a ‘bad reality show’, an expert has said.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, from Georgia, ridiculed Sky News reporter Martha Kelner as soon as she caught wind of her British accent.
The 50-year-old Republican and Trump loyalist had just left a committee hearing on funding for public broadcasters when she began taking questions from reporters.
She was flooded with questions on the controversy over how a journalist was added to a group chat on air strikes in Yemen with top US officials, but when U.S. Correspondent Kelner decided to chip in all hell broke loose.
‘Should the Defense Secretary—,’ she asked before Green, known as MTG, interjected.
‘What country are you from?’ Greene asked as she rolled her eyes.
As sooner as Kelner answer ‘the U.K.’, MTG then ripped into the reporter saying: ‘Go back to your country.’
Greene continued her rant: ‘Okay, we don’t give a crap about your opinion and your reporting. Why don’t you go back to your country where you have a major migrant problem? You should care about your own borders.’
Judi James, a body language expert, told Metro: ‘Marjorie Taylor-Greene, in particular, is known to have no filter. In this video, you can really only describe her body language as pure contempt. It signalled someone that somebody was enjoying the sense of superiority – being able to sort of be so dismissive.
‘Her chin was raised. Her brows were raised. She was looking down her nose at the journalist. Her hand was outstretched, flattened, a dismissive gesture.
‘It was the type of gesture that you generally don’t really see unless it’s on a bad reality show. You don’t expect to see this in the political arena.’
But Ms James said she doesn’t think MTG ‘realises’ what she’s done after going on the tirade.
‘I think what she’s gonna find now is a journalist deliberately speaking to her to get her to swear or shout. If you know somebody overreacts like that, they will see if they can sort of get a rise out of her,’ she observed.
This isn’t the first time MTG has forcefully told a reporter from the USA’s closest ally where to go.
Last year she told Emily Maitlis, formerly of the BBC and now with The News Agents podcast, to ‘f**k off’ after the veteran broadcaster quizzed her on her support for conspiracy theories involving ‘Jewish space lasers’.
In the exchange at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, Maitlis asked: ‘Can you tell me why so many people who support Donald Trump love conspiracy theories, including yourself? He seems to attract lots of conspiracy theorists.’
MTG replied: ‘You’re a conspiracy theorist, and the left and the media spread more conspiracy theories. We like the truth, we like supporting our Constitution, our freedoms, and America First.’
Pushed on her own support for conspiracy theories, MTG said: ‘No, why don’t you go talk about Jewish space lasers, and really, why don’t you f**k off.’
Why does MTG seem to take such a petulant approach to the media, including journalists from the UK? It’s all part of a strategy, Kelner wrote after her own run-in with the MAGA die-hard.
Last night, Kelner said: ‘Discrediting the messenger, rather than focusing on the message and what lessons can be learned, is the order of the day for the Trump White House.’
She had tried to force a reply from MTG on her questions about the Signal ‘war plans’ leak, attempting to shout over the politician so she could be heard.
She asked Greene: ‘Do you care about American lives being put at risk?’
But the Trump support screamed back: ‘I don’t care about your fake news.’
Greene then turned her attention to an American reporter, who wanted to get an answer to Kelner’s question.
MTG refused to be drawn on this however, and so the American asked a similar question about the Signal chat scandal.
For the past two days, top White House officials have faced relentless pressure from lawmakers and the press on the scandal.
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Questions have been asked about why President Donald Trump’s national security team was sharing sensitive information in an unsecured manner.
Once Greene was probed on this again, she launched another furious reply: ‘You want to know about complete disregard about operational security?
‘You should talk about the Biden administration and how they ripped our borders open to terrorists, cartels, child sex trafficking, human trafficking, and drug trafficking across our borders for four years.
Greene similarly told a British journalist to ‘go back to your country,’ in 2022.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
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