WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s campaign is taking advantage of an unlikely surrogate to help push his message of an economic recovery that crosses partisan lines: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Biden’s campaign posted a video Tuesday featuring the Georgia Republican’s own words at a recent conservative conference, describing how Biden has sought «the greatest public investment in social infrastructure and environmental programs,» building on previous efforts by Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon B. .Johnson.
Greene’s sarcastic tone is undercut by an upbeat soundtrack as he says Biden is tackling «education, healthcare, urban issues and urban poverty.» Biden’s accompanying tweet reads: «I approve of this message.»
The Biden campaign says the video generated 10 million views in just three hours after it was posted and they are using it to boost online fundraising. As of 1 p.m. ET Wednesday, it had been viewed 39 million times across all platforms, the second-most for any Biden campaign video since Inauguration Day, behind his re-election announcement video.
It is the most conspicuous example yet of how the Biden team has taken over Greene, whom they see as an avatar of what the president has called the “extreme-MAGA” wing of the Republican Party.
Over the past five months, Biden has referred to Greene directly by name or often simply as the «gentlewoman from Georgia» a dozen times in public statements, including a cutting quip at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. in April. (“If you find yourself disoriented or confused, you are drunk or Marjorie Taylor Greene,” Biden noted.)
Now the president plans to take this strategy directly to Greene’s district with a trip to highlight what he said is a major economic initiative. A South Korean solar panel maker will soon hold an event in Cartersville, Georgia, to mark a $2.5 billion expansion of its existing manufacturing operations in the county, with Biden in attendance. It’s a project the president has repeatedly touted in speeches, noting its location in Greene’s district, and it reflects his campaign’s broader effort to highlight a growing trend: how Republicans who opposed his economic agenda are beginning to see its benefits even in its strongly conservative constituencies.
Vice President Kamala Harris already traveled to the company’s plant in neighboring Dalton in April. She then pointed out that after the housing market collapsed, Dalton lost more jobs per capita than any other American city, but would now see another 2,500 jobs because of the solar plant.
“All across our country, there are communities like Dalton, communities full of people with incredible ambitions and aspirations, who just need a chance to show what they can do. President Biden and I are fighting to create that opportunity,” he said then.
Greene responded to Biden’s new video on Twitter with a fuller video of his comments. «Be honest Joe», she tweeted.
Some Democrats found the White House’s «extreme MAGA» talking point awkward, even as Biden’s advisers said it was part of a successful midterm strategy. Greene has since become a more convenient shorthand, however, as Biden’s team is eager to show that while the far-right deals with issues of the culture war, the president is delivering on promises of campaign in both politics and bipartisanship.
Biden aides were presented with polling data last year showing that Greene had unusually high name recognition nationally for a relatively young Republican congresswoman. And earlier this year, she emerged as a leader within the new House Republican majority, demonstrating an alliance with Speaker Kevin McCarthy and arguing directly with Biden during his State of the Union address, accusing him of being a «liar.» ”.
A Biden adviser said there’s more to singling out Greene than just the clicks. When the president met privately with historians last year and discussed the growing danger of authoritarianism and undemocratic forces, he was counseled on the importance of «calling things extreme when you see them.»
Greene is seen by Biden’s top advisers as a good and clear example of the GOP continuing to move in a dangerous direction, such as when she said earlier this year that if she had been a leader of the January 6 insurrection, «we would have cattle.»
Andrew Bates, a White House spokesman, linked Greene to another Republican who has been in the White House’s crosshairs: Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville, who has blocked dozens of military promotions over abortion policy.
«Unfortunately, the top Republicans in Congress have yet to find the guts to take on either member in a real way, even as Marjorie Taylor Greene tries to eliminate high-paying Bidenomics positions coming to her district and as Tommy Tuberville blocks critical military promotions, leaving service members and their families in limbo,» Bates said. «Republican Party members must find their voice: Are you with the President and military families and rural economic growth, or will you continue to cave to the more radical elements in your party?»
The new campaign video was made by Parker Butler, part of the Democratic National Committee’s digital rapid response team. Butler was hired to work on Biden’s 2020 campaign after he, while still a student at American University, had been creating his own short viral videos about Biden. He would then produce what the campaign says was his most successful social video 2020: An ad similar to Greene’s video, in which then-President Donald Trump says that if he loses to Biden, «you’ll never see me again.» Biden quickly followed suit, saying he approved of the message.