Twitter Goes Nuts After Rep. Greene Blames Others Who ‘Allowed Her to Believe’ Bonkers Conspiracies: ‘One of the Most BS PR Spin Lines Ever’

Sarah RumpfFeb 4th, 2021, 7:11 pm
 
marjorie taylor greene

Photo by Erin Scott-Pool/Getty Images.

Twitter users took numerous shots at Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-GA) attempt to defend herself in a speech from the House floor Thursday, pointing out the absence of actual apologetic language and her use of an awkward passive voice phrase, claiming that she “was allowed to believe” these conspiracy theories.

For those of you who aren’t grammar nerds, passive voice is when the subject of the sentence is the object of the action, rather than the one performing the action. “Mistakes were made” is the classic example of weasel words often employed by politicians seeking what William Safire called a “passive-evasive way of acknowledging error while distancing the speaker from responsibility for it.”

And that’s exactly how Greene’s comments earlier today were interpreted. “A lot of Americans don’t trust our government, and that’s sad,” Greene said to her Congressional colleagues. “The problem with that is, though, is I was allowed to believe things that weren’t true and I would ask questions about them and talk about them, and that is absolutely what I regret.”

Numerous cable news commentators slammed Greene’s attempt to shift blame to the media, failure to apologize, and easily-debunked misrepresentations about her past comments.

Twitter users reacted with similar disdain, with many zeroing in on that passive voice phrase, “I was allowed to believe.”

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Sarah Rumpf - Contributing Editor

Sarah Rumpf joined Mediaite in 2020 and is a Contributing Editor focusing on politics, law, and the media. A native Floridian, Sarah attended the University of Florida, graduating with a double major in Political Science and German, and earned her Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the UF College of Law. Sarah's writing has been featured at National Review, The Daily Beast, Reason, Law&Crime, Independent Journal Review, Texas Monthly, The Capitolist, Breitbart Texas, Townhall, RedState, The Orlando Sentinel, and the Austin-American Statesman, and her political commentary has led to appearances on television, radio, and podcast programs across the globe. Follow Sarah on Threads, Twitter, and Bluesky.