Booing Marjorie Taylor Greene was a good step for Republicans serious about beating Biden
The Republican Party is in disarray. You only have to look as far as the U.S. House of Representatives to find evidence of it.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., has been doing what she does best: Making headlines for her antics. In March, she filed a motion to remove House Speaker Mike Johnson. Last week, she said she was planning to bring the motion to the floor soon. Those plans have since failed spectacularly, thanks to both parties voting Wednesday against Greene's motion to vacate. Members of both parties actually booed her.
I'm glad that Republicans stood up to her absurd effort. It's one of the first times in a long time that we've seen them back away from their party's most extreme members. What Greene ultimately proved is what many of us have known for almost a decade: The divisions that Donald Trump’s presidency exacerbated are evident in the Republican Party.
It's good to see her lose again to more sane members of Congress. But the Republican Party has more work to do, given how far members have strayed.
What the Republican Party should be doing to beat Biden
President Joe Biden is trailing Trump in the polls, so you’d assume Republicans would use everything in their arsenal to destroy any hopes of reelection by showing signs of unity to voters who are on the fence.
They could use this time to promote their presidential candidate or hammer home the idea that Biden is to blame for the civil unrest on college campuses or the increased cost of living. They could even use this time to announce a vice president who unifies the party or start being productive in Congress.
Instead, they're allowing the moment to slip away by focusing on the continual eroding of abortion rights and by continuing to lie about elections.
Why cancel graduations?: Columbia cancels commencement ceremony because of student protests. It's the wrong choice.
Biden is vulnerable, and it doesn't seem like Republicans know what to do about that.
Instead, Republicans let infighting within the party take center stage, like Wednesday's big House vote. This should be disappointing to anyone who still believes that there are two formidable parties in the United States.
A new poll from USA TODAY/Suffolk University found that 1 in 4 registered voters are saying they might change their votes ahead of November, and voters who have decided are evenly split between Biden and Trump. It feels like Republicans could take full advantage of this moment by just showing leadership. Instead, they're missing the mark.
Republicans are acting very predictable
Republicans have taken a clear stance on student protesters, decrying antisemitism and calling the pro-Palestinian movement a “radical left revolution.”
They also don’t seem to exert much energy to fight this perceived travesty, apart from Speaker Johnson’s trip to Columbia University and Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert’s visit to George Washington University.
Trump's campaign is also trying to capitalize on it, highlighting purported connections between Biden donors and student activists.
These moves amount to nothing more than unsuccessful attempts to hijack the conversation over the Israel-Hamas war, and everyone can see through them.
Even GOP voters have changed their feelings on the war after months of conflict: A Gallup poll from March saw an increase in the number of Republicans disapproving of Israel's military action when compared with polling from November.
I'd rather see Republicans at least speaking with their own voters on the ground, taking the time to educate people on why they support Israel. I'd rather they focus on passing policies that support their agenda – or condemning the racism exhibited by a now-expelled fraternity brother who mocked a Black woman during a recent pro-Palestinian protest. It seems like they could be saying more that would actually win voters.
Republicans need to regroup: If Marjorie Taylor Greene is the future of the Republican Party, I don't want it
For Republicans, this conversation should be an easy way to win over disaffected voters. Instead, they're using it to stoke the fires of the same base they continually rely on, Trump supporters who were always going to vote for the party.
Issues with both parties this election cycle
Truthfully, neither party seems willing to admit that it has propped up a pair of weak candidates for the November election. Trump has spent the weeks ahead of the Republican National Convention in court as a defendant in a New York criminal trial.
Biden, meanwhile, has been MIA – save for his administration announcing that it intended to reclassify marijuana on the Drug Enforcement Administration's substance list and condemning student protesters while making minimal effort to change the country's allegiance to Israel.
The Republicans could really be honing in on some issues at this moment. The economy is doing well, but Americans are still feeling the high cost of living every day. Biden hasn't been able to convince voters of his economic achievements, which gives Republicans something they can use to convince voters that things were better four years ago than they are today.
If Republicans are thinking ahead, they’ll use this time to rebuild their base and remind them of what they feel is at stake in this election. They would be using the fear of college students as a rallying cry for law and order.
Instead, they have to deal with Greene’s antics that put conservatives in the news for all the wrong reasons.
Greene's move to oust the speaker didn't come to fruition. What she has accomplished, however, is making the Republican Party look foolish ahead of November. Good news for Democrats, but bad news about the state of democracy overall.
Follow USA TODAY elections columnist Sara Peque?o on X, formerly Twitter, @sara__pequeno and Facebook facebook.com/PequenoWrites
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden can lose to Trump if Republicans decide to unify and govern
