GOP Congressmember Mark Green—“The Things We Do For The Orange Jesus” December 10, 2023
Most members of the GOP, aka GTP ( G rand T rump P arty), have, of course, cravenly sold their political souls to Demagogue Donald for fear of alienating their rabid MAGA constituents. And it’s not because they really back him. It has long been reported in many books, newspapers, and in numerous media analyses that many GOP officeholders privately disdain Donald while publicly supporting him. One of these cowardly “Congress Critters,” is Rep. Mark Green. Green, a Tennessee Republican, is oh so typical of the “I’m no real fan of Donald, but I intend to support him anyway” crowd. While signing his name in December, 2020 to a Supreme Ct. amicus brief that unsuccessfully challenged Joe Biden’s presidential election over Trump, Green muttered, “The things we do for the Orange Jesus (latimes.com, 12/05/23, Klein, J.).” Yes, the “things” Green and his fellow “Team Red” legislators do to prop up their fake orange-haired “messianic savior (NOT).” Meet Con. Green.
Third-term Congressmember Mark Green (59) currently represents Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District (CD). The present TN 7th contains parts of Middle and West TN. Although most of the 7th is rural, more than half of its votes are cast in either Montgomery County which contains Clarksville, the state’s fifth largest city or in Williamson County which includes the wealthy cities of Franklin and Brentwood (Cohen & Cook 2022 Political Almanac). Williamson County is the Volunteer State’s wealthiest county and is usually ranked near the top nationally in income (forbes.com). The TN 7th contains part of the Army’s Fort Campbell, home of the 101st Airborne Division. Military jobs are located in the Fort Campbell area. Japanese car-makers Mitsubishi and Nissan are situated in Williamson County (Cohen & Cook 2022 Almanac). The military, economically affluent sections of the TN 7th, and its rural areas are now solidly GOP. The latest Cook PVI (Partisan Voting Index) gives the Volunteer 7th a strong R+10 rating (cookpolitical.com). Trump handily carried the TN 7th in both 2016 and 2020 with an identical 67% of the vote (Cohen & Cook, 2022 Almanac).
Jacksonville, FL native Mark Green graduated from West Point’s U.S. Military Academy. He spent 20 years in the Army and retired as a lieutenant colonel. In the Army, Green served as an airborne supply officer in the 82nd Airborne Division. While in the Army, Green received a medical degree and served for two decades as a flight surgeon. He wrote a book about treating Saddam Hussein after his capture. After leaving the military, Green founded and worked as a CEO of a TN health care company. He also served as a legislator in the TN State Senate (abcnews.com, 12/18, abcnews.com, 5/05/17, Fishel & Kelly, rollcall.com, Pathe, 12/17/18).
In 2017, after Donald’s first nominee for Sec. of the Army withdrew, Trump picked Green for that post. Green, who was then running for Gov. of TN, dropped out when Trump selected him (rollcall.com, Pathe, 12/17/17). However, Green soon withdrew his name for consideration as Army Secretary. Why? After he was nominated, it was disclosed that Green had a record of bigoted and hateful comments against the LGBTQ community and Muslims. He was further accused of “demeaning Latinos and of denying basic health care to women (Fishel & Kelly, abcnews.com, 5/05/17).” He falsely claimed that psychiatrists say “transgender is a disease (shareblue.com, Martin).” When Green withdrew his nomination, he told “The Tennessean” that “my life of public service and my Christian beliefs have been mischaracterized and attacked by a few on the other side for political gain (abcnews.com, 5/05/17).”
In 2018, when 7th CD Cong. Marsha Blackburn successfully ran for the Senate in TN, Green ran for her open House seat. In “Ultra-Red” TN which Trump carried by 26 points in 2016, Green easily clobbered his Democratic rival by 35 points (CQ, 116th Cong. Early Guide). He has since coasted to re-election (TN election results, nytimes.com).
One month after his first election, Dr. Green claimed that “there is some concern that the rise in autism is a result of preservatives that are in our vaccines,” a statement he later doubled down upon. This conspiracy theory drivel had been completely debunked (shareblue.com, 12/14/18, Martin). Green later partially but weakly retracted these absurd comments (shareblue.com). The TN Dept. of Health refuted Dr. Green and stated that “vaccines do not cause autism and they save lives.” Green himself admitted that he vaccinated his children (abcnews.com). Despite his absurd comments about vaccines, Dr. Green was unanimously elected by thirty of his first-year peers to be the new president of his freshman GOP class (shareblue.com). Green’s comments about “Orange Jesus” Donald are similar to the way he “handled” the vaccination controversy. Green will support all of Trump’s political nonsense publicly, but privately express his doubts. IMHO, private objections mean nothing. Public denunciations of conspiracy theories in general and Trump’s drivel in particular is what truly counts.
In the House, Cong. Green has voted with Demagogue Donald over 90.9% of the time (projects.fivethirtyeight.com). He voted against impeaching Trump both times. The first time was when Trump tried to shake down Ukraine over arms deals, unless that country gave him dirt on Biden and his family. The second time was when Trump was charged with inciting the January 6, 2021 attempted Capitol insurrection (Ebert, J., tennessean.com, 12/18/19, cong.gov). In October 23, 2023, Green was briefly a candidate for Speaker of the House, but soon withdrew from that contest (wiki). In late February 2021, Green skipped votes in the House. He claimed he was doing that to escape the COVID-19 pandemic. However, he and several other GOPers really skipped these votes to attend the Conservative Political Action Political Conference, CPAC (cnn.com, Bash, Raju, et al, 2/26/21). Green is chair of the House Homeland Security Committee and sits on that body’s Foreign Affairs Committee (CQ 118th Cong. At Your Fingertips). He is a member of the extremist Freedom Caucus and the hard-right Republican Study Committee (roll.com, McPherson, rsc-walker.house.gov).
And here is where hard-right Cong. Green stands on additional key issues. He strongly opposes abortion (thehill.com, 1/17/19). Green also rejects the scientific consensus that human activity plays a key role in climate change (brentwoodhomepage.com, 4/28/19). Green also rejects the theory of evolution (cnn.com, 5/01/17). Green’s loyalty to Demagogue Donald has not gone unnoticed. He has been named as part of the Trump campaign’s TN leadership team for that state’s 2024 GOP primary (Metzger & Saddiq, 2/13/23, businessinsider.com).
Cong. Green is often considered a possible candidate for statewide office in TN or for the U.S. Senate (See Cohen & Cook 2022 Almanac). However, if he stays in the House, he can easily keep getting re-elected in this “Blood-Red” district. In 2024, Democrats, however, must make sure that this public Trump supporter remains irrelevant by coming out in droves to take back the House.