Marjorie Taylor Greene Wanted to Bring a Big White Balloon to the State of the Union

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene wants to bring a white balloon to the State of the Union Tuesday night, a move she unveiled just hours after her new best friend Kevin McCarthy said there would be no “childish games” from Republicans during the speech.

She didn’t end up bringing the balloon, which referred to the Chinese spy balloon that has caused plenty of political debate and political theater over the past week.

It’s a decent troll (and a broken clock is also right twice a day). But it’s not to everyone’s taste. Lauren Boebert, who made headlines with Greene for heckling Joe Biden throughout the entire previous State of the Union, was dismissive of her former ally when asked if she would be making a “symbolic protest” during the address.

Greene’s announcement of her helium-filled guest also came just a few hours after House Speaker McCarthy told reporters that “we have a code of ethics of how we should portray ourselves … We’re not going to be doing childish games, tearing up a speech,” referring to Nancy Pelosi’s iconic shredding of Donald Trump’s last State of the Union.

Greene allied herself closely to McCarthy during his grueling run for speakership, and she was rewarded with positions on several key House committees.

Greene’s balloon was not seen in the chamber later Tuesday night, as she heckled the president throughout his speech.

This post was updated.

Dozens of George Santos’s constituents traveled by bus from Long Island, New York, to the Capitol on Tuesday to call for Republican leadership to expel their not-necessarily duly elected congressman. The protesters, joined by New York Representatives Dan Goldman and Ritchie Torres, hoisted signs that read, “No taxation w/out honest representation!” and “NY-3 says: It’s time to FIRE the LIAR!”

The protestors, alongside advocacy organization Courage for America and local group Concerned Citizens of NY-03, took the approximately five hour journey to the Capitol to directly deliver a petition to Santos’s office that reportedly has over 1,000 signing constituents calling for Santos’s expulsion.”

“You have to be really psychologically impaired to throw that around like it’s nickels,” said Republican constituent Ben Marzouk, in reference to Santos’s lie about his mother dying during 9/11. “It’s not difficult to see and to do what’s right and wrong. [Speaker Kevin] McCarthy, do the right thing. Expel him. Have some respect, have some dignity, and do the right thing.”

Goldman suggested that House leadership has hesitated to push Santos to resign because “they are concerned that George Santos has information that may be damaging to them about their role in the fraud scheme.” Torres added to the idea, saying the only reason for Santos not to resign is  “to maintain leverage for a plea bargain in the event of criminal prosecution.”

Goldman and Torres’s suggestions aside, Santos resigning would shrink the GOP’s already slim majority in the House, one that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has worked desperately to obtain control over. So it is perhaps unsurprising that, after suggesting the House Ethics Committee was investigating Santos on Tuesday, McCarthy then assured us that it is not in fact doing so.

Santos’s actions have transcended simply being a buffoonish and pathological liar; already under local, federal, and even international investigations for his financial dealings, potential campaign finance violations, lying about his résumé, his fraudulent use of a checkbook owned by an older man in Brazil, and a scam in which Santos raised money off a homeless veteran’s dying service dog, Santos has now been accused of sexual harassment by a prospective staffer.

So, as McCarthy and the Republicans continue to avoid even subjecting Santos to a proper ethics inquiry, know that this is what they’re supporting.

Over the weekend, Representative Lauren Boebert visited the Storehouse Dallas Church in Texas, where the congregation opened up the stage for the Colorado congresswoman to preach to them. During her “sermon,” she professed her deepest hopes, the fundamental beliefs and wishes she imbues her faith into. In particular, she appeared to pray for the death of President Joe Biden.

“Joe Biden’s president. We don’t know what to do, Lord!” Boebert said. “It’s all right, we pray for our presidents. You know, it says, ‘Let his days be few and another take his office.’”

The audience laughed.

“That’s why I filed articles of impeachment for Joe Biden,” Boebert added. “Unfortunately, he does have a really great insurance policy named Kamala Harris,” she finished with a chuckle.

The implication was not just about Biden’s days in office being few.

Boebert said a similar line last June, and specified the noted Bible verse she was referencing, Psalm 109:8, which reads, “Let his days be few; and let another take his office.” The following line of the verse reads, “Let his children be fatherless, And his wife a widow.” The surrounding lines call for “evil to oppose” the enemy, for the enemy’s descendants to “be cut off, their names blotted out from the next generation.”

Boebert appears to have now unapologetically, and repeatedly, prayed for Biden’s death.

Meanwhile, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene—who, along with Boebert, helped incite a riot on the Capitol, was a special event guest alongside self-proclaimed Nazi and Hitler-lover Nick Fuentes, and has spread conspiracies about Parkland and Sandy Hook—presided over the House on Monday.

The pair’s prominence in the party and freedom to continue behaving so egregiously without any consequence from their own ranks lies in stark contrast to Republicans’ shameless removal of Representative Ilhan Omar from the House Committee on Foreign Affairs last week.

A new report confirms even more details about the Chinese spy balloons that floated in U.S. airspace during the Trump administration, despite Republicans’ vehement protestations to the contrary.

An Air Force intelligence report from April found that a Chinese spy balloon had circled the globe in 2019, passing by Hawaii and flying directly over Florida during its journey, CNN reported Monday.

The report directly contradicts multiple Republican claims that there had been no such incidents during Donald Trump’s presidency. Trump himself and several of his former security and intelligence advisers also insisted there had been no balloon incidents, which is apparently now an actual national security phrase and not a mishap at a traveling circus.

The Department of Defense said in a statement Saturday that at least three suspected Chinese spy balloons had crossed the United States during Trump’s time in office, citing an anonymous senior official.

The Air Force report, which confirms there had been a spy balloon, did not specify when the 2019 balloon passed over Florida. But Trump was at one of his Florida properties 39 days that year, according to a Washington Post analysis, so there is a small chance it could have passed right over his head.

The latest balloon has unleashed one of the weirdest timelines of late, which is no small feat. It has sparked a wave of political fighting, as well as a social media trend of conservative politicians performatively aiming guns at the sky.

The balloon appeared over the U.S. just days before Secretary of State Antony Blinken was due to touch down for his first visit to Beijing. China says the balloon was for weather research and had simply been blown off course—a claim the U.S. rejected.

Blinken’s trip was supposed to ease tensions between the U.S. and China. But now they seem to be inflating.

A Florida school district that covers 48 schools serving over 50,000 students on Tuesday released a fresh list of books to be banned from all school and classroom libraries.

St. John’s County Superintendent Tim Forson reviewed books that were objected to by parents and community members, determining unilaterally that some of the titles must be removed from the school libraries.

“I own this,” Forson said in a school board meeting Tuesday.

Here are the 23 books being banned:

• A Court of Mist and Fury—Sarah J. Maas
• A Court of Thorns and Roses—Sarah J. Maas
• A Court of Wings and Ruin—Sarah J. Maas
• All Boys Aren’t Blue—George Matthew Johnson
• Blanket—Craig Thompson
• Boy Toy—Barry Lyga
• Call Me by Your Name—Andre Aciman
• Damsel—Elana K. Arnold
• Forever—Judy Blume
• Fun Home—Alison Bechdel
• Handmaid’s Tale (graphic novel)—Margaret Atwood, adapted Renee Nault
• House of Earth and Blood—Sarah J. Maas
• I Am Jazz—Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jenning
• I Never—Laura Hooper
• Infandous—Elana K. Arnold
• Me and Earl and the Dying Girl—Jesse Andrews
• PUSH—Sapphire
• The Haters—Jesse Andrews
• The Kite Runner—Khaled Hosseini
• The Nowhere Girls—Amy Reed
• Trans+: Love, Sex, Romance, and Being You—Kathryn Gonzales and Karen Rayne
• Water for Elephants—Sarah Gruen
• When Aidan Became a Brother—Kyle Lukoff

Forson noted that some other titles are to be “quarantined” away from libraries and media centers as well, until a final decision is made. Meanwhile, titles like Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five and Rupi Kaur’s Milk and Honey are still subject to review, per the district’s list of books with objections.

Forson’s decision comes in the face of a recently passed Florida law that mandates that books in public schools be subject to review by a “specialist.” The bans more broadly follow an ongoing slew of Florida politicians attacking educators’ and students’ liberties—an assault spearheaded by Florida governor and aspiring fascist Ron DeSantis.

DeSantis has pushed through the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which prevents classroom discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity through third grade; lobbied for the Stop Woke Act, which restricts teaching on race in colleges; announced plans to mandate Western civilization courses and defund diversity, equity, and inclusion programs on state college campuses; and barred the inclusion of an Advanced Placement African American history course in Florida schools.

The Florida High School Athletics Association, under DeSantis’s reign, is also recommending requiring student athletes to give their schools detailed information about their periods.