- Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is under fire for a series of threats and conspiracy theories posted online years before being elected.
- After CNN reported threats she made to Democratic lawmakers, she deleted many of the posts.
- Media Matters for America reported that Greene alleged that the 2018 California Camp Fire wildfires were the result of a space laser beam powered by Jewish financiers.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is in a renewed spotlight due to recently uncovered social media posts where she supports a galactic and anti-Semitic conspiracy that a Jewish-financed laser beam ignited wildfires in California.
And according to the left-leaning Media Matters for America, one of the anti-Semitic conspiracies she shared alleged that the record 2018 “Camp Fire” wildfire in California was orchestrated by California politicians and wealthy Jewish bankers via a space laser beam, in order to clear a path for a high-speed railway.
The Camp Fire wildfire began in November 2018 and was the worst in the state’s history to date, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The department determined that the fire, which burned 153,336 acres, destroyed 18,804 structures and took 85 lives, was “caused by electrical transmission lines owned and operated by Pacific Gas and Electricity (PG&E) located in the Pulga area.”
Scientists have confirmed that California’s wildfire season is becoming longer and more brutal due to climate change.
That same month, Greene took to Facebook to push her own baseless theory about the wildfires. The post has now been deleted, but Media Matters for America obtained a screenshot.
In her post, echoing multiple QAnon theories about the fire at the time, Greene openly speculated and said "there are too many coincidences to ignore," and alleged that then-California Gov. Jerry Brown aimed to build a high-speed railroad at the same time.
Greene wrote: "oddly there are all these people who have said they saw what looked like lasers or blue beams of light causing the fires," claiming that she finds it interesting that a vice chairman at "Rothschild Inc, international investment banking firm" is also on the PG&E board.
Then, Greene repeatedly claimed the fire was ignited by a beam powered by a "space solar generators."
The reference to "Rothschild" hearkens back to anti-Semitic conspiracies dating back to the 19th century that center on the Rothschild family. The European Jewish family accumulated some of the largest fortunes at the time and created a banking dynasty - which is falsely referred to as an endless lever of world domination in modern conspiracy theories. In a similar manner today, wealthy Jews like George Soros are implicated by the same outright anti-Semitic notions.
The post follows a CNN report which exposed that, "Greene repeatedly indicated support for executing prominent Democratic politicians in 2018 and 2019 before being elected to Congress."
After CNN's report, Greene deleted old Facebook posts, which included musings that 9/11, and the Parkland and Sandy Hook school shootings were hoaxes.
Green has been added to House Budget Committee and the House Committee on Education and Labor as a freshman and has mostly only been lightly censured by GOP leaders.
Earlier this week, a spokesperson for House Minority leader Kevin McCarthy told Axios: "These comments are deeply disturbing and Leader McCarthy plans to have a conversation with the Congresswoman about them."