Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) suggested that the mass shootings earlier this week – including the Highland Park shooting in Illinois that left seven people dead and at least 46 injured – is part of a conspiracy to ruin MAGA Month. She also complained about how there was no violence at Pride events in June, which is untrue.
“Two shootings on July 4th, one in a rich, white neighborhood and the other at a fireworks display,” Greene said on a Facebook broadcast. “Almost sounds like it’s designed to persuade Republicans to go along with more gun control.”
Related: Marjorie Taylor Greene says people who threaten trans people and drag queens need guns
“I mean, after all, remember, we didn’t see that happen at all the Pride parades in the month of June,” Greene said. While there were numerous incidents of violence at Pride events in June, the only mass shooting at a Pride event this year took place in Oslo.
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“But as soon as we hit MAGA Month, as soon as we hit the month that we’re all celebrating, loving our country, we have shootings on July Fourth,” Greene continued.
“I mean, that would sound like a conspiracy theory, right?” she said, laughing. “Of course! But what’s the definition of a rightwing conspiracy theory? It’s the news that’s just six months early.”
Marjorie Taylor Greene suggests the two July 4th shootings, “one in a rich white neighborhood and the other at a fireworks display” are false flags “designed to persuade Republicans to go along with more gun control.” pic.twitter.com/VEm6ZUdcUq
— PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 (@patriottakes) July 6, 2022
A few conservatives online have designated July to be “MAGA Month” this year, a reference to Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign slogan “Make America Great Again.” While Greene apparently knows about it, a cursory web search turned up few people treating MAGA Month like an actual celebration.
Greene’s statements referenced the July 4 shooting in Highland Park. The man arrested in connection to the shooting, Robert Eugene Crimo, attended a Trump rally and posted a picture of himself online with a Donald Trump campaign flag draped around his shoulders.
The other shooting Greene mentioned took place at a fireworks show in Philadelphia, where no one was seriously injured. A suspect has not yet been arrested in that shooting. Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said that investigators don’t know if the shots were “celebratory gunfire” or “intentional.”
