Marjorie Taylor Greene shocks Lesley Stahl by saying Joe Biden supports pedophilia

During an appearance on CBS’s television magazine 60 Minutes, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) called Democrats – and even President Joe Biden – supporters of pedophilia.

“Greene complains that the news media harp on things she did in the past,” Stahl says in a voiceover. “Like, as in this video, chasing after a survivor of the Parkland, Florida school shooting… and things she says that are over the top, like…”

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“‘The Democrats are a party of pedophiles,'” Stahl says, quoting Greene from an April 2022 interview.

“I would definitely say so,” Greene told Stahl, standing by her words. “They support grooming children-“

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“They are not pedophiles!” Stahl laughed, apparently thinking Greene wasn’t serious. “Why would you say that?”

“Democrats, Democrats support- Even Joe Biden the President himself supports children being sexualized and having transgender surgeries,” Greene stated. “Sexualizing children is what pedophiles do to children.”

“Wow,” Stahl said, shocked. She rolled her eyes and sighed before saying, “OK….”

“But, my question really is: Can’t you fight for what you believe in without all that name-calling and without the personal attacks?” Stahl asked.

“Well, I would ask the same question to the other side, because all they’ve done is call me names and insult me nonstop since I’ve been here, Lesley,” Greene responded. “They call me racist. They call me antisemitic, which is not true. I’m not calling anyone names. I’m calling out the truth, basically.”

“Pedophile?” Stahl asked incredulously.

“Pedophile — call it what it is,” Greene said, as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world that Joe Biden wants to have sex with children.

Greene, like many – but not all – people on the right, uses the expression “sexualizing children” to describe an extremely eclectic set of actions. For these conservatives, “sexualizing children” can include reading a book to kids about a baby penguin with two dads, letting a boy wear nail polish, as well as child sex abuse and rape. They label the innocuous activities as “sexualizing children” and then talk about how the actually destructive activities are bad for kids. Anyone who doesn’t follow their logic, to them, is just another supporter of pedophilia.

Moreover, Greene has shown support for the QAnon conspiracy theory in the past. QAnon is a once-fringe rightwing conspiracy theory that says that major Democrats and celebrities – like former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Tom Hanks, and Ellen DeGeneres – are part of an international child sex abuse cabal. They kill and eat the babies as they worship Satan, according to the conspiracy theory.

Greene is incorrect in stating that Biden “supports” transgender surgeries per se. The mainstream Democratic position on the issue is that medical care is a decision made by families with health care professionals. Major medical organizations like the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics support affirming the gender of transgender youth.

That rarely involves surgery for minors. Instead, it usually involves allowing them to go by the name and pronouns they want to use, letting them dress as the gender they identify as, allowing them to use reversible puberty blockers, and, for older teens, providing hormone replacement therapy. None of these are performed because of the sexual desires of the doctors and other adults in the lives of trans kids.