Ｑアノン信奉議員は「共和党のがん」、同党上院トップが痛烈批判

【ＡＦＰ＝時事】米共和党のミッチ・マコネル上院院内総務が1日、物議を醸している自党のマージョリー・テイラー・グリーン下院議員について、共和党ブランドを傷つける「がん」になぞらえ、痛烈に批判した。（写真はグリーン議員）
　昨年の連邦議会選挙でジョージア州から初選出されたグリーン氏は、米極右陰謀論「Ｑアノン」の信奉者で、大統領選で不正があったとするドナルド・トランプ前大統領の根拠のない主張にも同調している。ここへ来て、そんなグリーン氏の扇情的な発言への風当たりが強まっている。
　マコネル氏は議会へ向けた声明の中で、「ばかげたうそや陰謀論」を信奉するグリーン氏は、ポストトランプ時代に進むべき道をめぐってすでに深く分裂している「共和党にとって、がんだ」と発言。
　さらに、「（２００１年米同時多発テロが起きた）９月１１日に米国防総省に飛行機は突入しなかったとか、恐ろしい学校での銃乱射事件の数々は仕組まれたものだとか、ジョン・Ｆ・ケネディ・ジュニア氏の自家用機を墜落させたのはクリントン家だと言う人物は、現実を生きていない」と批判した。
　議会によると、マコネル氏はこの声明の中でグリーン氏を名指ししてはいない。
　しかし、今回の激しい非難は、２０２２年の中間選挙で上下両院を民主党から奪還しようとしている共和党にとって、グリーン氏があだとなる危険性をマコネル氏が強く認識していることの表れだ。
　グリーン氏は、この批判に即座に反応し、ツイッターに「共和党の本当のがんは、潔く負ける方法しか知らない弱い共和党員だ」と投稿。「こんなことだから、わが党は国を（動かす力を）失いつつあるのだ」と続けた。
　グリーン氏はソーシャルメディア上で活発に活動し、自らの動画の中で学校銃乱射事件の生存者を侮辱したり、ナンシー・ペロシ下院議長ら複数の民主党議員の殺害を示唆する投稿に「いいね」を付けたりしている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/02/02-16:26）

Top US Senate Republican Mitch McConnell reportedly launched scathing criticism Monday of a controversial firebrand in his party, assailing congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene as a cancer to the Republican brand.
Greene, who has supported debunked conspiracy theories by far-right movement QAnon and echoes former president Donald Trump's baseless claims of rigging in the 2020 election, is facing mounting anger over her incendiary rhetoric.
In a statement to The Hill, McConnell warned that the first-term Georgia lawmaker's embrace of loony lies and conspiracy theories is a cancer for the Republican Party, which is already deeply divided over its path forward in the post-Trump era.
Somebody who's suggested that perhaps no airplane hit the Pentagon on 9/11, that horrifying school shootings were pre-staged, and that the Clintons crashed JFK Jr.'s airplane is not living in reality, McConnell said.
Greene has caught flak for her social media activity, including posting video of herself harassing a school shooting survivor and liking posts about executing leading Democrats including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Greene's rhetoric has nothing to do with the challenges facing American families or the robust debates on substance that can strengthen our party, McConnell said.
Greene responded swiftly to the jibes.
The real cancer for the Republican Party is weak Republicans who only know how to lose gracefully, she posted on Twitter. This is why we are losing our country.
McConnell, a Trump ally who broke with the outgoing president in December over his repeated insistence that the election was stolen from him, did not mention Greene by name in his statement, according to The Hill.
But the fierce denunciation by the leading Republican in the upper chamber in Congress suggests McConnell is acutely aware of the potential damage she could inflict on the party as it mounts an effort to retake the House and Senate in the 2022 midterm elections.
Greene claims she enjoys support from Trump, and said Saturday that the two spoke by telephone. She also stressed she will never apologize as she faces a backlash over her remarks and actions.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is expected to meet with Greene this week as pressure mounts on him to take action.
Democrats are threatening to hold a floor vote this week to oust Greene from the House Education and Labor Committee and the Budget Committee if McCarthy does not remove her.