Marjorie Taylor Greene, the geographically challenged congresswoman who floats harmful impossible statistics and notoriously ranted (also harmfully) about “jewish space lasers,” received her very own sit-down profile with 60 Minutes over the weekend. As one can imagine, this didn’t go over well in advance with people who were outraged that the show gave the QAnon cheerleader a platform (therefore posing the danger that her extremist views could be seen as normalized), and that outlook hasn’t changed.
For sure, 60 Minutes did itself no favors by promoting this interview by tweeting that Greene “isn’t afraid to share her opinions, no matter how intense and in-your-face they are,” as though a “fearless” vibe was all that’s going on here. And onscreen, Greene was allowed to repeat her well-known repertoire of conspiracy theories and falsehoods without much pushback. Greene even straight-up likened Democrats to “pedophiles” while declaring, “Democrats support — even Joe Biden, the president himself — supports children being sexualized and having transgender surgeries. Sexualizing children is what pedophiles do to children.” In response, Lesley Stahl puffed her cheeks in disbelief, but as Democratic strategist Sawyer Hackett noted, she did not push back, nor did Stahl point out the falseness of these accusations.
Leslie Stahl gives a Qanon believer a huge platform, then prepares NOTHING to push back on her when she repeats them.
This is what 52 years in journalism teaches you? pic.twitter.com/99C7bpkyGr
— Sawyer Hackett (@SawyerHackett) April 3, 2023
And it’s no wonder that The Daily Beast and a chorus of upset Twitter users are referring to the profile as a textbook “softball” interview.
The 60 Minutes segment is such softball political journalism. Incredibly frustrating to watch and treat Congresswoman Greene as an almost normal politicianhttps://t.co/7ZlQIILrPz
— em steck (@emsteck) April 3, 2023
Here are some excerpts from the 60 Minutes story on Marjorie Taylor Greene.
This is even more softball than a Hannity interview with Trump. Not exaggerating.
They completely rehabilitated this fascist lunatic as a feisty, maverick lawmaker.
Who at CBS pushed for this? pic.twitter.com/20EHKKPTcQ
— Mark Strauss (@MarkDStrauss) April 3, 2023
I think we know how Walter Cronkite would have have felt about the softball 60 Minutes interview of Marjorie Taylor Greene pic.twitter.com/emUdje6kUL
— KnowTheCEO (@KnowTheCEO) April 3, 2023
just watching the Marjorie Taylor Greene interview on 60 Minutes and yeah, there was no good reason to give this woman a platform pic.twitter.com/znIV6ZfEIE
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 3, 2023
@60Minutes Why in the hell are you sharing your platform with Marjorie Taylor Greene? You are giving her a legitimacy that she does not possess or deserve. Are you THAT desperate for relevance? If this is just a softball puff interview for clicks and profit, then you suck. https://t.co/oJVXkAmGg2
— Rebecca Wright (@rjcalico) April 2, 2023
@60Minutes
what happened to Hard Hitting?
Softball interview with Marjorie Taylor Greene was almost a fluff piece.
Maybe after all these years its time to pull the plug?— T w i t t e r is 8chan (@TheMeadGuy) April 2, 2023
I tried to be open-minded about 60 Minutes interviewing Marjorie Taylor Greene as well. But the softball interview normalized her anti-democratic horror. Shame
— Willfred
(@Willfre666) April 3, 2023
On Monday morning, following her high-profile interview, Greene appears to be emboldened after receiving said platform. She fired off a tweet that matched the theme of her false accusations against Democrats, and she’s also coming for Budweiser and the Country Music Awards for “caving to the Trans agenda” after Kelsea Ballerini performed onstage with Drag Race stars.
Budweiser and Country Music awards both caving to the Trans agenda destroying women will not achieve the psyop they desire.
Their customers that support them will not tolerate the immoral lies they’re trying to shove down their throats no matter how hard the 28 yr old she/her in… pic.twitter.com/ulT67TpHu8
— Marjorie Taylor Greene
(@mtgreenee) April 3, 2023
In other words, no lessons have been learned here, and Greene is absolutely thrilled to have spread her far-right propaganda into into living rooms across America.