Although Lesley Stahl opened her controversial sit down with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) on Sunday studying again a string of insults to the congresswoman’s face, the momentum for a confrontational interview couldn’t fairly be sustained.
In voiceover, Stahl went on to name Greene “sensible and fearless,” and ended the phase by pondering the query of whether or not the secessionist, QAnon-adjacent lawmaker would be capable to “develop her brash MTG model past the right-wing populist base.”
To open the 60 Minutes interview, which was filmed previous to Donald Trump’s indictment, Stahl informed Greene: “We regarded up some phrases which have been stated about you… Loopy, Q-clown, Looney Tune, unhinged, moron. Fairly ugly stuff.”
“Appears to be like like the typical troll in my Twitter feed,” Greene replied evenly. “So, I don’t actually care.”
Then the congresswoman took the chance to double down on a few of her personal verbal taunts. When Stahl prompted her on a previous declare that “the Democrats are a celebration of pedophiles,” Greene hastened to verify the baseless assertion.
“I might undoubtedly say so,” she stated. “They help grooming kids.”
“They don’t seem to be pedophiles,” Stahl stated, in one of many interview’s uncommon cases of pushback. “Why would you say that?”
“Democrats—Democrats help, even Joe Biden, the president himself, helps kids being sexualized and having transgender surgical procedures,” Greene spewed, invoking an alt-right applause line that has been repeatedly debunked. “Sexualizing kids is what pedophiles do to kids.”
“Wow. OK,” Stahl replied. “However my query actually is, can’t you battle for what you consider in with out all that name-calling and with out the private assaults?”
The phase additionally featured Greene exhibiting Stahl round her “conservative, largely white, working class district,” full with clips of followers dashing as much as gush over and embrace their congresswoman on the road. (“Her constituents agree together with her on the problems and like the best way she fights for her beliefs,” Stahl opined over the footage.) A portion additionally confirmed Greene, a CrossFit fanatic, pumping iron within the gymnasium as she spoke to Stahl.
Greene additionally dug in her heels on previous social media exercise, refusing to apologize for “liking” Fb feedback declaring that Nancy Pelosi must be shot and that the Parkland college taking pictures was a false-flag operation.
“Different folks additionally ran my social media. I don’t suppose I did that,” she stated, when requested concerning the Pelosi remark.
“Are you saying that you simply don’t stand by what’s in your social media?” Stahl requested.
“Nicely, after all I stand for what’s on my social media,” Greene shot again. “However at instances not—you’re not all the time in management. We now have every kind of those that work on our social media.”
When Stahl tried to ask about her stance on Parkland, Greene insisted, “No, I by no means stated Parkland was a false flag. No, I’ve by no means stated that,” as this system displayed screenshots of her exercise exhibiting in any other case.
However as Stahl tried to inform Greene that the 60 Minutes crew had fact-checked her, the congresswoman bulldozed over her, demanding, “Have you ever fact-checked all my statements from kindergarten by twelfth grade? And in school? And as I’ve paid my taxes, and by no means damaged a legislation, and the one—I obtained a couple of rushing tickets. Do we have to discuss these too?”
Greene went on to check Stahl to her on-line detractors, complaining that the main focus was by no means “on something good about me,” main the CBS host to again down. “Let me button this up and we’ll transfer on,” Stahl stated.
The selection to interview Greene was hit with scathing backlash when it was first introduced by CBS Information earlier this week, with critics decrying the platforming of a virulent conspiracy theorist who, within the aftermath of the Nashville college taking pictures that left six folks lifeless, referred to as for extra weapons in colleges.
“You’re legitimizing a ghoul who harasses victims of college shootings, @60Minutes,” The West Wing actor Bradley Whitford tweeted on Saturday. “However yeah, @LesleyRStahl, you’ll get tons of consideration! Not nice for a technology traumatized by gun violence. Disgrace on you.”
Hours earlier than the interview aired on Sunday evening, Mary Trump, the previous president’s niece, tweeted, “Hey, @60Minutes—I fastened it for you.” In a photoshopped screenshot of a 60 Minutes tweet selling the interview, Trump had tweaked the copy to learn: “American insurrectionist, Marjorie Taylor Greene, has no disgrace and isn’t afraid to share her opinions, regardless of how despicable and anti-American they’re.”
“She sits down with former-journalist Leslie Stahl [sic],” the rewritten textual content continued, “who does her stage greatest to normalize Greene’s fascism. DON’T WATCH tonight!”