Washington Examiner, January 2021
If President Biden’s strategy of giving his political rivals, this time a far-Right freshman House Republican, the silent treatment seems familiar, that’s because he’s deployed it before.
During the post-election transition period, Biden tried to avoid mentioning former President Donald Trump by name in an effort to downplay his predecessor’s 2020 election result challenges. And now his aides are using a similar tactic to try muting inflammatory Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.
But just as questions were raised about the effectiveness of ignoring Trump before his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, the same concerns are being expressed about Greene, particularly regarding her influence on the far Right as Washington, D.C., stays on high-security alert with thousands of National Guard troops positioned around the city.
While questions remain about whether Biden’s avoidant approach will help or hinder the situation, Northeastern University’s political science chairman Costas Panagopoulos said Biden’s attitude to the issue is in stark contrast to Trump’s, who shared Greene’s voter base and thrived off of the drama.
