In a surprisingly flattering profile in The New York Times, Marjorie Taylor Greene portrays herself as a political naif who actually believed Donald Trump’s campaign promises and suffered death threats once she broke with the president.

The article softens Greene’s image by omitting some of her most outrageous behavior. The story mentions that she “harassed 18-year-of gun activist David Hogg on the street,” without mentioning that Hogg was himself the survivor of a mass shooting at his high school. There’s no word about Greene calling Hogg “little Hitler” or about the time Greene kicked another teen activist. Nor is there any mention of Greene’s suggestion that Paul Pelosi, husband of then-speaker Nancy Pelosi, knew the man who assaulted him in his home, a homophobic lie circulated by the right.

None of Greene’s actions are presented as beyond the pale. Instead reporter Robert Draper characterizes her in far gentler terms than Greene’s behavior would admit: “Greene did harbor a genuine conspiratorial streak, often even wondering if this or that person wore a wire. But she was also becoming an increasingly shrewd and acerbic observer of life on Capitol Hill.”

The “shrewd” observations consist largely of Greene becoming disenchanted with how little gets done in Washington and how much of what happens doesn’t help many people. It’s hardly an original take on D.C.

More interesting is why she says she broke with Donald Trump after serving as one of his most loyal supporters. One is that as president he hasn’t followed through on a lot of his promises to help working people. . “That’s what I’m guilty of,” she said. “That’s what made me, in the president’s words, a traitor — which was truly believing in Make America Great Again, which I perceive to be America First.”

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Another is watching Trump at Charlie Kirk’s funeral call saying he didn’t believe in forgiveness, just after Kirk’s widow said she did. “That was absolutely the worst statement,” Greene subsequently texted Draper. “It just shows where his heart is. And that’s the difference, with her having a sincere Christian faith, and proves that he does not have any faith.”

The other reason for the rupture with Trump is the Epstein files. Like many on the far right, Greene is furious that Trump reneged on his promise to release the files. The profile portrays Greene as moved by the testimony of Epstein’s victims. What it doesn’t mention is the underlying conspiracy theories that animate extremists like Greene. In fact, Greene, who came to Congress as a QAnon believer, is never asked about whether she still believes in conspiracy theories.

Greene’s push to release the files was the final straw for Trump. After she threatened to release the names of some of the men who abused women, Trump called her up and berated her. According to Greene, Trump replied, “My friends will get hurt.”

Her last exchange with Trump was last month, via text. After receiving a death threat against her son in an email headed “Marjorie Traitor Greene,” as Trump had dubbed her, Greene texted the president. He responded by attacking her in personal terms and saying she only had herself to blame for the death threat.

There is no denying such behavior is reprehensible. But you would never know from the profile just how much Greene contributed to the current state of affairs. The Times profile underplays–or avoids–Greene’s worst behavior.

There’s no mention of Jewish lasers starting wildfires, or of Hillary Clinton slicing off and wearing a child’s face. Her assertion that the 2020 election was rigged is treated as a firmly held belief, not as a lie. Her vicious attacks on transgender people are reduced to the slogan outside her office door. There’s no mention of the bill she shepherded through the House just this month that would jail doctors providing care to trans youth.

If anything, Greene believes that the toxic culture that she complains about is as much the fault of everyone else as her. Earlier this month, when Lesley Stahl pressed Greene about her past behavior, Greene complained that Stahl was herself engaging in toxic politics.

Instead, Greene is allowed to pass off her attacks as the result of emotional stress and strong beliefs.

“I was an angry citizen. An angry American,” she said in explaining her behavior. “And when I got here to Congress, I was attacked relentlessly and was enduring real pain in my personal life. And my emotions were just really raw.”

“And so, when you were apologizing about your role in the toxic politics,” Draper asked her, “you were thinking about the times when your anger got the better of you, like the stuff about A.O.C. and Pelosi?”

“Yeah!” she exclaimed again. “Because a Christian shouldn’t be that way. And I’m a Christian.”

The “stuff” Draper references is that Pelosi was a traitor who should “suffer death.” Greene verbally attacked Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as an antifa supporter outside the House chamber in 2021, and as recently as this year called Ocasio-Cortez unqualified to run for higher office because she wasn’t married.

The profile of Greene is emblematic of the general problem with current mainstream political coverage. Instead of talking about how Greene broke the mold for acceptable behavior, the mold is changed to accommodate her. The damage that she caused to democracy is portrayed as just another form of politics. Nothing is beyond some kind of explanation to make her acceptable. But the fact remains, Greene’s was always beyond the pale and her current contriteness doesn’t sanctify her past behavior–or as her attacks on the trans community show–her current behavior.

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