I just finished reading one of the best longer-form bio/political magazine pieces I’ve read in recent years. Elaina Plott Calabro, well done.
“Marge” (her nickname among those who knew her back when) was a bored and restless 40-something Crossfit mom, married to a very hardworking and successful businessman who took over her own father’s construction firm. Marge wasn’t political, she never even voted. She lived and raised 3 kids in a comfy Atlanta suburb.
How and why did Marge reinvent herself Madonna-level, first on the Internet and then in real life, as the relentlessly combative, extremist, bullying, conspiracy-mongering, libs-attacking MTG we know today? How did she get hooked deep into QAnon? How did right wing fandom and adulation begin to swirl around her and elevate her into a MAGA cult star and whoosh her into a US congressional seat?
Calabro’s piece doesn’t have all the answers, but this biographical portrait it paints is an interesting one. The questions it leaves outstanding are worth thinking about, long afterward. And I really enjoyed it as a piece of writing. It’s hard to extricate a “block quote” to show you here, because each section of the piece is woven so well in relationship with the sections surrounding it.
But do read it, if you ever find political biography interesting — or if you find yourself curious how it was that such hardcore MAGA happened inside this person.
And, the tactical bottom line for our DailyKos interests: No. Democrats will likely never, ever unseat Marge from her GA seat. She chose that deep-deep-red MAGA district (where she’d never actually lived) for a reason. Even if she alienates 75% of everybody else, she will likely stay in power as Georgia’s US rep for GA-14. Better to focus, as sure as the Serenity prayer, on changing the things we can change.