Kelly Loeffler to make 'major announcement' with QAnon-backing racist

Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R) will hold a “major announcement” on Thursday with conspiracy theorist and GOP House nominee Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Local media expect Greene to endorse Loeffler at the Paulding County press conference.

Greene, who won the Republican nomination for Georgia’s 14th District in August, has publicly embraced QAnon, a widely debunked conspiracy theory involving a cabal of powerful politicians — most of them Democrats — running an international child trafficking ring and working to undermine Donald Trump. The FBI has labeled QAnon a domestic terrorism threat.

Greene has also expressed anti-Semitic, racist, and Islamophobic views. Videos obtained by Politico in June showed her arguing that Muslim people do not “belong in our government,” equating anti-racism protesters with Nazis and Ku Klux Klan members, claiming there is no systemic racism in the United States because “slavery is over,” and suggesting that Black people are “lazy” and make “bad choices.”

In 2018, Greene also repeated a debunked conspiracy theory about the September 11 attacks, suggesting that no plane ever crashed into the Pentagon. She later acknowledged that she was wrong, blaming the “Deep State” for her confusion.

Some House Republican leaders condemned Greene’s views before she won the nomination and 146 House Republicans voted earlier this month to condemn QAnon and its dangerous conspiracy theories.

But Loeffler has refused to join them, praising Greene in August for articulating “a clear choice between socialism and democracy” and painting her as a fellow “political outsider” who will stand with Donald Trump.

Spokespeople for Loeffler and Greene did not immediately respond to an inquiry for this story.

In September, the two appeared together at a pro-gun rally in Catoosa County, Georgia.

Loeffler, who was chosen by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp in December to fill former GOP Sen. Johnny Isakson’s vacant seat, has attempted to walk a fine line on racial issues herself. She has repeatedly attacked the Black Lives Matter movement, while claiming that “the lives of every African American matter, and there’s no place for racism in our country.”

After WNBA players — including those on the Atlanta Dream, the team Loeffler co-owns — wore shirts supporting Rev. Raphael Warnock, one of her Democratic opponents, she decried it as an example of “cancel culture” trying to silence her views. The WNBA has been vocal in the Black Lives Matter movement for years and its athletes frequently use their platform to speak out on civil rights issues.

Recently, Loeffler also threatened to retaliate against China for giving COVID-19 to Trump — echoing a racist trope popular with the GOP that has led to a surge in attacks on those of Asian descent — and recently demanded that Joe Biden submit to a drug test before the presidential debate, citing a baseless theory pushed by Trump himself that Biden is taking performance enhancing drugs.

Loeffler is facing Republican Rep. Doug Collins, Warnock, and several other candidates in a November special election for the Senate seat she currently holds. Collins has also praised Greene, saying she’ll make “a wonderful congresswoman.”

If no candidate receives a majority, the top two finishers will face off in a January. Recent polls show Warnock and Loeffler as the two most popular candidates in the race.

Despite her extremist views, Greene is heavily favored to win her House race. Her Democratic opponent, Kevin Van Ausdale, withdrew from the race last month but remains on the ballot.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.