Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene briefly presided over the House to the horror of her critics.
A video of Ms Greene wielding the speaker’s gavel went viral on Monday night as she momentarily replaced Kevin McCarthy, taking on the role of speaker pro tempore.
“I could get used to this…” the far-right lawmaker declared on Twitter.
Her critics, however, expressed the opposite sentiment, summed up with one comment: “We’re in hell.”
Speaker pro tempore is a temporary position and often changes hands as representatives do certain tasks when the speaker isn’t on the floor of the House.
It is a position of no real power and can be done by any member of the majority in the House, but Ms Greene’s appearance in the speaker’s chair reveals that the Republican Party might be moving in her direction, making her less of a fringe politician and more of a mainstream member of the party.
Last month, after helping Mr McCarthy become speaker on the 15th vote, Ms Greene was placed on the Oversight and Accountability and the Homeland Security committees.
This came two years after she was removed from her committees as a reaction to her extreme posts on social media.
Footage shared on Twitter of Ms Greene wielding the gavel has been viewed more than a million times.
“This makes me physically ill,” comedian Kiki Melendez tweeted.
”From 9-11 truther, Sandy Hook false flag conspiracy theorist, Jewish Space Laser anti-semitism, Q-anon kookery, pro-insurrectionist, election denier, MAGA extremist quack to now presiding over House proceedings. Marjorie Taylor Greene IS the mainstream GOP. We WARNED you,” Tara Setmayer, a Lincoln Project adviser, wrote.
The comedy duo The Good Liars shared a clip of Ms Greene “saying she believes Ruth Bader Ginsberg was replaced with a body double”.
Progressive political commentator Brian Tyler Cohen tweeted “Marjorie Taylor Greene is now presiding over the United States House of Representatives. This is who Republicans put in charge”.
Responding to Ms Greene’s “I could get used to this”–tweet, Mr Cohen added that “Marjorie Taylor Greene is relishing in presiding over Congress and suggests she wants to be Speaker full-time”.
“If this doesn’t chill your blood to the core and wake Americans TF up, I honestly don’t know what will,” Ryan Wiggins of the Lincoln Project wrote.
David Rothkopf said it was time to “weep for the republic”.
Gun safety advocate Fred Guttenberg said, “this would be a great time for a ‘Jew-ish’ space laser”.
Columnist Tom Eblen said the “inmates” are “now running the asylum”.
“This is the QAnon-embracing, insurrectionist-sympathizing face of the Republican Party. Nice job, guys,” Rex Huppke added.
“My god. It’s really difficult to imagine how we can sink any lower. This is GOP leadership. School shooting denier. Jewish space lasers. Q believer,” Nathan Quarry said.
“This is right up there with rioter’s feces as the greatest desecration in history of this hallowed seat of democracy,” Professor Michael Mann tweeted.
