Well, it’s done. After Republican Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy declined to play the Democrats’ game and strip Marjorie Taylor Greene of her committee assignments himself, Democrats did it anyway with a mostly partisan vote.

This comes after Greene apologized for her past comments and rebutted some of the conspiracy theories she once espoused on the House floor this morning. She specifically mentioned that she no longer subscribes to the Qanon craziness and also rejected 9/11 conspiracy theories. In my opinion, that was more than enough to leave her alone, and it was far, far more than someone like Ilhan Omar or Rashida Tlaib ever did when they got caught up in controversy. Besides, stripping committee assignments from apologetic members for things they said before they even ran for office is an awful precedent.

But no one has ever accused Democrats of having any ability to think ahead, so they did it anyway.

A) The House of Representatives has voted to remove Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) over her committee assignments.

The vote was 230-199.

11 Republicans joined all Democrats voting to relieve Greene of her committee assignments.

— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) February 4, 2021

The final vote count was 230-199 in favor of stripping Greene of her committee assignments. 11 Republicans joined Democrats. Not a single Democrat voted nay. 

As an aside, it’s always a bit awe-inspiring to see how in line Democrats keep their members. Not a single one broke ranks to say “hey, this is a bad precedent that will be used against us in two years.” They just voted exactly like Nancy Pelosi told them to. Compare that to the ineffectual leadership of the GOP who couldn’t even manage to keep the defector under ten.

Regardless, if Democrats want to play the game like this, fair enough. Republicans now have a choice to make. They can sit back and make excuses in two years after they likely retake the House, or they can go scorched earth and make their opposition pay for ever even thinking about doing what they did. This isn’t about Greene. You can think she’s the worst person in the world and that her apology was bunk. Rather, this is about holding the other side to the rules they set.

McCarthy claims he’s keeping the receipts for when they come due.

McCarthy says that if the majority stripping committee assignments from minority is new standard, he looks forward to continuing the standard (if GOP takes back the House) – he indicates Dem Reps Omar, Swalwell and Waters

— Alex Moe (@AlexNBCNews) February 4, 2021

He better. Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, Cori Bush, Eric Swalwell, Maxine Waters, and others have all spread wild, false conspiracy theories. Some of those names have done more than dabble in anti-Semitism as well. Unlike Greene, none of them have apologized for their statements.

Reminder: Maxine Waters straight up called for mobs to form against Trump cabinet officials. She remains the chair of the Financial Services Committee.

Eric Swalwell had a long-standing relationship with a Chinese spy. He was recently promoted to the Homeland Security Committee.

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) February 4, 2021

This is particularly absurd from Omar, who has gotten multiple passes from her leadership for brazen anti-Semitism WHILE she was serving in Congress.

So maybe she should take a seat on “who they are as a body.” https://t.co/qUaD9NNsuB

— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) February 4, 2021

It would be political malpractice to allow such a double standard to continue. Republicans need to go nuts the moment they have the power to strip these people of their committee assignments. Take everyone out who deserves it and make Democrats regret playing with fire. Some conservatives will get squeamish because they always do, but do it anyway. You can not survive as a governing body if the rules are not applied equally.

If Republicans don’t take action in response to this, they never deserve to be in power again, though that’s been said many times before.