by Cruella De Vil, Kid Rock, Dr. Zhivago: The internet was ablaze arguing who Marjorie Taylor Greene looked the most like in the knee-length white coat with furry collar she wore to the State of the Union address. Turns out the question shouldn’t have been WHO but that.
Apparently, Greene wanted to match the Chinese spy balloon that flew over the country last week. So he chose a white coat because I guess the balloon was white too.
Nick Dyer, the congresswoman’s communications director, told The Guardian in an email that the $495 Overland coat, made with alpaca wool and fur trim, was meant to “highlight” the president’s lack of comment. over the globe during his State of the Union address. “Biden refused to bring it up, just as he refused to stop the intelligence-gathering operation that traversed the United States and staked out some of our most important military installations in the country,” Dyer said.
Greene bought the piece in Wyoming, Dyer said, while campaigning against Liz Cheney and raising funds for Harriet Hageman, who is now a US representative for the state.
Political Twitter had its own feelings about what the coat represented. “I don’t know why, but Marjorie Taylor Greene in that white coat yelling at Biden gave me a powerful ‘Russian Karen vibe’.” tweeted EU Political Journalist Nika Melkozerova.
“Marjorie Taylor Greene’s coat is made from the dogs George Santos said he was rescuing” joked former Defense Department aide Adam Blickstein.
Greene wasn’t the only divisive figure to make some decisions when it came to style. Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema, known for her striking style, wore a canary yellow gown with voluminous sleeves that drew comparisons to Big Bird and red carpet outfits.
Not long ago, if anyone was going to communicate a political message through their clothing on nights like these, it would be the first lady. In simpler times, these outfits were meant to symbolize unity, strength, or a vague sense of patriotism. There are staff who spend weeks discussing designer outfits. But quick, do you remember what Jill Biden wore last night?
I needed Google to remind me: a magenta dress. Purple, as color theory tells us, is a mixture of the colors red and blue, and has become something of a shorthand for outfits that encourage bipartisanship. That’s why so many people, from Kamala Harris and Michelle Obama to Elizabeth Warren and Hillary Clinton, wore it for Biden’s 2021 inauguration.
But no one is tweeting about Jill Biden’s dress today. (His kiss of hers on her lips with second gentleman Doug Emhoff? That’s another matter, and why #Swingers was trending on the app this morning.) she drove down Capitol Hill before the speech began.
The next morning, Greene’s outfit was being dissected on The View, with co-host Farah Green snapping a photo of Greene next to one of her pup. If the reports are true that the congresswoman is vying for a spot as Trump’s 2024 running mate, she’s certainly leaning into his playbook: appearing on television by any means possible, even if it means dressing up as a balloon.
