Marjorie Taylor Greene criticised for response to Colorado shooting

Georgia congresswoman attacks Joe Biden for supposedly not addressing opioid epidemic

Marjorie Taylor Greene was back causing controversy this week after she chose her response to the mass shooting at an LGBT club in Colorado as a means for attacking Joe Biden on unrelated issues.

Ms Greene’s two-tweet thread addressing the attack that saw five killed and more than a dozen wounded surprised few; the tweets did not address the significance of the target nor the wave of hate that right-wing political figures have directed at LGBT people and transgender Americans in particular over the past few years.

“Tragically, 300 Americans die of fentanyl poisoning everyday in America and Biden says and does nothing. Tragically, 5 people were killed in a shooting in Colorado and Biden immediately demands a ban on assault weapons,” she wrote.

She added: “The solutions are this: 1. Secure the border and stop the drugs. 2. Defend our right to keep and bear arms so that people can defend themselves from killers who could care less about laws.“

But what did raise some fury from left-leaning users on the platform was her choice to attack Mr Biden over the issue of fentanyl deaths in her response — a nonsequitur that belayed the difficulty that some conservatives have found in responding to an attack against members of the LGBT community.

“What you always fail to incorporate into your talking-point is that people who take the drugs bear some responsibility in their deaths,” wrote one commenter. “What responsibility do the people shot by an assault rifle while dancing at a club bear in their deaths? “

Others pointed out that the White House had announced plans to provide $1.5bn dollars to states and local governments to fight the opioid epidemic, not including more than $100m to fund treatment in rural areas.

“The fentanyl crisis has been growing for many years. It continued to grow at a record pace under Trump & under Republican controlled Congress,” said one Twitter user.