Middletown Family Blasts Rep. Marjorie Greene For Use Of 'R' Word

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — A 22-year-old Middletown woman, who has Down Syndrome, is calling on QAnon-supporting Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene to resign — or at the very least be taken off her positions on the House Education and Labor Committee — after video surfaced of Rep. Greene using the word "retard."

That woman is Katie Cartier, whose family founded No Limits Cafe in Middletown. Cartier's parents, Stephanie and Mark, started No Limits specifically to employ Middletown-area locals with intellectual disabilities. Katie works at the Rt. 35 cafe.

Greene, Republican from Georgia, was just elected to Congress in November and was newly sworn in this January. She is the sole Republican member of Congress calling to impeach President Joe Biden.

The video was reportedly made before Greene was elected to national office, and it surfaced this week on TikTok. In the video, which you can watch here, Greene talks about using money from Mexican drug cartels to build Trump's wall with Mexico. She can clearly be heard saying: “Stupid simple – Retards — I’m sorry, I know that is an offensive word. I am not trying to talk down on people with Down syndrome — but that’s what these people are. These people are so stupid and ignorant that they cannot put something common sense in place.”

"Stop the hate now," said Katie Cartier in the video. "The 'r' word is too ugly. Down syndrome is beautiful. We should remove her now."

Katie is a graduate of Middletown High School South and has actually been profiled in this past Patch article.

"While we would love for her to resign, we really want her removed from the House Education and Labor Committee at the very least," her mother, Stephanie Cartier, told Patch. "How can she represent a population that she thinks 'less of?' It’s a mindset, and that mindset cannot be part of determining the education of people with intellectual disabilities."

On Wednesday, Stephanie Cartier posted a public letter to Greene on her Facebook page:

"Dear Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene,
How dare you diminish the lives of those with Down syndrome! You hurt me, my daughter, my family, my friends .... but especially my daughter. It’s not just the offensive word that you used, it’s your mindset! I cry as I write this...every step she takes in life, someone like you comes along and tries to take it back...guess what Marjorie?....You only took yourself back! Please please please remove yourself form the House Education & Labor committee! YOU ARE NOT WHO WE WANT REPRESENTING US!!! Please watch this video of my beautiful Katie, who happens to have Down syndrome. Then tell me how stupid she is...you won’t be able to because you will see a young woman who is smart and straight to the point!
With great hope that you step down,
Stephanie Cartier
A mama scorned! #removerepgreene"

Greene is facing a massive backlash, not just for her use of the word, but for her many other views, which include promoting QAnon conspiracy theories about Hillary Clinton; that the Parkland, Florida and Sandy Hook school shootings may have been staged to take away Second Amendment rights and that a plane did not really fly into the Pentagon on 9/11.

Greene posted on her personal Facebook page that there are links between Clinton and human sacrifice; she has also claimed Clinton murdered her political enemies, including saying she thinks Clinton may be responsible for JFK, Jr.'s 1999 death in a Cape Cod plane crash. According to the Washington Post, a 2018 Facebook post from Greene claims a video exists of Clinton and her assistant Huma Abedin murdering a child in a satanic ritual.

In a January 2019 Facebook video, Greene said "it's a crime punishable by death is what treason is. Nancy Pelosi is guilty of treason."

In this 2017 YouTube video, Greene described Q as "an anonymous person, a patriot. He is someone that very much loves his country, and he’s on the same page as us, and he is very pro-Trump ... I’m very excited about that now there’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take this global cabal of Satan-worshiping pedophiles out, and I think we have the president to do it," referring to Trump.

Then in another 2018 interview, Greene expressed doubt that it really was a plane that flew into the Pentagon in 9/11, saying “the so-called plane that crashed into the Pentagon .... It's odd there's never any evidence shown for a plane in the Pentagon."

On Monday of this week, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell never mentioned Greene by name, but released a statement that read: “Loony lies and conspiracy theories are cancer for the Republican Party and our country. Somebody who’s suggested that perhaps no airplane hit the Pentagon on 9/11, that horrifying school shootings were pre-staged, and that the Clintons crashed JFK Jr.’s airplane is not living in reality. This has nothing to do with the challenges facing American families or the robust debates on substance that can strengthen our party.”

This week, the Down Syndrome Association of Atlanta and the National Down Syndrome Congress both said they "strongly disagree" with the decision by House Republicans to appoint Greene to the House Education and Labor Committee.

“Men, women, and children with Down syndrome should never be used as a punch line to make points in a political debate," said National Down Syndrome Congress' executive director David Tolleson this week. "Rep. Greene’s comments send a message to students, parents, and educators that she believes people with disabilities are not capable of decision-making. Her words and beliefs are a slap in the face to people with disabilities and we do not support her appointment to the Education and Labor Committee.”

House Democrats are currently working this week to vote to remove Greene from her Education and Labor Committee assignments.

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