Rep. Mike Lawler traded insults with fellow Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene in a nasty online spat over his push for a higher cap on deducting state and local taxes, or SALT.
Calling MTG “the Jewish space laser lady,” Lawler said hardline right-wing Republicans should pay more attention to winning swing seats like his Westchester County-based district if they want to keep control of the House of Representatives.
“Shockingly the ‘Jewish Space Laser’ lady once again doesn’t have a clue what she is talking about,” Lawler posted on X, referring to Taylor Greene. “By the way, the reason you enjoy a gavel is because Republicans like me have won our seats. Good luck being in the Majority if we don’t.”
Taylor Greene — a Georgia MAGA stalwart who once spouted the antisemitic conspiracy theory that the Rothschild banking family created “space lasers” that caused the California wildfires — countered that Lawler should credit President Trump with winning Congress.
“Lawler usually isn’t the guy in the conference with the best ideas,” she wrote.
Lawler pointed out that he is one of three out of 220 sitting Republican lawmakers who won districts Trump lost in the 2024 election. Without those three GOP lawmakers, the party would not hold the 218 seats needed for a majority, he said.
“I know math is difficult but: 220 – 3 = 217,” Lawler wrote.
The tit-for-tat Twitter spat comes as warring Republican factions were set for a crucial meeting Thursday to seek agreement on SALT and other knotty disputes that have endangered Trump’s sprawling budget bill.
Far right-wing lawmakers like Taylor Greene want even deeper cuts to social safety net programs like Medicaid, while relative moderates want to limit the pain on their constituents. Some fiscal hawks are insisting upon smaller tax cuts to avoid blowing up the deficit.
The current draft of the bill includes an increase in the cap on SALT deductions to $30,000 from the current $10,000.
Lawler and a handful of other self-described “SALT Republicans” from affluent suburban districts in high-tax blue states have vowed to vote against the bill if it doesn’t hike the SALT cap by a much larger amount, although they haven’t identified an acceptable number.
