An unflattering, doctored image shared by Bette Midler and depicting Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene as Lord of the Rings character Gollum has gone viral online.
Georgia Republican Greene has long been known to be a loyal follower of former President Donald Trump, whose 2016 campaign slogan "Make America Great Again (MAGA)" has come to serve as a label for many of his most dedicated devotees.
In late 2022, when Trump announced plans to run for another term in the White House, he introduced a play on MAGA known as MAGAGA—an acronym for "Make America Great and Glorious Again." Trump's official website shows that he has continued use of "Make America Great Again" for his 2024 campaign.
On Wednesday, singer and actor Midler, who is a vocal critic of Trump, shared an image on social media that depicted Greene wearing one of the former president's distinctive MAGA hats, redesigned with the MAGAGA acronym.
— bettemidler (@BetteMidler) May 1, 2024
The picture showed a figure stooping barefoot by a puddle in front of the White House. The figure had part of Greene's face digitally mixed with the features of Middle Earth creature Gollum, whose large ears sat below the MAGAGA hat.
Also shown in the image was the figure having four toes on each foot. Last year, a doctored photo depicting Greene with only three toes on each of her feet went viral on social media. A spokesperson for Greene confirmed to Newsweek at the time that the image was "absolutely fake."
First Wives Club star Midler, who has also been critical of Greene in previous social media posts, opted to forgo a caption for the Gollum-inspired image, which was shared on X, formerly Twitter. It was previously shared by other social media users in March.
As of press time, Midler's post has garnered more than 350,000 views. Newsweek has contacted representatives of Greene and Midler via email for comment.
Last month, Midler shared a widely-circulated post that described Trump as "a troll," who has "no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth."
Midler shared a post credited to a British writer called Nate White, who back in 2019 wrote a lengthy response on social Q&A website Quora to the question: "Why do some British people not like Donald Trump?"
"A few things spring to mind," the response started. "Trump lacks certain qualities which the British traditionally esteem. For instance, he has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no [honor] and no grace—all qualities, funnily enough, with which his predecessor Mr. [Barack] Obama was generously blessed. So for us, the stark contrast does rather throw Trump's limitations into embarrassingly sharp relief."
"Trump is a troll," the post continued. "And like all trolls, he is never funny and he never laughs; he only crows or jeers. And scarily, he doesn't just talk in crude, witless insults—he actually thinks in them. His mind is a simple bot-like algorithm of petty prejudices and knee-jerk nastiness."
"He turns being artless into an art form; he is a Picasso of pettiness; a Shakespeare of s***," the response continued. "His faults are fractal: even his flaws have flaws, and so on ad infinitum."
"If being a t*** was a TV show, Trump would be the boxed set," the post concluded.
"This is brilliant," Midler wrote in response to the X account Republicans Against Trump sharing the post. "I will be breaking it into shorter segments later so you don't throw up your hands at its length. You're welcome. Not 'Not a problem.' An actual 'You're welcome.'"
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Ryan Smith is a Newsweek Senior Pop Culture and Entertainment Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on ... Read more
