“Joe Wilson is an ordinary lobbyist who makes his living from this type of work,” stated Levan Machavariani, Deputy Chairman of the Georgian Dream faction, during Georgian Public Broadcaster’s “Topic of the Day” program.
“Incidentally, he was trading inauguration tickets, and it was later revealed that he was also trading flags and so forth. His question to Mr. Rubio was completely saturated with disinformation. He somehow managed to slip in the claim that Georgian Dream insults Donald Trump and the current administration. Here, it’s already clear what kind of disinformation saturated the pathos of his question since we have not made a single negative statement about either the current U.S. administration or, especially, about Mr. Donald Trump,” Machavariani declared.
Rubio’s Vague Response and Georgia’s Clear Position
According to Machavariani, Marco Rubio’s response was notably evasive and unclear.
“Mr Rubio’s answer was very vague because, if I’m not mistaken, he used a phrase like ‘the government governing an important part of the world.‘ I don’t know what this implies—he mentioned neither Georgian Dream nor Georgia specifically. He limited himself to such a phrase, and consequently, his answer was very vague and general.”
Machavariani emphasized that Georgia’s government is actively seeking clarity on the U.S. position: “On the contrary, we ourselves are interested in the U.S. position regarding our country and our government. One clear example of this was the open letter that the Prime Minister recently wrote to Mr. Trump.”
Diplomatic Channels and Shared Values
When asked by program host Tamta Sanikidze whether there is communication through diplomatic channels with the new U.S. administration to ensure accurate information reaches appropriate addressees, Machavariani expressed confidence in the administration’s knowledge.
“Of course, the current U.S. administration possesses information about absolutely everything, primarily about the convergence in values, ideology, political worldview, political messages, steps taken, and so on. There is complete convergence in every direction, and probably you and society will agree with me on this.”
He stressed Georgia’s measured approach to criticism: “We have not used a single harsh word regarding the current administration, even when we saw so much injustice from the previous administration. We always distinguished that the U.S. is one thing, while the informal oligarchic governance—the same global war party that Mr. Trump calls the ‘Deep State’—is an absolutely different force that unfortunately had tremendous influence under the former administration and against which the current administration has declared open war.”
Alignment on Key Issues
Machavariani outlined areas of complete agreement between Georgia and the Trump administration:
“If we criticized the former administration very moderately on certain issues, the current administration criticizes it very sharply. On the importance of transparency, the dangers of LGBT propaganda, the causes of the ongoing war in Ukraine, relations with Eurobureaucracy, and so forth—there is complete convergence in absolutely every direction.”
The MEGOBARI Act as Political Theater
Addressing questions about the passage of the MEGOBARI Act in the House of Representatives, which received votes from Republican congressmen despite claimed alignment with the Trump administration, Machavariani dismissed it as hostile legislation.
“Georgian Dream calls the MEGOBARI Act hostile because there is truly nothing friendly about it. This is a separately developed topic that was laid during the previous administration’s tenure.”
He attributed the legislation’s passage to inertia and remaining opposition within Republican ranks: “Joe Wilson is still at the forefront; we can say it comes by inertia, and Congress is one thing while the administration is another. You mentioned that it had support from Republicans, and we know well from Mr. Trump’s own statements that serious internal cleansing has begun and must be carried out since not everyone in the Republican Party is a Trump supporter.”
Limited Impact of Congressional Actions
Machavariani argued that whether the bill becomes law is irrelevant to actual U.S. policy:
“This is simply a political show that our radical opposition needs to sustain itself. If Mr Trump wants to implement what’s written in this act—regarding sanctions and so forth—he has every lever and legitimacy to implement all of this a month ago, implement it today, or implement it in a month, regardless of whether the bill becomes law.”
He emphasized that Trump retains full discretionary authority: “Even if he signs it, he still doesn’t take on the obligation to implement everything.”
Ambassador Nomination and Future Relations
Regarding Georgia’s ambassador to the U.S., Machavariani confirmed that a candidate has been selected and submitted to the American side, with procedural processes now underway. “Who it is, we naturally cannot announce yet. Both sides must agree on the candidacy.”
Seeking Clear Partnership
Machavariani concluded by reaffirming Georgia’s desire for a genuine partnership with the United States: “Georgia’s government is interested in real partnership with the U.S. We openly support Donald Trump in defeating informal forces and ask the U.S. for a clear answer—does the new administration want partnership or not? However, the government also takes into account that Donald Trump inherited numerous problems of an absolutely different scale.”
