WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — When President Donald Trump addressed Congress earlier this 12 months, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene was there holding an American flag and sporting a purple baseball cap that mentioned “Trump was right about everything.”
After the speech, he gave her a kiss and he or she beamed. Trump was again in energy and Greene was positioned to be one among his most ardent political foot troopers with Republicans controlling all levers of energy in Washington.
Their alliance didn’t final the 12 months. Now it has fractured in an explosive feud that might foreshadow extra rifts inside Trump’s “Make America Great Again” motion earlier than subsequent 12 months’s midterm elections.
In latest weeks, Greene has escalated her criticism of Trump’s give attention to overseas coverage over what she has mentioned ought to be an agenda that concentrates on Individuals, in addition to his reluctance to launch extra paperwork involving the Jeffrey Epstein case. On Friday, the Republican president mentioned he would assist a major problem towards the Georgia congresswoman.
“All I see ‘Wacky’ Marjorie do is COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN!” Trump wrote on his social media platform as his motorcade whisked him from Air Pressure One to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Seaside, Florida.
On Saturday, Trump examined out a brand new nickname for her, calling her “Marjorie Taylor Brown” as a result of “Green grass turns Brown when it begins to ROT!”
Trump has efficiently stamped out different challenges to his energy through the years, however Greene isn’t backing down. She even prompt that she, not Trump, will be the true champion of the “America First” agenda.
“I believe in the American people more than I believe in any leader or political party and the American people deserve so much better than how they have been treated by both sides of the aisle,” she wrote in her personal put up Saturday.
She additionally mentioned she is nervous about her security as a result of “threats against me are being fueled and egged on by the most powerful man in the world.”
Trump backed Greene from the beginning
Greene isn’t the primary lawmaker to earn Trump’s anger. Their cut up, nevertheless, is essentially the most notable of his second time period. She has been intently tied to him since 2020, when she started her political profession in Georgia’s rural northwest.
Backing the QAnon conspiracy concept, showing with white supremacists and brandishing assault rifles, Greene was opposed by celebration leaders however supported by Trump. He known as her a “future Republican Star” and “a real WINNER!”
Jason Shepherd, a former Republican official in Georgia who left the celebration over disagreements with Trump supporters, mentioned 2020 was “a perfect storm of political bizarreness” throughout upheaval attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic. Georgia was one of many intently contested states the place Trump disputed his loss to Democrat Joe Biden, even pressuring Georgia’s secretary of state to “find” sufficient votes to overturn the outcomes.
Shepherd, a lawyer and political science professor who lives in Greene’s district, mentioned “we never know what position Marjorie Taylor Greene is going to pop up with next.”
ELIJAH NOUVELAGE by way of Getty Photos
“I don’t know if she has any core convictions, except for what will help her the most,” he mentioned.
Greene began her congressional tenure as Trump was leaving the White Home, and he or she supported the election lies that fueled the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol. She turned a media fixture as a goal of liberal scorn and a promoter of Trump-style conservatism, and was a loyal lieutenant in his comeback marketing campaign in 2024.
However rigidity appeared to start earlier this 12 months when Greene was exploring a possible 2026 marketing campaign towards Jon Ossoff, one among Georgia’s two Democratic senators. Trump mentioned he despatched Greene a ballot exhibiting that she “didn’t have a chance.” She in the end handed on the race and later declined to run for Georgia governor whereas attacking a political “good ole boy” system that she accused of endangering Republican management of the state.
A brand new Greene?
Greene has just lately set a special, extra conciliatory tone.
She went on ABC’s “The View,” a daytime speak present thought-about a secure area for Democrats, to say “that people with powerful voices,” particularly girls, “need to pave a new path.”
The rhetoric sparked hypothesis that Greene could be contemplating a run for president herself, which was later denied by her boyfriend, Brian Glenn, a conservative reporter recognized for his pleasant questioning of Trump.
Greene additionally has been criticizing Trump, notably his work with different nations. She informed Tucker Carlson final month that the administration’s assist for Argentina was “a punch in the gut” at a time when Individuals are offended about costs for on a regular basis wants.
Greene is one among a handful of Republicans supporting an effort to power the Justice Division to launch extra paperwork involving Epstein, a convicted intercourse offender who was related to a number of the nation’s strongest individuals. Trump has struggled to cease questions on his personal hyperlinks to Epstein, who was discovered lifeless in his jail cell in 2019 in what authorities have dominated was a suicide.
Trump has dismissed Greene’s criticism, telling reporters on Monday that “she’s lost her way.”
Shawn Harris, a retired Military common and Democrat who misplaced to Greene in 2024, is operating towards her once more in 2026. He mentioned Greene’s shift is a part of her attention-seeking conduct.
“Marjorie always picks fights with people to stay in the news and it’s finally President Trump’s turn,” Harris wrote in a textual content message. “But neither of them has done a single thing for the hardworking people here in northwest Georgia. The way things are going lately, it’s not clear his endorsement would help anyone.”
Tom Williams by way of Getty Photos
Trump battles Democrats and Republicans within the midterms
It’s widespread for political coalitions to fray over time, particularly when presidents are serving their second time period and members of their celebration begin pondering a future with out them on the helm.
Trump has principally prevented that to date. He has flirted with the potential for operating for a 3rd time period, regardless of the constitutional prohibition on extending his time in workplace, and exerted ironclad affect over the Republican-controlled Congress.
He faces an important political check subsequent 12 months as Democrats attempt to retake management of the Home, which might empower them to dam laws and launch investigations of his administration.
The president has been making an attempt to enhance his celebration’s probabilities by pressuring states to redraw congressional districts to learn Republicans, however he is also making an attempt to purge lawmakers whom he considers disloyal. Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky is already the goal of a Trump-backed major problem, and Greene might be the following if she and the president don’t reconcile, as has sometimes occurred after Trump falls out with allies.
Though nobody instantly introduced they had been leaping into the race, some are contemplating it.
State Sen. Colton Moore, a Republican from the area who beforehand floated a run towards Ossoff, criticized Greene. “I’m more frustrated with her than President Trump and she doesn’t care,” he mentioned.
On Saturday, he complained about getting the “runaround” any time he known as her workplace looking for assist. He additionally praised Trump’s dealing with of the economic system.
“I also have a passport full of countries from across the globe I’ve visited in the last year,” he mentioned. “All worse than U.S.”
Requested if he would problem Greene, Moore mentioned in a textual content that “I have only one objective in life … to put America First.”
Amy reported from Atlanta.
