When Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) first ran for office, she caught the attention of Donald Trump, then became one of his fiercest loyalists in Congress.
Greene even recommended Trump for the role of speaker of the House before his election to a second term in the Oval Office, in a move that was clearly meant to get into his good graces.
More recently, however, a divide has emerges between Trump and Greene, one which may stem from the fact that she was not offered a Cabinet position, as well as the fact that some of the president's more centrist positions do not align with the MAGA philosophy MTG staunchly defends.
When then-Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was ousted from his leadership role, several names were tossed around as possible replacements, including that of Donald Trump.
Former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Greene were among the first to tout Trump as a possible speaker, despite the fact that he was not a sitting member of Congress.
Greene, at the time, stated, “The only candidate for Speaker I am currently supporting is President Donald J. Trump.”
She added, “He will end the war in Ukraine. He will secure the border. He will end the politically weaponized government. He will make America energy independent again. He will pass my bill to stop transgender surgeries on kids and keep men out of women’s sports. He will support our military and police. And so much more!”
After Trump won the presidency last November and the Cabinet began to take shape, Greene was very open about the fact that she thought her loyalty to the then-president-elect warranted a top position in the administration.
When people like Elon Musk and Robert Kennedy, Jr. were under consideration for key roles, the fact clearly did not sit well with Greene, who called them all “brand-new people,” and she believed that loyalists such as herself should have been considered first.
After Greene was snubbed, she began openly questioning some of Trump’s policies, vocally pushing back against legislation, and calling out Trump for allegedly going against MAGA.
If you recall, she was far from the only one to do so, which led to Trump eventually stating that he created MAGA, so he defined the MAGA agenda, not anyone else.
The clear divide really emerged when Trump went before Congress, and Greene was holding out her phone for the president to talk to Matt Rosedale, but he refused to take the call. Greene explained, "He yelled at me on the House floor, telling me, don't you ever do this. I was so surprised. I couldn't understand. I was holding out my phone, saying, it's President Trump, he wants to speak with you."
Then there is the controversy over the Epstein files, which were supposed to be released in full, but the administration has taken a hard line to keep them hidden, another position that is not sitting well with Greene. She described an interaction she had with a Trump aide on the subject, stating, "I told them, ‘You didn’t get me elected. I do not work for you; I work for my district.’”
She continued, “We aren’t supposed to just be whipped on our votes because they’re telling us what to do with this scary threat, or saying ‘We’ll primary you,’ or that we won’t get invited to the White House events."
Greene has always been a wild card who is not afraid to stir things up, but now that she has a more tempered relationship with Trump, that may not be a good thing for the president. With Trump now throwing his full support behind Ukraine and giving its leadership permission to conduct long-range strikes inside Russian territory, I am curious to see how it will play out for Greene, especially since she believed that Trump would have that war over before taking office and even suggested that he was the “only” person who could negotiate a peace deal.
