Marjorie Taylor Greene | Faith against mountain

Donald J. Trump has thrived on attacks from his opponents, who have called him a racist, an anti-Semite, a misogynist, anti-Muslim, and someone who ruined America’s global reputation by abandoning its military alliances and questioning wars. These charges fired up crowds that rallied behind him under the banner of Make America Great Again (MAGA). But now he is being attacked for betraying the very causes he championed for MAGA. Being accused of promoting global wars and protecting the vested interests of U.S. corporations is new for Mr. Trump, and these are issues that bond Left-leaning Democrats and Right-leaning Republicans.

Marjorie Taylor Greene, Representative from Georgia, has emerged as a central figure in U.S. politics more for whom she opposes — Mr. Trump — than for what she stands for. She has always stood by Mr. Trump from the early days of MAGA, and for the causes that defined that populist revolt. A decade on, she now opposes Mr. Trump and accuses him of betraying the trust of his voters. It was Mr. Trump’s efforts to prevent transparency in the investigation of dead sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein that led him into head-on conflict with the loyalist.

Ms Greene stood her ground and insisted on the release of the Epstein files that link the trafficker to leading figures in American public life. Mr. Trump was forced to eat humble pie and agree to the demand for transparency. Along the way, he called Ms. Greene a “traitor”, a “lightweight”, and “whacky”. The split between the leader and the loyalist was completed on November 21, when she announced she would be quitting the House of Representatives and would not be contesting the 2026 election.

The MAGA split is wide open. She said she expected a primary challenger supported by the President, and did not want to fight it out. “I refuse to be a ‘battered wife’ hoping it all goes away and gets better,” she said. Mr. Trump said it was “good news for the country.” Ms. Greene has framed her confrontation with Mr. Trump as a populist revolt — a revolt against, and beyond, a failed revolt that she now seeks to pin on her former leader. “If I am cast aside by MAGA Inc and replaced by Neocons, Big Pharma, Big Tech, the Military Industrial War Complex, foreign leaders, and the elite donor class that can’t even relate to real Americans, then many common Americans have been cast aside and replaced as well,” she said while announcing her resignation.

‘Genocide in Gaza’

Pro-Israel segments in the Republican and Democratic parties call her an anti-Semite for her opposition to American support for Israel, but Ms. Greene’s positions have found support from members of both parties. She has questioned Mr. Trump’s claim that inflation is under control and has been vocal in her criticism of colleagues in both parties for skyrocketing health insurance costs. She was the first Republican to term the Israeli war on Gaza a “genocide”. In July 2025, Ms. Greene said that while the October 7 attack by Hamas in Israel was horrific, so too was the “genocide, humanitarian crisis, and starvation happening in Gaza”. She has urged the U.S. to stop funding Israel’s military campaign, arguing that “we no longer have to fund and fight nuclear-armed secular Israel’s wars, especially when it leads to starving children and killing innocent people”.

She has been a supporter of gun rights, and even suggested a 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas was a conspiracy to bring in gun control. In 2018, she reportedly suggested that the September 11, 2001 terror strikes were orchestrated by the deep state; and in 2019 suggested that Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, Muslim women members of Congress, were not officially members because they used Quran rather than Bible in their swearing-in ceremonies.

Ms. Greene says all her politics and public service are guided by her Christian faith, but her advocacy for the American working class is what makes her acceptable to many people. Josh McKoon of the Georgia GOP described her as “a tireless fighter for America First principles”; Thomas Massie (R-KY) said she “embodies what a true representative should be”; House Minority Leader, Democrat Hakeem Jeffries, complimented her for “enlightened weeks” in recent times. Jamie Raskin, another Democratic Representative, said his party should have space for her. Democrat Ro Khanna, speaking of his agreement with her, said: “she is genuinely moved by the Epstein survivors, believes in AI regulation, and is anti-war.” He also previewed what may be brewing. “I’ll tell you this. She has more populist instincts than (Vice President) J.D. Vance.”

She has left that open. “When the common American people finally realise that The People possess the real power over Washington, then I’ll be here by their side to rebuild it.”