Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene isn’t quite the MAGA acolyte she once was.
Greene has publicly broken with Donald Trump several times since his inauguration, differing from her “favorite president” on issues ranging from artificial intelligence to Russia’s assault on Ukraine. She’s also sparred with the White House over the executive branch’s apparent hostility toward demands to release the Epstein files.
Even Trump has started to notice the Georgia lawmaker’s lone agent status among her far-right peers in recent months, even calling senior Republicans to inquire about her loyalty.
“What’s going on with Marjorie?” the president has asked, two GOP sources with direct knowledge of the conversations told NBC News.
The initial fissure point traces back to May, when the White House corralled Greene away from a Senate bid in Georgia. At the time, Trump’s political team had commissioned a poll that indicated Greene would lose the race to Democrat Jon Ossoff by double digits.
“I’m not some sort of blind slave to the president, and I don’t think anyone should be,” Greene told NBC Wednesday. “I serve in Congress. We’re a separate branch of the government, and I’m not elected by the president. I’m not elected by anyone that works in the White House. I’m elected by my district. That’s who I work for, and I got elected without the president’s endorsement, and, you know, I think that has served me really well.”
Greene, notably, won her district in 2020 without the president’s endorsement. Viewed as something of a joke when she first arrived on Capitol Hill in 2021, the renowned conspiracist has since become a powerful independent agent, apparently beholden to no party and no man.
“So I get to be independent as a Republican,” Greene said, “and I think what helps [Trump] the most is when he has people that are willing to be honest with him and not just tell him what they think he wants to hear.”
Now, Greene claims she has zero interest in serving in the Senate, blaming the upper chamber for the current federal failure.
“I don’t want to serve in that institution. Look at them. They’re literally the reason why the government is shut down right now,” Greene said. “I think all good things go to die in the Senate, and I certainly don’t want to go there. But I think those are just attacks to try to marginalize me or try to sweep me off, so to speak. And I really don’t care.”
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