When Marjorie Taylor Greene proclaimed in early 2021 that the Republican Party “belonged” to Donald Trump, I thought she sounded nuts. Not only did she turn out to be prescient, but the newly elected congresswoman also became a rising star in the MAGA ecosystem — and one of Trump’s most visible cheerleaders. To understand that ecosystem it was essential to understand this figure at the heart of it, so in 2022, I went to her hometown, Rome, Ga., to meet her, when the congresswoman, a prolific user of the term “fake news media,” had never spoken with a Times reporter before.
I have regularly interviewed Greene since then, and sat down with her in December for two lengthy interviews — in which she was remarkably reflective and forthcoming — after a spectacular break from the president, who called her a “traitor,” and her subsequent announcement that she would resign her House seat in January. “There’s a significant reason why women overwhelmingly don’t vote Republican,” she told me. “I think there’s a very big message here.” These interviews offer a window into Greene’s political journey — and the future of the movement she has long called her own.
Here are five highlights from my Times Magazine profile of Greene.
Trump’s speech at Charlie Kirk’s memorial was a clarifying moment
At Charlie Kirk’s memorial in September, his widow, Erika Kirk, citing her Christian faith, tearfully told the crowd that she forgave her husband’s killer. Donald Trump took the stage after her and declared: “That’s where I disagreed with Charlie. I hate my opponent, and I don’t want the best for them.” Greene explained the moment this way:
“After Charlie died, I realized that I’m part of this toxic culture. I really started looking at my faith. I wanted to be more like Christ.”
Over the years, as Trump’s acolyte, Greene had adopted his unrepentant pugilism as her own, but she told me that Erika Kirk’s speech recalled her own values:
“Our side has been trained by Donald Trump to never apologize and to never admit when you’re wrong. You just keep pummeling your enemies, no matter what. And as a Christian, I don’t believe in doing that. I agree with Erika Kirk, who did the hardest thing possible and said it out loud.”
Greene’s demands to release the Epstein files seemed to be the last straw for Trump
Greene told me that the Epstein files represented “everything wrong with Washington,” adding that it was a story of “rich, powerful elites doing horrible things and getting away with it. And the women are the victims.”
In early September, Greene spoke with several of those victims in a closed-door House Oversight Committee meeting. Their testimony struck her as entirely believable. In her own small way, Greene later told me, she could understand what it was like for a woman to stand up to a powerful man.
After the hearing, Greene held a news conference and threatened to identify some of the men who had abused the women — names she says she didn’t know but could have gotten from the victims. Trump called Greene and yelled at her as she listened on speakerphone; the angered president was so loud that staff members throughout her Capitol office’s suite of rooms could hear him. Greene says she expressed her perplexity over his resistance. According to Greene, Trump replied, “My friends will get hurt.”
Her disillusionment with Trump goes beyond the Epstein files
Greene told me that she once believed that Trump wanted to help ordinary people but has since been disillusioned by his actions and statements on issues that include tariffs and Gaza. “I was so naïve,” she said. Greene’s last exchange with the president was by text message on Nov. 16. That day, she received an anonymous email threatening her college-aged son: “Derek will have his life snuffed out soon. Better watch his back.” The email’s subject heading used the nickname Trump had given her the day before: “Marjorie Traitor Greene.”
Greene texted that information to the president. According to a source familiar with the exchange, his long reply made no mention of her son. Instead, Trump insulted her in personal terms. When she replied that children should remain off-limits from their disagreements, Trump responded that she had only herself to blame. Greene texted a senior administration official that Trump had endangered her family.
Greene said she was wrong for accusing Democrats of treason in the past
I asked her if her apology on CNN for “taking part in the toxic politics” referred to when she accused Democrats, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, of treasonous conduct. “Yeah!” she exclaimed. “Because a Christian shouldn’t be that way. And I’m a Christian.”
Greene acknowledged to me that she is, for the moment at least, politically homeless. “I’m, like, radioactive,” she said of her House colleagues on both sides of the aisle. She said she was done with Washington and with politics, though she insisted that she hadn’t changed her views. “But I’ve matured,” she told me. “I’ve developed depth.”
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