When you think of Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, reasonable and measured probably aren’t the two words you’d choose.
The Georgia representative once accused Democrats of putting "gay porn" in school libraries, blamed California wildfires on “Jewish space lasers,” called a petri dish a “peach tree dish,” and referred to the Gestapo as the “gazpacho police.”
But all of a sudden, the MAGA stalwart, who rarely makes sense and is frequently homophobic, xenophobic, and has spent years as a constant Donald Trump supporter, is distancing herself from the Republican Party and being vocal in her opposition to some of the President’s policies.
In the past year, she’s spoken out against foreign wars, ICE raids, and the government shutdown. So is Greene turning away from the GOP and toward the Democrats? Or is she just trying to find a new way to score some airtime because the Republican Party has swung so far toward MAGA that her normal talking points aren’t wild enough to make headlines anymore?
We may never know, but what we do know is that Greene is no longer afraid of disagreeing with Trump and the rest of her Party, and she’s doing it frequently and loudly.
Palestine
Earlier this year, Greene surprised everyone when she became the first Republican in Congress to describe the humanitarian crisis in Gaza as a "genocide."
In a long post on X, Greene criticized the U.S for funding the Israeli military and said that the people in Gaza “did not kill and kidnap the innocent people in Israel on Oct 7th,” and urged the American people to speak out on behalf of “the masses of innocent people and children in Gaza.”
“I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to pay for genocide in a foreign country against a foreign people for a foreign war that I had nothing to do with,” Greene wrote. “And I will not be silent about it.”
Healthcare
Nearly two weeks into the government shutdown, Greene broke with her Republican colleagues over the issue that the two parties are deadlocked over. Unlike the rest of the GOP, Greene has decided to take the Democrats’ side when it comes to preserving the Affordable Care Act subsidies that lower healthcare costs for Americans across the country.
“I'm getting phone calls from people that are saying if the ACA tax credits expire, they aren't going to be able to have health insurance," Greene said in a recent CNN interview. "They're going to have to drop it.”
Although she also wrote on X on October 13 that she doesn’t support Obamacare because she thinks it “ruined healthcare for many people, making it incredibly unaffordable, especially for the middle class,” but says there has to be a plan to “prevent Americans from being crushed by big hikes in already too high insurance premiums."
Jeffrey Epstein files
While most of the Republican Party is trying desperately to keep the Jeffrey Epstein files from being released, Greene has been extremely vocal about wanting the documents to be made available, regardless of what names would be mentioned. She called for a full disclosure of the files at a “Stand With Survivors” rally in September.
“I’m not afraid to name names,” Greene said at the event. “If they want to give me a list, I will walk in the Capitol on the House floor, and I’ll say every damn name that abused these women. I can do that for them, and I’d be proud to do that.”
Greene was also one of only four GOP House members to join Democrats in signing the discharge petition to release the Epstein files.
ICE raids
Cracking down on immigration and using U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to raid mostly Democratic cities has become central to Trump’s policy plans. But while most Republicans are just as rabidly anti-immigrant as Trump, Greene has once again split with her party on the issue.
Greene didn’t hold back her criticism of the Trump administration. During an appearance on comedian Tim Dillon’s podcast, she said that while she supports strong immigration laws and a secure border, there “needs to be a smarter plan than just rounding up every single person and deporting them.”
Iran strikes
While most Republicans are hawkish, Greene has been vocal about not supporting America’s involvement in foreign wars and was critical of the U.S. military strikes against three nuclear sites in Iran, which Trump called “a spectacular military success.”
Other Georgia Republican representatives praised Trump for the action, but Greene wrote a series of posts on X critical of the move. “Every time America is on the verge of greatness, we get involved in another foreign war,” Greene wrote. “There would not be bombs falling on the people of Israel if (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu had not dropped bombs on the people of Iran first. Israel is a nuclear-armed nation. This is not our fight. Peace is the answer.”
Tariffs
While on comedian Tim Dillon’s podcast, Greene also went off on Trump about his tariff and trade policies, criticizing him for caring more about wealthy donors than the American manufacturing companies that are “having problems with these tariffs.”
“It shouldn’t be about helping your crypto donors, or your AI donors, or welcoming in these people that hated you and spent money to try to beat you, but all of a sudden are excited to come out to the new Rose Garden patio. That shouldn’t be the focus,” Greene said.
Government shutdown
Greene has laid the blame for the government shutdown at the feet of her own party and then doubled down on her criticism of the Republican Party. “I’m not putting the blame on the President,” Greene told CNN last week. “I’m actually putting the blame on the Speaker and Leader [John] Thune in the Senate. This should not be happening.”
