MAGA favorite Marjorie Taylor Greene to resign after split with Trump
By James Oliphant and Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene announced on Friday that she was resigning from the House of Representatives following a dramatic split with President Donald Trump, saying she refused to be a “battered wife.”
His exit marks a dramatic turn of events that few could have imagined months ago. Greene, a Republican from Georgia, was once one of Trump’s closest allies and an outspoken advocate of his “America First” agenda, but the rift between the two has widened in recent months with the release of government files on sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and other matters.
In a 10-minute video posted on social media, Greene said she was encouraged to resign because of the possibility of facing a Republican primary candidate backed by Trump and the possibility of a Democratic takeover of the House of Representatives in next year’s midterm elections. He also complained that Congress has largely “stayed on the sidelines” since Trump returned to the presidency in January.
BREAK RAISES CONCERNS ABOUT MAGA BASE AHEAD OF MIDTERMS
“I have a lot of self-respect and dignity, I love my family very much, and I don’t want my sweet district to have to endure a hurtful and hateful primary against me from the president we fought for, just to fight and win my election while the Republicans probably lost the midterm elections,” Greene said.
“I refuse to be a battered wife hoping for everything to be over and heal,” she added.
In an interview with ABC News, Trump said Greene’s resignation, which will take effect on January 5, is “great news for the country. It’s great.”
Greene lamented the state of American politics, arguing that neither Republicans nor Democratic lawmakers are trying to solve the country’s problems, including the rising cost of living.
He said voters are staying away from Washington because “they know how much credit card debt they have, they know how much their own bills have gone up in the last five years, they actually buy their own groceries and they know their groceries cost too much, their rent is going up, they’re getting outbid many times by institutional asset managers when they make an offer to buy a house.”
The public spat between Trump and Greene had raised concerns among some Republicans that Trump’s “Make America Great Again” base could break a year before midterm elections in which Democrats hope to regain control of Congress.
Greene’s resignation will reduce the Republican majority in the House to 218 members, compared to Democrats’ 213 members. Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate.
Greene has increasingly demonstrated her independence from Trump, joining House efforts to release the Epstein files over her objections, criticizing House leadership for not doing more to address healthcare costs during the recent government shutdown and calling Israel’s attack on Gaza genocide.
Trump also began to criticize him more.
Before the House voted overwhelmingly to release the Epstein files, Trump called him a “traitor” and a “disgrace” to the Republican Party. He withdrew his support for her and called her a “crazy lunatic”.
Greene says ordinary Americans are being ‘sidelined’
Greene defended her vote on Epstein in her video.
“Defending American women who were raped at age 14, trafficked, and used by rich, powerful men should not result in me being called a traitor and threatened by the president of the United States for whom I fought,” she said.
Greene said she was proud of her conservative voting record and added that “loyalty should be a two-way street,” lashing out at Trump.
Her ally in the House, Rep. Thomas Massie, wrote in X that Greene “represents what a true representative should be.”
Former Republican House member and Trump critic Barbara Comstock praised Greene’s decision on social media.
“She doesn’t want to be a Republican ‘battered wife’ who takes Trump’s abuse, receives death threats, and claims it’s okay to be in the minority. Good for her,” Comstock said.
Greene won the northwest Georgia district in 2024 with 64% of the vote. Residents there expressed this week that they hope their disagreements with Trump will resolve soon and are willing to support both. But Greene made clear Friday that she has no interest in debating an opponent Trump supports.
Even if he wins, he said, he will likely be in the minority in the House of Representatives after the midterm elections and will have to defend Trump in impeachment trials; He called this situation “absurd” and “completely frivolous”.
“If I am tossed aside by MAGA Inc. and replaced by Neocons, Big Pharma, Big Tech, the Military Industrial Warfare Complex, foreign leaders and an elite donor class that is incompatible with real Americans, then many ordinary Americans have also been tossed aside and replaced by others,” he said.
(Reporting by James Oliphant, Kanishka Singh and David Morgan in Washington and Ismail Shakil in Ottawa; Editing by William Mallard)
