MTG warns GOP has drifted off the America First course, rejects 2028 presidential rumors

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is adamant that the Republican Party has lost its way.

She also categorically rejects speculation that her outspoken criticism signals a presidential bid. She dismisses such talk as annoying inside-the-Beltway gossip.

She also rejects the storyline that she has broken with her party. She said it’s the other way around.

“Everybody’s like, MTG breaks with Trump. MTG breaks with our party. And it’s like, not actually,” Ms. Greene told The Washington Times. “If you look at anything I said five years ago and you compare it today, it is almost 100% the same.”

The Georgia Republican is no stranger to stirring up discourse in Washington, typically by taking a scorched-earth approach to Democrats. Lately, she has trained her fire on President Trump and congressional Republicans.

She is sounding the alarm that the Republican Party has drifted away from the “America First” voters who helped put them in charge of Washington. Those voters, she said, are increasingly frustrated and disillusioned by their deepening economic anxiety and Republicans’ failure to confront rising costs.

“American people voted for ‘America First’ in November of 2024,” Ms. Greene said. “That’s certainly the policies that I fully believe in and represent and always have, and that’s what the American people voted for, and it has not been delivered,” she said.

“I think there’s a lot of disenfranchised voters right now,” she said.

For Ms. Greene, the off-year election results Tuesday didn’t just lead to a bad night; they were also a wake-up call.

She warned that if Republicans fail to reconnect with the “America First” crowd by addressing the increased costs of living and prioritizing domestic issues, they risk bruising midterm elections next year in which their slim House majority will be at stake.

Republicans lost gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey last week, and California voters passed a redistricting measure that will help Democrats gain more congressional seats, countering Trump-inspired efforts in Republican-led states.

Ms. Green said some of the more ominous signs came from downballot races, including in her political backyard. Democrats flipped two seats on the Georgia Public Service Commission, romping to victory with more than 60% of the vote.

It marked the first time since 2006 that Democrats captured a state-level office in a statewide election.

“People were not motivated to vote on Tuesday,” she said. “Republican voters didn’t turn out.”

Ms. Greene has long been one of Mr. Trump’s most loyal allies.

Frustrated with both parties, she was an early supporter of Mr. Trump’s 2016 candidacy, championed his 2020 stolen election claims and remained loyal in the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, even as other Republicans, including Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, signaled they were ready to turn the page.

“When the MAGA train left the station, I was on it the entire time, and then when everybody bailed and jumped off, I got out and I helped push it up the [expletive] mountain,” Ms. Greene said recently on “The Tucker Carlson Show.”

That’s why it’s striking to see Ms. Greene at odds with Mr. Trump and most of her Republican colleagues on Capitol Hill on several hot-button issues: the Jeffrey Epstein files, U.S. assistance to Israel, the $40 billion Argentina bailout, Obamacare subsidies and the government shutdown.

She has flatly disagreed with Mr. Trump’s claim that “we have no inflation” and “our groceries are down.” She has also taken a firm stand against Mr. Trump’s campaign, backed by wealthy pro-Israel donors, to unseat Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky.

Mr. Massie, a libertarian-leaning Republican, has drawn fire for challenging the administration on fiscal responsibility, foreign aid and military interventionism. He is also leading the charge to force the public release of documents related to the late sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

She has taken her message anywhere and everywhere, including ABC’s “The View.”

Mr. Greene told The Times that she had not spoken with Mr. Trump since the beginning of the shutdown. “I’m not one of the Republicans that has to run out and say every time I talk with President Trump,” she said.

She is quick to shut down speculation that she is considering a 2028 presidential run. Her boyfriend, Brian Glenn, the chief White House correspondent for the conservative Real America’s Voice, tried to put the rumors to rest last week by posting: “MTG has NO plans to run for President in 2028. I am your source.”

Asked about the state of the MAGA movement, Ms. Greene said recent policy battles have exposed divisions.

She sees herself, as well as Mr. Massie and conservative commentator Tucker Carlson, as part of the “America First” wing, while others, such as Mr. Graham and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, fall into what she calls the “Israel First” camp.

“Let’s focus on our country,” Ms. Greene said. “All these foreign wars and causes don’t lower grocery prices, don’t help small businesses, don’t help seniors. They’re not helping my kids’ generation, who have no hope of owning a home or finding a good job.”

Ms. Greene also believes the MAGA faithful want more of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” agenda to be implemented.

Much of Ms. Greene’s recent criticism has been aimed at House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican. She has called on him to bring Congress back to Washington to end the shutdown, work on appropriations bills, tackle rising costs and carve out an Obamacare fix.

“I am really tired of the pissing contest in Washington, D.C., between the men,” she said on “The View.”

Mr. Johnson recently responded: “I’m not unaccustomed to hearing criticism from Marjorie.”

“We have intense fellowship, as we say in the Deep South,” Mr. Johnson said last week on “The Stephen A. Smith Show” podcast, “and she knows I’ve got an open door. She can come in and talk with me anytime, but she goes on these shows. She likes to get the big interviews, and that’s fine. Everybody has the right.”

Ms. Greene told The Times that Mr. Johnson knows “100%” where she stands after she made her views known on weekly House conference calls and in texts with Mr. Johnson.

“I’m putting as much pressure as possible on my party to do the job it promised its voters,” she said.