The Shifting Politics of Marjorie Taylor Greene

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA)

Few figures in American politics today create quite as much passion as Marjorie Taylor Greene.  Most three-term House members, to be honest, even someone as into politics I am would not really know much more than their names, but Greene is as well-known as pretty much any member of Congress, including more so than most of the US Senate (I've mentioned her in 43 articles on this blog...for comparison's sake, a US Senator like Maria Cantwell who has been in office the entire 13 years that I've written here I've only mentioned 17 times, including this example).  Greene's incendiary brand is marked not just by slavish devotion to President Trump, but also continual moments of embarrassment that would bring shame to pretty much any other normal human being, ranging from harassing the survivors of the Parkland School Shooting to right-wing conspiracy theories about the January 6th terrorist attacks on the US Capitol to being removed from her Congressional committees during the 117th Congress.  She has threatened private businesses for not being supportive enough of Republicans, and was so controversial she was voted out of the House Freedom Caucus for allegedly calling her fellow congresswoman Lauren Boebert "a little bitch."

Greene, though, during the government shutdown, has been shockingly amenable to Democrats, in many ways echoing the talking points of the party.  She has criticized President Trump's strikes against Iran, stated that she supports expanding Amtrak spending, and has said that she is concerned about the rising costs of healthcare if the Republican spending plan takes place.  Along with Boebert, Thomas Massie, & Nancy Mace, she is one of just four House Republicans who are putting forth a discharge petition to ensure that the Epstein list goes public.  She has stated that the Republicans are to blame for not putting forth an alternate plan to Obamacare, and on Thursday in an interview with CNN's Kaitlin Collins, she stated unequivocally that Adelita Grijalva, who has not been sworn into office yet by Speaker Mike Johnson despite being elected over six weeks ago, deserves to be sworn into office.

Greene's approach is notable not just because of the content, but also the tone.  In her interview with Collins (you can see the clip about Grijalva here), there is no excuse made for Johnson's actions or even posturing about how much she might "disagree" with Grijalva-she says "point blank" that Grijalva should be allowed to be a member of Congress after winning her election (honestly I was so surprised by the straight-forwardness of this answer that it inspired me to write this article).  Greene has appeared on The View (generally a left-leaning program), denouncing QAnon and stating that there are paid MAGA influencers (which of course is common sense, but still something you don't normally hear from Republicans).  Greene is not normally this composed, she is not this kind to the media (or to Democrats).  Hell, she said on CNN that she was impressed with Nancy Pelosi in the wake of the latter's retirement, something unthinkable a few years ago.

There are a few things that this could be leading to, so I want to say right away that, as a Democrat, I'm not dumb (and I suspect after watching her the past few days, neither is Greene).  This is not an about-face.  Greene is not suddenly a moderate, even if she is making some moderate views official (and through her support of the discharge petition, is tangibly going on record with a "moderate viewpoint"...though how we've gone so far with the GOP that wanting accused pedophiles to be named publicly is moderate for their party is beyond me).  I'm not stupid enough not to appreciate that we couldn't do this discharge petition without her, and that these comments aren't helpful for our cause right now...but don't think that I view Greene any better after this, even if I do think she might be craftier than I gave her credit for being, and anyone who changes their mind about her after this deserves to be sold a bridge in Brooklyn.

Greene is doing this for a few reasons.  The most charitable is that she might actually know some of the names on the Epstein list, one of which is almost certainly Donald Trump, and has become disillusioned with a man she once worshipped...though I doubt she's that honorable.  I think a likelier case is that she's out for revenge.  Greene was heavily interested in running against Sen. Jon Ossoff for the US Senate next year, and (given her ardent backing of him) likely saw Donald Trump as an easy ally in this campaign.  But Trump pushed to get her out of the contest, instead wanting someone with a lower-profile (who might be able to more believably gain moderate voters), and so Greene's colleagues Buddy Carter & Mike Collins are now running.  Greene dropped out, but it's clear she has regrets about it, and might be trying to court a moderate position to run in 2028 for the Republican Senate nomination against Raphael Warnock, or to get a bit of payback against Trump for not supporting her bid for higher office from the get-go.

But if we're going to give Greene credit for being wily (and this pivot and the way the media is lapping it up makes me think this is something she deserves), I think something more potent than honor or revenge might be at play: ambition.  Greene, I have long thought, is one of the strongest options to succeed Donald Trump in the Republican Party in 2028.  She has long-mirrored Trump's ability with MAGA, inspiring headlines wherever she went, frequently through a lack of shame, and seems to be able to actually emulate his rather rare talent of energizing the MAGA crowd.  As we saw on Tuesday, MAGA doesn't show up if Trump isn't on the ballot, but Greene is the kind of figure (angry, indulgent, unpolished, and, yes, disturbingly entertaining) that feels in Trump's arena.  No other leading contender in 2028 (not Marco Rubio, not Ron DeSantis, not even JD Vance) has that combination...

...and it's worth noting that Greene seems to be taking a play not from modern-day Trump, but from 2016 Trump in this move to the middle.  It's worth remembering that in 2016, Trump was not nearly as conservative as a candidate as he ended up being as a president.  He ran on not touching Social Security & Medicare, and was willing to go after Republicans like Jeb Bush & John McCain just as much as he went after Democrats.  This made him a plausible option against Hillary Clinton in part because he didn't seem as evil as Clinton was making him out to be-hell, in their final debate, he said of her "she doesn't quit, she doesn't give up, I respect that...she's a fighter...and I consider that to be a very good trait" (compare that to him calling Nancy Pelosi an "evil woman" this past week when asked about her retirement).  At one point, Trump was much more willing to be kind to his opponents to score points with the media, and with Greene complimenting Nancy Pelosi and saying that Adelita Grijalva should be sworn-in, that's what she's copying.  This is the bare minimum.  20 years ago it would've been expected that George W. Bush compliments Nancy Pelosi or wants a duly-elected member of Congress sworn in...now it's considered a surprise or even "moderate" to do such things.  But Greene doing them, when she loses nothing but gains a moderate aura that would be useful in a future general election in Georgia (as a presidential challenger or a Senate candidate) is smart politics.  I expect, given he is the sitting Vice President, that JD Vance would be the Republican nominee in 2028...but if it's not him, if you asked me to name a name, I'd say Marjorie Taylor Greene.  Because honestly-she's the only person thinking like a presidential candidate at this point (rather than just someone hoping for Trump's endorsement), willing to stand up to an increasingly unpopular president by acting just like he did when he was popular enough to win.