What Marjorie Taylor Greene’s political uprising could reveal about Trump

Conference at the Capitol Hill Club on September 9.Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc./Getty Images

Marjorie Taylor Greene did something politicians almost never do: She said she was sorry.

The Georgia representative on Sunday repudiated her role in inflaming the country’s poisoned politics in her latest sharp break with President Donald Trump and his provocative rhetoric, furthering her own intriguing political reinvention.

“I would like to say, humbly, I’m sorry for taking part in the toxic politics; it’s very bad for our country,” Greene told CNN’s Dana Bash in a frank interview on “State of the Union.”

“I’ve been working on this a lot lately — to put down the knives in politics. I really just want to see people be kind to one another. And we need to figure out a new path forward that is focused on the American people, because, as Americans, no matter what side of the aisle we’re on, we have far more in common than we have differences,” Greene said.

Greene, one of the highest-profile MAGA voices, explained that she’d been reflecting on her past political antics following the horrific assassination of conservative icon Charlie Kirk in September. And she fears her own safety is now in question. She wrote on X later on Sunday that “unwarranted and vicious attacks against” her by Trump “were a dog whistle to dangerous radicals” and that she was receiving multiple threats.

Trump dismissed her concerns, telling reporters Sunday, “I don’t think her life is in danger. … Frankly, I don’t think anybody cares about her,” and referring to the Georgia lawmaker as “Marjorie ‘Traitor’ Greene.”

The breakup between Trump and Greene, one of his most enthusiastic supporters in the 2024 election, was worsened by her decision to sign on to a push in the House to release investigative files about convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Conference at the Capitol Hill Club on September 9.Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc./Getty Images

Marjorie Taylor Greene did something politicians almost never do: She said she was sorry.

The Georgia representative on Sunday repudiated her role in inflaming the country’s poisoned politics in her latest sharp break with President Donald Trump and his provocative rhetoric, furthering her own intriguing political reinvention.

“I would like to say, humbly, I’m sorry for taking part in the toxic politics; it’s very bad for our country,” Greene told CNN’s Dana Bash in a frank interview on “State of the Union.”

https://www.effectivegatecpm.com/q3r2te41c?key=6c2e85e605dddea956566a0fbc73733f

“I’ve been working on this a lot lately — to put down the knives in politics. I really just want to see people be kind to one another. And we need to figure out a new path forward that is focused on the American people, because, as Americans, no matter what side of the aisle we’re on, we have far more in common than we have differences,” Greene said.

Greene, one of the highest-profile MAGA voices, explained that she’d been reflecting on her past political antics following the horrific assassination of conservative icon Charlie Kirk in September. And she fears her own safety is now in question. She wrote on X later on Sunday that “unwarranted and vicious attacks against” her by Trump “were a dog whistle to dangerous radicals” and that she was receiving multiple threats.

Trump dismissed her concerns, telling reporters Sunday, “I don’t think her life is in danger. … Frankly, I don’t think anybody cares about her,” and referring to the Georgia lawmaker as “Marjorie ‘Traitor’ Greene.”

The breakup between Trump and Greene, one of his most enthusiastic supporters in the 2024 election, was worsened by her decision to sign on to a push in the House to release investigative files about convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Trump has furiously resisted the move. But on Sunday evening, he reversed his position, saying Republicans should call for the files’ release in a House vote this week. He wrote on Truth Social, “we have nothing to hide, and it’s time to move on from this Democrat Hoax.”

Greene’s remarks earlier Sunday were notable for many reasons. First, the sight of a politician answering a question directly and expressing contrition was unusual. Bash asked Greene, who once heckled President Joe Biden during his State of the Union address, why she criticized toxic politics only when it was directed at her. “I think that’s fair criticism,” Greene replied.

Her reversal was also significant because she was once one of the most enthusiastic proponents of the stunts and stinging rhetoric that are central to MAGA politics and to Trump’s public statements. When she came to Washington after she was first elected in 2020, Greene was known for promoting conspiracy theories, including over school shootings and the beliefs of the far-right QAnon movement.

She later got into heated verbal confrontations with colleagues and even suggested a “national divorce” between red and blue states because of Democrats’ “traitorous America Last policies.” Critics have also warned that some of her rhetoric was antisemitic.

Greene’s comments Sunday were striking, too, because they deepened her split with Trump, in a rare example of a Republican lawmaker willing to publicly criticize the president, who has kept an iron grip on his party for nearly a decade and caused Republicans on Capitol Hill to abdicate their constitutional oversight role.

Greene’s critiques extend beyond Epstein

But Greene has not just criticized Trump over Epstein. In recent weeks, she’s raised alarms about the cost of living and slammed her party for not doing more to alleviate the rising cost of health insurance, after she said premiums for her adult children were set to double.

And in another dramatic break with the president, she has even argued that he’s not being faithful to the “America First” principles of the political movement that he created, criticizing his foreign tours and meetings with foreign leaders like Syria’s president, who visited last week. “I would love to see Air Force One be parked and stay home and there be nothing but a constant focus in the White House on a domestic agenda that helps the American people once and for all,” Greene said on “State of the Union.”

Greene’s evolution has revealed her as a politician who is more subtle than she first appeared, and who is increasingly adept at wielding her own power. And it has played into a deepening sense that Trump, surrounded by obsequious officials and billionaires, and who seems obsessed with physical manifestations of his legacy — including a new White House ballroom — is out of touch with American public opinion and even the voters who sent him back to the Oval Office.

Greene’s calls for the release of the Epstein files fanned Trump’s public rage and sharpened questions about why he had been so unwilling to allow the release of material that sex trafficking victims want made public. Trump was once a friend of Epstein, who killed himself in prison in 2019, but there is no evidence of criminal wrongdoing on the part of the president.

All of this has raised questions in Washington about whether there are ulterior motives behind Greene’s conversion. After all, it is rare for a leading political figure to confound their own caricature and to disown their own past behavior. Trump, for instance, has lived by a mantra of never apologizing for anything and never leaving an attack unanswered.

Greene’s explanation that she reconsidered her own behavior after the Kirk assassination sounds genuine and could serve as an example at a time of fraught national tensions. The killing of the Turning Point USA activist was a traumatic experience for the MAGA movement and for all Americans, and came a year after two assassination attempts against Trump. It ought to lead to political reflection.