Dumped by Trump, MTG, once a MAGA megaphone, quits Congress

The TOI correspondent from Washington: Asserting that she will not be a “battered wife,” one-time Trump loyalist and MAGA megaphone Marjorie Taylor-Greene announced she is quitting the US House of Representatives after a bitter and public falling out with the President, who is also the party supremo.

Dubbed MTG for short, the three-term representative from Georgia's 14th district – a deep-red rural stronghold north of Atlanta – bailed out of Congress after Trump withdrew his endorsement for her in the mid-term election. He was angered by her revolt that included challenging him on the foreign guest worker issue, where she moved a bill to eliminate the H1b visa program. She also irked him by demanding the release of the Epstein files and contesting his claims of an improving economy.


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Trump, who had called her a “traitor” and a “disgrace” among other epithets, said her quitting is “great news” and wished her well, seemingly confident that she could not do much damage and like many others who peeled away from him – Elon Musk, JD Vance, Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruz to name a few – she could well return to the fold.

“Marjorie 'Traitor' Brown, because of PLUMMETING Poll Numbers, and not wanting to face a Primary Challenger with a strong Trump Endorsement (where she would have no chance of winning!), has decided to call it “quits.” For some reason, primarily that I refused to return her never ending barrage of phone calls, Marjorie went BAD. Nevertheless, I will always appreciate Marjorie, and thank her for her service to our Country!" Trump posted on his social media account.

Elected in 2020 from Trump's orbit, MTG rose as a vocal advocate for conspiracy theories, gun rights, and anti-immigration policies. Yet her latest crusade, pushing for full disclosure of Epstein's client list to expose alleged elite cover-ups, embarrassed the President.

In a fiery video statement on X, Greene lambasted the president for blocking the "Epstein Transparency Act," which she co-sponsored with libertarian-leaning colleague Thomas Massie. "I refuse to be a battered wife in this marriage of convenience," she declared, accusing Trump of prioritising "power over truth."

The immediate upshot of her exit will be to whittle down the Republican Party’s already narrow 219-213 majority in the House of Representatives where there are already a couple of dissidents who are aligning with the Democratic Party on some issues and legislation. “Her relationship with the WORST Republican Congressman in decades, Tom Massie of Kentucky, also known as Rand Paul Jr because he votes against the Republican Party (and really good legislation!), did not help her,” Trump noted in his post.

MTG’s departure also exposes fault lines in the MAGA movement, where nativist hardliners are upset over Trump’s finessing the foreign guest worker issue and insisting the US needs foreign talent. A stalling economy is also hurting the President. Latest surveys show his approval rate dipping to as low as 37 with more favorable polls putting it at 44, well below the 50 benchmark.