MAGA rift grows as Trump feuds with Greene before key 2026 midterm elections

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — When President Donald Trump addressed Congress earlier this year, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene was there holding an American flag and wearing a red baseball cap that said “Trump was right about everything.”

After the speech, he gave her a kiss and she beamed. Trump was back in power and Greene was positioned to be one of his most ardent political foot soldiers with Republicans controlling all levers of power in Washington.

Their alliance didn’t last the year. Now it has fractured in an explosive feud that could foreshadow more rifts within Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement before next year’s midterm elections.

In recent weeks, Greene has escalated her criticism of Trump’s focus on foreign policy over what she has said should be an agenda that concentrates on Americans, as well as his reluctance to release more documents involving the Jeffrey Epstein case. On Friday, the Republican president said he would support a primary challenge against the Georgia congresswoman.

“All I see ‘Wacky’ Marjorie do is COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN!” Trump wrote on his social media platform as his motorcade whisked him from Air Force One to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.

On Saturday, Trump tested out a new nickname for her, calling her “Marjorie Taylor Brown” because “Green grass turns Brown when it begins to ROT!”

Trump has successfully stamped out other challenges to his power over the years, but Greene is not backing down. She even suggested that she, not Trump, may be the true champion of the “America First” agenda.

“I believe in the American people more than I believe in any leader or political party and the American people deserve so much better than how they have been treated by both sides of the aisle,” she wrote in her own post Saturday.

She also said she is worried about her safety because “threats against me are being fueled and egged on by the most powerful man in the world.”

Trump backed Greene from the start

Greene is not the first lawmaker to earn Trump’s anger. Their split, however, is the most notable of his second term. She has been closely tied to him since 2020, when she began her political career in Georgia’s rural northwest.

Backing the QAnon conspiracy theory, appearing with white supremacists and brandishing assault rifles, Greene was opposed by party leaders but supported by Trump. He called her a “future Republican Star” and “a real WINNER!”

Jason Shepherd, a former Republican official in Georgia who left the party over disagreements with Trump supporters, said 2020 was “a perfect storm of political bizarreness” during upheaval caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Georgia was one of the closely contested states where Trump disputed his loss to Democrat Joe Biden, even pressuring Georgia’s secretary of state to “find” enough votes to overturn the results.

Shepherd, a lawyer and political science professor who lives in Greene’s district, said “we never know what position Marjorie Taylor Greene is going to pop up with next.”

“I don’t know if she has any core convictions, except for what will help her the most,” he said.

Greene started her congressional tenure as Trump was leaving the White House, and she supported the election lies that fueled the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. She became a media fixture as a target of liberal scorn and a promoter of Trump-style conservatism, and was a loyal lieutenant in his comeback campaign in 2024.

But tension seemed to begin earlier this year when Greene was exploring a potential 2026 campaign against Jon Ossoff, one of Georgia’s two Democratic senators. Trump said he sent Greene a poll showing that she “didn’t have a chance.” She ultimately passed on the race and later declined to run for Georgia governor while attacking a political “good ole boy” system that she accused of endangering Republican control of the state.

A new Greene?

Greene has recently set a different, more conciliatory tone.

She went on ABC’s “The View,” a daytime talk show considered a safe space for Democrats, to say “that people with powerful voices,” especially women, “need to pave a new path.”

The rhetoric sparked speculation that Greene might be considering a run for president herself, which was later denied by her boyfriend, Brian Glenn, a conservative reporter known for his friendly questioning of Trump.

Greene also has been criticizing Trump, particularly his work with other countries. She told Tucker Carlson last month that the administration’s support for Argentina was “a punch in the gut” at a time when Americans are angry about prices for everyday needs.

Greene is one of a handful of Republicans supporting an effort to force the Justice Department to release more documents involving Epstein, a convicted sex offender who was connected to some of the country’s most powerful people. Trump has struggled to stop questions about his own links to Epstein, who was found dead in his jail cell in 2019 in what authorities have ruled was a suicide.

Trump has dismissed Greene’s criticism, telling reporters on Monday that “she’s lost her way.”

Shawn Harris, a retired Army general and Democrat who lost to Greene in 2024, is running against her again in 2026. He said Greene’s shift is part of her attention-seeking behavior.

“Marjorie always picks fights with people to stay in the news and it’s finally President Trump’s turn,” Harris wrote in a text message. “But neither of them has done a single thing for the hardworking people here in northwest Georgia. The way things are going lately, it’s not clear his endorsement would help anyone.”

Trump battles Democrats and Republicans in the midterms

It’s common for political coalitions to fray over time, especially when presidents are serving their second term and members of their party start pondering a future without them at the helm.

Trump has mostly avoided that so far. He has flirted with the possibility of running for a third term, despite the constitutional prohibition on extending his time in office, and exerted ironclad influence over the Republican-controlled Congress.

He faces a crucial political test next year as Democrats try to retake control of the House, which would empower them to block legislation and launch investigations of his administration.

The president has been trying to improve his party’s chances by pressuring states to redraw congressional districts to benefit Republicans, but he also is trying to purge lawmakers whom he considers disloyal. Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky is already the target of a Trump-backed primary challenge, and Greene could be the next if she and the president do not reconcile, as has occasionally happened after Trump falls out with allies.

Although no one immediately announced they were jumping into the race, some are considering it.

State Sen. Colton Moore, a Republican from the region who previously floated a run against Ossoff, criticized Greene. “I’m more frustrated with her than President Trump and she doesn’t care,” he said.

On Saturday, he complained about getting the “runaround” any time he called her office seeking help. He also praised Trump’s handling of the economy.

“I also have a passport full of countries from across the globe I’ve visited in the last year,” he said. “All worse than U.S.”

Asked if he would challenge Greene, Moore said in a text that “I have only one objective in life … to put America First.” ____ Amy reported from Atlanta.