WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump made headlines when he spoke at Charlie Kirk’s funeral after he distanced himself from the conservative commentator in a very specific way: “He did not hate his opponents. He wanted the best for them.”
“That’s where I disagreed with Charlie,” Trump continued. “I hate my opponent, and I don’t want the best for them.”
And it was at that moment things began to change for Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who was once Trump’s fiercest ally in Congress. That was the moment she began to question her undying loyalty to a movement she increasingly believed was leaving everyday Republicans behind, she told the New York Times in a lengthy interview.
“It just shows where his heart is,” Greene said of his speech, comparing it to Kirk’s widow Erika who told the crowd moments before that she forgave his killer. “And that’s the difference, with (Erika) having a sincere Christian faith, and proves that he does not have any faith.”
His remarks also prompted some deeper self-reflection, she said. For the past decade while Trump has been in politics, many in the Republican Party, including Greene herself, adopted the ethos to “never apologize and to never admit when you’re wrong,” she told the outlet.
“You just keep pummeling your enemies, no matter what,” Greene said. “And as a Christian, I don’t believe in doing that. I agree with Erika Kirk, who did the hardest thing possible and said it out loud.”
The moment of clarity prompted a radical shift for Greene. The once-brash and unapologetic Trump supporter took on a new role. She began pushing back against the Trump administration in areas she thought the president was wrong.
She was the first Republican lawmaker to describe Israel’s actions as a genocide. She rejected his foreign policy decisions to provide assistance to Ukraine and Israel. And, perhaps the final nail in the coffin for her relationship with Trump, she signed the discharge petition to force a vote on releasing the Epstein files.
The change in course was not without backlash, including from the president who took to social media to call Greene a “traitor” and dub her as “Marjorie Taylor Brown,” among other things. Shortly after, Greene said she began receiving death threats not only directed at herself but also toward her children.
When Greene confronted Trump about the threats, she said she found him to be unsympathetic.
“According to a source familiar with the exchange, his long reply made no mention of her son,” The New York Times reported. “Instead, Trump insulted her in personal terms. When she replied that children should remain off limits from their disagreements, Trump responded that she had only herself to blame.”
That resulted in a whole other kind of recalibration.
To be sure, Greene herself is no stranger to engaging in wars of words. In fact, when she first entered Congress in 2021, she had suggested former Speaker Nancy Pelosi was a “traitor” and guilty of treason.
Greene also targeted Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez by writing messages such as “You’re a traitor” in the New York Democrat’s office guest book.
When pressed on that about-face during an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Greene said: “I think that’s fair criticism. And I would like to say, humbly, I’m sorry for taking part in the toxic politics.”
Those apologies stemmed directly from her faith, she told The New York Times.
“When you were apologizing about your role in the toxic politics,” Robert Draper, who wrote the story, asked, “you were thinking about the times when your anger got the better of you, like the stuff about AOC and Pelosi?”
“Yeah!” she exclaimed. “Because a Christian shouldn’t be that way. And I’m a Christian.”
The reflection also traced back to Kirk’s death in September, which Greene said was when she realized “I’m part of this toxic culture.”
“I really started looking at my faith,” she said. “I wanted to be more like Christ.”
Greene announced in December she would be resigning from Congress before her term is up in 2026, and she won’t run for reelection. Her surprise exit has caused a ripple effect throughout the Republican Party as one of its loudest fighters would soon be exiting.
But Greene doesn’t appear to view it as a retreat.
“Breaking the chains from the bully is freeing. It’s also taking hold of real power over one’s self and the future,” she wrote in a post on X. “For me I give full authority to Jesus and I will fight like a lioness for my children’s generation and their children.”
“The old guard is dying,” she continued, “the bully is becoming a lame duck, and real America is rising.”