ATLANTA β President Donald Trump's chaotic political universe has at least one consistent law that rises above any other: The president has no permanent friends and no permanent enemies.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Georgia lawmaker who announced plans to leave Congress in January, is the latest figure to test that Trumpian rule. Throughout his political career, the president sparred with Republicans who, recognizing his grip on the party, eventually came into or returned to the fold, often in senior administration positions.
On Saturday, Trump referred to Greene as "a nice person," hours after calling her a "traitor."
Greene, a leading face of the "Make America Great Again" movement, supported Trump's false claims that his 2020 election defeat was fraudulent and shares his pugilistic style. So, she offers a notable contrast to the mostly mainstream conservatives who begrudgingly endured the president before finally citing some breaking point or labeled Trump a threat to democracy only to join his ranks.
Greene and Trump fell out not over ideological differences or fundamental fissures over his character but rather disagreements over the Jeffrey Epstein files and health care. With her planned departure, Greene became the most prominent MAGA figure to break with Trump, and what that means for both of them is an open question.
"I have fought harder than almost any other elected Republican to elect Donald Trump and Republicans to power," Greene said in her Friday video announcing her plans.
"It's all sort of out of left field," said Kevin Bishop, a former longtime aide to Sen. Lindsey Graham, a stark example of a Trump critic-turned-ally. What's clear, Bishop said, is that Trump retains "great sway over the activists and, frankly, all corners of the Republican Party."
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., arrives Tuesday to a news conference on the Epstein Files Transparency Act outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington.
'Transactional' president long subdued internal GOP critics
Trump was not always the undisputed center of Republican power and identity. Even as he took control of a crowded GOP presidential field in 2016, his rivals pummeled him.
Graham, the South Carolina senator, called him a "kook" and a "race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot." Within a few years, he was among Trump's biggest fans in the Senate, calling him "my president."
Marco Rubio, then a Florida senator and now Trump's secretary of state, called him a "con artist" and "the most vulgar person to ever aspire to the presidency." He and Trump exchanged veiled insults about each other's male anatomy.
During that same campaign, the young author and future Vice President JD Vance wrote a New York Times op-ed titled: "Mr. Trump Is Unfit For Our Nation's Highest Office." Vance's former roommate disclosed a text message in which Vance compared Trump to Adolf Hitler, Nazi Germany's authoritarian author of the Holocaust.
By 2021, Vance was a first-time Senate candidate from Ohio who sang Trump's praises on immigration, trade and other matters.
For Republicans who did not make that about-face, their political careers nearly always faced dead ends.
Sen. Bill Cassidy was among the few Republicans who voted to convict Trump in 2021. Eying reelection in 2026, the Louisiana physician provided Trump the deciding committee vote to confirm the controversial Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary.
Greene noted the trends. "Most of the establishment Republicans who secretly hate him and who stabbed him in the back and never defended him against anything have all been welcomed in right after the election," she said.
President Donald Trump talksΒ Friday after meeting with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington.
Personalities, golf and his own definition of loyalty explain Trump's approach
Bishop said those flips aren't simply about politicians being politicians but about Trump bringing the vibes of real estate and marketing to politics.
"He views the presidency as slightly more transactional than maybe the way people in politics view the world," Bishop said. "A businessman says, 'Well, we fought over this deal. But in a couple of years maybe we can work together and put together another deal.'"
Bishop, who worked in Graham's Senate office throughout Trump's first presidency, said Trump "came out of the hospitality industry" and, despite his harshest policies and rhetoric, is less inclined to judge political opponents and allies in ideological or philosophical terms.
It's a trait Trump displayed in the Oval Office on Friday in a friendly meeting with New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist the president previously mislabeled as a communist.
Mamdani broke through, perhaps, by doing something Trump appreciates most: winning. Bishop said Graham did it with "a great sense of humor" that Trump appreciated and because they bonded on the golf course. "You spend three or four hours on a golf course," he said. "That's a lot of time to get to know someone."
Graham once offered a simpler explanation, telling The New York Times that his evolution on Trump was a way "to try to be relevant."
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., speaks Oct. 15, 2024, before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at a campaign event at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre in Atlanta.
Trump implicitly opened the door for making up with Greene
It's notable that one of Greene's fights β releasing the Epstein filesΒ β went her way, not Trump's. The president framed his retreat as something he was fine with all along. Even on health care, Greene can claim some measure of victory. The White House and GOP Hill leaders countered expiring health insurance tax credits by offering a different potential subsidy: direct payments to consumers as they shop for polices.
Greene certainly has options. She has personal financial security, with her ethics disclosures suggesting a net worth in the many millions of dollars. She has 1.6 million followers on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter. She has long been a feature on the conservative media circuit and her break with Trump came with appearances on mainstream media, including ABC's "The View."Β
She could still run for Georgia governor, which will be an open seat, or for the U.S. Senate seat held by Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff. But Greene acknowledged Trump's potential power in her heavily Republican House district, saying she wanted to spare her constituents an ugly primary fight.
"Once I left her, she was gone because she would never have survived the primary," Trump told reporters. He added in a separate NBC interview that the congresswoman has "got to take a little rest."
Still, the president rebuffed any suggestion that there is any need for "forgiveness" in their relationship, and he told NBC, "I can patch up differences with anyone."
Marjorie Taylor Greene's tenure in Congress
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., wears a "Trump Won" face mask Jan. 3, 2021,Β as she arrives on the floor of the House to take her oath of office on opening day of the 117th Congress at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. President Joe Biden's inauguration sowed a mixture of anger, confusion and disappointment among believers in the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory. Greene, who expressed support for the conspiracy theories, called for Bidenβs impeachment across her Twitter, Facebook and Telegram accounts as the new president was sworn in.
Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., left, Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., stand with fellow lawmakers as President Joe Biden delivers his State of the Union address March 1, 2022, to a joint session of Congress at the Capitol in Washington.
U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., speaks April 28, 2022, about TwitterΒ on Capitol Hill in Washington. Once shunned as a political pariah for her extremist rhetoric, the Georgia lawmaker who spent her first term in Congress stripped of institutional power by Democrats, was celebrated by Republicans and welcomed into the GOP fold.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., arrives for President Joe Biden's State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress Feb. 7, 2023, at the Capitol in Washington.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., reacts Feb. 7, 2023, as President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol in Washington.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., speaks during a May 18, 2023, news conference at the Capitol in Washington.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., holds up a tweet Feb. 8, 2023, during a House Committee on Oversight and Accountability hearing titled "Protecting Speech from Government Interference and Social Media Bias, Part 1: Twitter's Role in Suppressing the Biden Laptop Story" on Capitol Hill in Washington.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene, R-Ga., speaks with reporters March 3, 2023, at the Conservative Political Action Conference at National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Md.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., cheers supporters of former President Donald Trump as she walks out of the Fulton County Jail parking lot Aug. 24, 2023, in Atlanta.
Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, left, and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., hold a news conference on border security Nov. 14, 2023,Β at the Capitol in Washington after the deaths of a Georgia couple, Jose Lerma, 67, and Isabel Lerma, 65, near Batesville, Texas, who were killed in a high-speed chase involving migrant smugglers.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., waves while former President Donald Trump points to her July 30, 2022, as they look over the 16th tee during the second round of the Bedminster Invitational LIV Golf tournament in Bedminster, N.J.
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump, right, and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., left, greet young supporters Jan. 23, 2024, at a campaign stop in Londonderry, N.H.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Lara Trump smile Feb. 24, 2024, as Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump speaks at a primary election night party at the South Carolina State Fairgrounds in Columbia, S.C.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., announces May 1, 2024, that she'll call a vote the next week on ousting House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., during a news conference at the Capitol in Washington. Greene forced her colleagues to choose sides after Democratic leaders announced they'd provide the votes to save the Republican speaker's job.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., holds up a photo as she condemns Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, during his testimony June 3, 2024, before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic at the Capitol in Washington.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., is followed by reporters April 30, 2024, as she walks down the steps at the Capitol in Washington.
People wave to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., on July 16, 2024, the second day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene, R-Ga., questions Colonel Christopher L. Paris, commissioner of the Pennsylvania State Police, during a House Committee on Homeland Security hearing July 23, 2024, on Capitol Hill in Washington thatΒ examined the July 13 assassination attempt on then presidential candidate Donald Trump.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., waves to supporters Nov. 3, 2024,Β during a campaign rally for Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at Atrium Health Amphitheater in Macon, Ga.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., left, reaches out to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., after he won the speaker's gavel Jan. 3 for the 119th Congress at the Capitol in Washington.
Former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, left, greets Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., on Jan. 20 before the presidential inauguration in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington.
Vice President JD Vance, right, talks to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., before President Donald Trump addresses a joint session of Congress on March 4 at the Capitol in Washington.
President Donald Trump greets Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., after addressing a joint session of Congress onΒ March 4 in the House chamber at the U.S. Capitol in Washington.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., second from right, and Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., right, react Nov. 18 during a news conference on the Epstein Files Transparency Act outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington.
