Played and Betrayed: MTG’s MAGA Meltdown

From Epstein files to foreign policy, is Greene’s grudge exposing fissures in a party that prizes loyalty above all?

When I first met Marjorie Taylor Greene at Donald Trump’s primary-victory party at Mar-a-Lago in March 2024, I’ll admit I was feeling a little mischievous.

She was milling through the mostly empty gilded ballroom hours before the celebration was set to begin. She was the tireless cheerleader, the MAGA pit bull who’d stuck with President Trump even after January 6. This was her moment to schmooze, to get…something. After all, she had been in the trenches for him. Why shouldn’t she be rewarded?

Just days earlier, Alabama’s freshman Sen. Katie Britt, a onetime Senate staffer and the new face of the GOP, was handed the honor of delivering the State of the Union rebuttal. I imagined Greene picturing herself in that bizarre kitchen-set stage, or at a construction site, giving the same speech. So I asked her point-blank: What do you think about Britt for vice president?

tarapalmeri

A post shared by @tarapalmeri

True to form, Greene recited Britt’s Heritage Action score by memory: she had clearly thought this through. “Eighty-one,” she said. “Not as strong as the base would like.” Did she want the job? “Of course. I’ll serve.” When I asked about Department of Homeland Security, she lit up. And after the election she made plain that she was peeved to hear “brand-new people” being considered for cabinet roles while she — who had been “very loyal” — felt passed over.

As much as I’d like to believe Greene’s recent critiques are born of sudden enlightenment — that it was just fearing that her adult sons will have to pay higher Obamacare premiums that changed her mind on health care or that she’s suddenly opposed to mass deportations — the simpler, messier truth is often personal. Sure, she believes these things but she probably would have swallowed it if she didn’t feel like she was being played by the party, and even Trump himself.

“There is a thought of calculation, but at the end of the day it’s emotion,” a source familiar with her Capitol Hill and White House relationships told me of how she determines when to attack. And that’s what it looks like: a wounded animal — defensive, unpredictable, and capable of biting allies and enemies alike.

🔐 MTG thought loyalty would get her a seat at the table. Subscribe to The Red Letter to learn more about what set off the moment she snapped and the insider reporting on how emotion — not ideology — is running this fight.