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ATLANTA – In a swift turn of events, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia announced her resignation from Congress, effective January 5. Her decision comes just days after President Donald Trump publicly criticized her, marking a dramatic end to her five-year tenure in the House of Representatives.
Greene’s time in Congress has been nothing short of eventful. Initially an outsider, she quickly found herself in a position of influence during Kevin McCarthy’s period as House Speaker. Despite the potential for increased power with Trump’s re-election, Greene’s growing dissatisfaction led to a rift with the president, culminating in her decision to step down.
This resignation prompts a reflection on Greene’s journey and the significant moments that defined her Congressional career. Her story is one of rapid political ascent and equally swift departure.
Marjorie Taylor Greene’s foray into politics was relatively recent. Before Trump’s presidential bid, she was largely uninvolved in political matters, focusing instead on her business ventures. Alongside her husband, Greene took over a commercial contracting firm from her father and later launched a CrossFit gym in the suburbs of Atlanta. Her political engagement began during the 2016 election cycle, when she started sharing content online, gradually building a platform that would propel her into the limelight.
Greene had little involvement in politics before Trump ran for president. She and her husband had bought a commercial contracting company from Greene’s father. Greene later opened a CrossFit gym in suburban Atlanta. But during the 2016 campaign, she started posting stories and videos online.
Her initial commentary was a stew of conspiracy theories. Greene suggested a 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas was a coordinated attack to spur support for new gun restrictions. In 2018, she endorsed the idea that the U.S. government perpetrated the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. In a video filmed at the U.S. Capitol in 2018, she claimed Reps. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., both Muslim women, weren’t “official” members of Congress because they used Qurans rather than Bibles in their swearing-in ceremonies.
How did she get elected?
In 2020, Greene jumped into politics by joining a crowded Republican primary in a competitive congressional district in suburban Atlanta, where she lived. But after the incumbent in northwest Georgia’s strongly Republican 14th District announced his retirement, Greene shifted her candidacy there.
During her campaign, Greene openly sympathized with QAnon, a conspiracy theory involving a global cabal of Satan-worshipping cannibals, including U.S. government leaders, that operates a child sex trafficking ring. She eventually distanced herself, saying she got “sucked into some of the things I had seen on the internet.”
Greene won the Republican nomination in a runoff and then cruised to election when Democrat Kevin Van Ausdal dropped out of the race.
How was she received in Congress?
Some of Greene’s most inflammatory rhetoric wasn’t publicized until after she was elected, like a 2018 claim that California wildfires were ignited by a laser beam from space controlled by the Rothschild banking family.
The claim was often summarized as “Jewish space lasers” because the family has been the subject of antisemitic claims over the years. Greene later said she didn’t know the Rothschilds were Jewish.
A Democratic-led House kicked Greene off both her committees just weeks into her first term, saying she’d earned the punishment by spreading by hateful and violent conspiracy theories. Eleven Republicans backed the ejections.
But Greene thrived in exile, raising millions in small donations even as she continued to provoke Democrats. For example, she and two other Republican House members sued House Speaker Nancy Pelosi after they were fined for refusing to wear masks on the House floor during the COVID-19 pandemic.
When Republicans won the House majority in 2022, she lined up with McCarthy, the California Republican who became House speaker. McCarthy returned Greene to committee assignments and enlisted her as a close adviser.
Greene has often been at the center of drama with Democrats, including bickering with Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas and heckling President Joe Biden as a “liar” during one of his State of the Union speeches.
How did Greene fall out with Trump?
While Trump ran for a second term, Greene was a constant cheerleader, often appearing alongside him at rallies in Georgia and elsewhere.
But they soon drifted apart. Greene’s discontent dates back at least to May, when she announced she wouldn’t run for the Senate against Democratic incumbent Jon Ossoff. Trump later claimed that he had sent Greene a poll showing that she “didn’t have a chance” in the race.
Greene also passed on running for Georgia governor, attacking a political “good ole boy” system and alleging it was endangering Republican control of the state.
She started taking positions contrary to Trump. Greene described Israel’s actions in Gaza as a “genocide” against Palestinians, and she backed the release of files related to Jeffrey Epstein. She also criticized Republican leadership over the recent federal government shutdown, saying they needed a better plan to ease the sting of expiring health insurance subsidies.
Greene referred to herself as “America first, America only,” suggesting that Trump was too focused on foreign affairs. As her criticism escalated, Trump became fed up and said he would endorse a primary challenger.
After years of support, he declared, Greene was a “traitor.” A week later, she announced her resignation.
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