In a remarkably candid final interview before stepping down, Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has declared she was "naive" to believe Donald Trump was a man of the people, marking a stunning public rupture with the former president she once fervently supported.
A Defining Moment of Disillusionment
The third-term Republican, who will soon leave her congressional seat, gave a lengthy interview to the New York Times examining her dramatic political shift. Greene pinpointed a specific moment in September as the catalyst for her complete break with Trump. It occurred during the memorial service for conservative influencer Charlie Kirk.
Greene explained she was watching the service when Kirk's widow, Erika, publicly forgave her husband's killer. Trump then took the stage and starkly contrasted himself with Kirk, whom he called "a missionary with a noble spirit." "I hate my opponent, and I don't want the best for them," Trump stated.
"That was absolutely the worst statement," Greene told the Times. "It just shows where his heart is. And that's the difference, with her having a sincere Christian faith, and proves that he does not have any faith." She described this as the moment she turned away from being an unrepentant MAGA acolyte.
The Epstein Files and a Final Breach
Greene's disillusionment was compounded by a subsequent clash over the release of investigative files related to the convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. She labelled the Epstein case "everything wrong with Washington," a story of "rich, powerful elites doing horrible things and getting away with it."
After meeting with victims, Greene claimed Trump called her and yelled, "my friends will get hurt" if the files were released. This episode, she said, completed her break with both Trump and the Republican leadership in Congress.
Political Isolation and a Search for Faith
The congresswoman acknowledged she is now a political outcast, describing herself as "radioactive" and alienated from both sides of the political divide. Her post-Kirk political stance has seen her clash with party lines, notably by declaring the war in Gaza a "genocide" and criticising economic and healthcare policies she believes fail working-class Americans.
Reflecting on her journey, Greene admitted she was wrong to accuse Democrats of treason and abandoned the training "to never apologize and to never admit when you're wrong." "I realized that I'm part of this toxic culture," she said, recounting a conversation with a friend after Kirk's death. "I really started looking at my faith. I wanted to be more like Christ."
While insisting her core views haven't changed, Greene concluded she has "matured" and developed depth. "I've learned Washington, and I've come to understand the brokenness of the place," she stated, offering a rare mea culpa as she prepares to exit the political stage.
