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By James Bickerton
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Former Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has said "MAGA is dead" and claimed the pro-Trump movement has become a "cult."
The move shows the extent of the rift between President Donald Trump and Greene, who was previously one of his fiercest defenders in Congress. The pair fell out over foreign policy and the Jeffrey Epstein files in 2025, leading the president to brand her a "traitor" and a "ranting lunatic."
Greene announced that she was resigning as a representative for Georgia in November 2025.
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Speaking at The Texas Tribune Festival on Thursday, Greene said: "When you vote for someone, not only are you supporting them, but you're holding them accountable.
"And if they can't be truthful and hold [Trump] accountable to his campaign promises that affect the entire country, then they're liars, and they're hypocrites and they're in a cult."
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Greene was interviewed on stage by Robert Draper, The New York Times’ domestic correspondent.
She added that after telling Trump her son had received a death threat, the president texted back that she "deserved it."
Speaking to Newsweek about Greene's remarks, White House spokesman Davis Ingle said: "There is nothing more ‘America Last’ than quitting on your constituents and the MAGA movement in the middle of your term. President Trump is fighting every single day to Make America Great Again—we don’t have time for quitters."
Newsweek contacted Greene for comment on Friday outside of regular office hours.
During her festival appearance, Greene said that privately many Republicans loathe Trump but won’t criticize him publicly because they fear his ability to damage their careers.
She commented: "They’re terrified of that Truth Social post. Absolutely terrified of it. There’s a wrath that comes with it."
The former Georgia congresswoman was sharply critical of Trump’s decision to launch military action against Iran in February commenting: "He’s betrayed his campaign promises. Will he make a lasting peace deal or will he make a peace deal that he goes back on probably after the midterms?"
During the 2024 presidential election campaign, Trump said he was "the candidate of peace" arguing that if Democrat Kamala Harris won "only death and destruction await because she is the candidate of endless wars."
Greene said she still supported the "America First" movement, which she characterized as a tighter coalition than MAGA. Describing herself as "politically homeless," Greene insisted she had not become a Democrat.
She said: "Just because I’m 100 percent against what Donald Trump is doing, and you hear me criticize the president because he changed, and Republicans have just fallen in line with him, that doesn’t mean that all of a sudden I’m in line with Democrat policies. I’m not."
Greene’s Political Career
Greene, a self-described "Christian nationalist," was elected as representative for Georgia’s 14th congressional district in November 2020, running on a staunchly pro-Trump platform.
Controversy swiftly erupted after CNN revealed in January 2019 that Greene had liked comments stating that "a bullet to the head would be quicker" to remove then House Speaker Pelosi and calling for the execution of FBI agents who the poster believed were part of a deep state plot against Trump.
Prior to her election, Greene also posted in support of QAnon, a conspiracy theory that argued Trump was secretly fighting a "global cabal" of establishment pedophiles, and backed Trump’s claim that the 2020 election was rigged against him.
In February 2021, shortly after assuming office, Greene was stripped of her committee assignments in response to her controversial comments, with 11 House Republicans joining Democrats to win the vote 230-199.
Fallout With Trump
In 2025 Greene fell out badly with Trump over the president’s initial reluctance to release documents related to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
That November she was one of four House Republicans who backed a discharge petition aimed at forcing the Justice Department to release more files, which Trump opposed.
Greene also criticized Trump’s plans on healthcare and his foreign policy, urging the president to focus more on the United States.
In November 2025, Greene said she was resigning from Congress commenting: "I refuse to be a battered wife, hoping it all goes away and gets better. If I am cast aside by the president, and the MAGA political machine."
In response Trump branded her a "traitor" in a post on his Truth Social website.
Greene is one of a number of former Trump supporters on the right who have since become critics of the president.
Tucker Carlson attacked Trump in 2025 over his involvement in Israel’s 12-Day War with Iran and over the Epstein files, and in April 2026 said he was "tormented" by his past support for the president.
MAGA No Longer a 'Coherent Ideology'
Speaking to Newsweek Mark Shanahan, an American politics expert who teaches at the University of Surrey in the U.K., said the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement no longer represents a "coherent ideology."
He said: "MAGA isn't dead, but it has become the fervent support of one man rather than of a coherent ideology. Trump is a capricious leader who acts in his own interests rather than necessarily in the best interests of his supporters or, indeed, the USA.
"Trump 2.0 is not the outsider presidency fighting for guns, God and the working men and women of America, and the loose alliance of competing interests that make up the wider MAGA movement realize that it has become a very hollow cause.
"Despite what Taylor Greene says, there are still huge numbers of conservative Americans in thrall to everything Trump says or does. But they don't represent a majority of voters and that will hit the GOP hard in the midterms."
Update, 09/25/26, 10:15 a.m. ET: This article was updated with comment from White House spokesman Davis Ingle.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Matthew Robinson and Tony Phillips.
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