...
By Giulia Carbonaro
Senior Reporter
0
Share
Newsweek is a Trust Project member
See more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.
Former Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican who resigned from Congress in early January, pointed the finger at four MAGA Republicans who she said would be responsible for the GOP losing this year’s midterm elections.
“Laura Loomer, [Representative] Randy Fine, Mark Levin, [Senator] Lindsey Graham, and others like them will be responsible for Republicans losing the midterms in [20]26 and possibly even the presidential in [20]28,” the former congresswoman wrote on X on Friday.
Read More on News
It's the latest clash between the long-term MAGA loyalist turned “traitor” as President Donald Trump branded her last year, and the new MAGA darlings who are now shaping up the Trump administration.
Newsweek contacted Fine for comment by email on Friday morning; Levin was contacted through an email to Premiere Speakers Bureau; Graham by email on Friday morning; and Loomer was contacted via WhatsApp.
Why Is Greene Pointing the Finger at These Republicans?
Greene’s comment followed a social media post by Loomer, a far-right and anti-Muslim political activist, urging Trump and his administration to deport all Muslims from the U.S. in the wake of a vehicle ramming and shooting incident at a synagogue in Michigan and a deadly shooting in a university classroom in Virginia on Thursday.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) identified the suspect in the incident in West Bloomfield, Michigan, who died at the scene, as 41-year-old Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, a Lebanon national who entered the U.S. in 2011 as a spouse of a U.S. citizen and was granted citizenship in 2016.
The suspect in the Virginia shooting, which left one dead and two injured, was identified as Mohamed Jalloh, a convicted Islamic State (ISIS) supporter. He was killed by a group of Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) students at the scene of the incident on Thursday.
“The Trump administration must start deporting these Islamic savages from our country and we must start holding people accountable for inciting violence. This is very sad,” Loomer wrote on X on Thursday in response to the shooting in Michigan.
The MAGA influencer and conspiracy theorist is known for such anti-Muslim, xenophobic remarks. Earlier this week, she called for all Muslims to be barred from working for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), calling it a “national security threat.”
Greene, who has previously spoken out against Israel’s “genocide” in Gaza, becoming the first Republicans in Congress to use the term last year in breaking with her party and Trump, bashed Loomer for spreading hate.
“They lie and divide Americans with absurd hateful accusations like this,” she wrote Friday of Loomer and the other three Republicans she accused of undermining the party in the upcoming midterms.
...
Greene also came to the rescue of Tucker Carlson who Loomer had accused of fueling hatred against Jewish people in the U.S.
“Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens both said everyone needs to know where their local Chabad is. I said their hatred would lead to people shooting up Jews in synagogues. It will likely end up being a Muslim,” Loomer wrote on X on Thursday.
“Laura Loomer’s lies could actually result in Tucker Carlson or his family being murdered,” Greene responded. “Tucker is more popular than any of these American Last losers and there is nothing any of them can do to stop him.”
For context, in 2018, Greene claimed devastating wildfires in California had been ignited by a laser beam from space under control of the Rothschild banking dynasty, a Jewish family.
Among the four accused by Greene of being responsible for the GOP’s potential defeat at the midterms was Representative Fine of Florida, who was recently condemned by the Congressional Jewish Caucus and rights activists for his Islamophobic statements.
The 51-year-old representative wrote in a post on X last month: “If they force us to choose, the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one.”
The social media statement triggered calls from Democrats for Fine’s resignation.
The other two Republicans mentioned by Greene were conservative media personality Mark Levin, a staunch defender of Israel, and Senator Graham of South Carolina, who has long been accused of using Islamophobic rhetoric and has recently defended Israel’s war in Gaza, which killed thousands of Palestinians, including many children. Israel's war in Gaza was in response to Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw the kidnapping of over 250 others.
What Is the GOP Expecting From This Year’s Midterms?
Recent polling from RMG Research, YouGov and Morning Consult has suggested Trump’s approval rating has fallen among Americans in recent months, and it's unlikely to surge in the wake of the Iran war. Before the start of the conflict in the Middle East last month, Trump’s biggest challenges were Americans’ unhappiness with the state of the economy and his administration’s immigration policies.
Republicans fear losing not only the House in November, where they now hold a very narrow majority, but also the Senate since the party in power usually suffers losses in Congress at the midterms. Trump has warned his party that losing the House in the midterms could lead him to face a third impeachment.
Experts are warning escalating anti-Muslim rhetoric among the GOP ranks could push Muslim voters away from the party, jeopardizing recent gains within this group—the same claim Greene is now making against Loomer, Fine, Levin, and Graham.
“As we head towards November, some Trumpist Republicans are playing the ethnonationalist card—playing up anti‑Muslim sentiment in order to cement the Christian nationalist vote,” Mark Shanahan, a lecturer in American politics at the University of Surrey in the U.K., recently told Newsweek. “The Muslim vote is not essential in many of the House seats that are in play, so far from being an important component of the Trump triumph in 2024, they are now sacrificed in a populist backlash aimed at corralling the white conservative vote.”
In a polarized era, the center is dismissed as bland. At Newsweek, ours is different: The Courageous Center—it's not "both sides," it's sharp, challenging and alive with ideas. We follow facts, not factions. If that sounds like the kind of journalism you want to see thrive, we need you.
When you become a Newsweek Member, you support a mission to keep the center strong and vibrant. Members enjoy: Ad-free browsing, exclusive content and editor conversations. Help keep the center courageous. Join today.
View 0 Comments
Submit Correction
View Editorial & AI Guidelines