Donald J. Trump has thrived on attacks from his opponents, who have called him a racist, an anti-Semite, a misogynist, anti-Muslim, and someone who ruined America’s global reputation by abandoning its military alliances and questioning wars. These charges fired up crowds that rallied behind him under the banner of Make America Great Again (MAGA). But now he is being attacked for betraying the very causes he championed for MAGA. Being accused of promoting global wars and protecting the vested interests of U.S. corporations is new for Mr. Trump, and these are issues that bond Left-leaning Democrats and Right-leaning Republicans.
Marjorie Taylor Greene, Representative from Georgia, has emerged as a central figure in U.S. politics more for whom she opposes — Mr. Trump — than for what she stands for. She has always stood by Mr. Trump from the early days of MAGA, and for the causes that defined that populist revolt. A decade on, she now opposes Mr. Trump and accuses him of betraying the trust of his voters. It was Mr. Trump’s efforts to prevent transparency in the investigation of dead sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein that led him into head-on conflict with the loyalist.
Ms Greene stood her ground and insisted on the release of the Epstein files that link the trafficker to leading figures in American public life. Mr. Trump was forced to eat humble pie and agree to the demand for transparency. Along the way, he called Ms. Greene a “traitor”, a “lightweight”, and “whacky”. The split between the leader and the loyalist was completed on November 21, when she announced she would be quitting the House of Representatives and would not be contesting the 2026 election.
