This MAGA leader's angry exit spells mortal danger for Trump

Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene surprised me Friday by announcing her resignation, effective Jan. 5.

I was surprised, because just a few days prior she flexed her muscle when she got the president to step off. She had been demanding the release of the Epstein files. Donald Trump called her a traitor. Though she got death threats, she didn’t budge. Then, last Monday, he caved.

CNN’s Dana Bash said their feud was the breakup heard around the world. That seemed confirmed by Greene’s resignation. Trump called her a RINO (Republican in Name Only). He pledged support for a primary challenger. Indeed, it appeared she is similar to many moderate Republicans, a casualty of a GOP in thrall to Trump.

But I think there’s another way of looking at it.

First, it’s far from certain that she would have lost. As I have said before, Greene is highly attuned to the conspiracy wing of the Republican Party. That’s the faction that demanded the release of the Epstein files. That’s the faction, on hearing last spring that the Justice Department would not make them public, that lost faith in Trump.

Greene stood up to him and won. Would she lose next year? Maybe. But she also raised the question of whether Trump is a spent force.

Second, Greene is ambitious. She appears to be dissatisfied with representing a district and is aiming for something bigger, perhaps a run for the presidency or, more likely, a role in the pundit corps.

Before the official “breakup,” Greene said the president “abandoned” his MAGA base. She criticized the Republicans’ role in the longest government shutdown in history. She was vocal about dramatically rising Obamacare premiums. She trashed Speaker Mike Johnson.

On ABC’s The View, co-host Sunny Hostin said, “I feel like I’m sitting next to a completely different Majorie Taylor Greene.”

Co-host Joy Behar said, “Maybe you should become a Democrat.”

In response, Greene said, “I’m not a Democrat. I think both parties have failed.”

It doesn’t take much to imagine her as a television pundit who speaks for the alienation of the MAGA faithful from all politics. (Also: she’s resigning in January. Congresspeople don’t usually do that if they believe they can’t win. Instead, they say they aren’t running again.)

That leads me to my final point. It’s being suggested that Greene wasn’t MAGA enough. Trump declared her persona non grata. As a consequence, she’s resigning. This is the president’s preferred view.

But the truth is probably the opposite.

Greene is MAGA to the core. She embodies its purest id. She spread the lie that the 2020 election was stolen. She defended the J6 insurrection. She suggested support for executing Democrats. The list goes on and on. It could be that Greene is leaving because there’s no future for her. But it could be that she’s leaving because there’s no future for MAGA.

Greene implied as much in her resignation announcement.

In the video, she characterized herself and Trump voters as loyal soldiers in a rebellion against the establishment. She suggested that they were betrayed by their leader, who joined forces with the enemy.

She said:

“I refuse to be a battered wife, hoping it all goes away and gets better. If I am cast aside by the president … and replaced by neocons, big pharma, big tech, military industrial war complex, foreign leaders and the elite donor class that can never ever relate to real Americans, then many common Americans have been cast aside and replaced as well.”

But the strongest evidence to suggest that Greene herself does not believe there’s a future for MAGA came when she said the following:

“There is no plan to save the world or a 4-D chess game being played.”

It’s just one line, easily overlooked, but it’s critically important. It refers to the story that the conspiracy wing of the Republican Party believes to be the absolute truth — that there is a secret cabal of pedophiles, represented by Jeffrey Epstein, that’s trying to destroy America.

The hero of the story, Trump, was supposed to return to power after being cheated in 2020 to reveal the names of the conspirators. (They were said to be people like billionaire George Soros and other super-Jews who “control” Democrats like Barack Obama.) The plan was supposed to culminate in a bloody day of reckoning called “The Storm.” It was to vanquish evil, restore justice and make America great again.

When the Justice Department decided against releasing the Epstein files, on account of Trump’s name appearing in them too many times, MAGA supporters experienced a crisis of faith. He had forced them to choose between believing in him or believing in their enemies.

In her resignation announcement, Greene affirmed that the enemies are indeed real:

“Standing up for American women who were raped at 14 years old, trafficked and used by rich powerful men, should not result in me being called a traitor and threatened by the president.”

And in saying “there is no plan to save the world,” she came as close as she’ll get to telling supporters they’re right to stop believing in him.

There will be no storm, she suggests.

She isn’t a traitor to MAGA.

But, by implication, Trump is.

The president’s most zealous supporters have for years been willing to overlook his crimes, because, as believers in the QAnon conspiracy theory, they believed he was chosen by God to vanquish villainy.

Their loyalty got him through the first impeachment. It got him through the pandemic and the J6 insurrection. It got him through the second impeachment. And, after GOP elites left him for dead, it was the basis for his political revival and victory nearly three years later.

However, during the past few months, his most zealous supporters have been increasingly demoralized, unsure of what to believe about “the plan.” Now, with the alienation of a figure with impeccable MAGA credentials, they have a persuasive confirmation of their suspicions.

Trump continues to believe, as president, that he can do whatever he wants, the law and the Constitution be damned. He was always mistaken in that belief, but the error is becoming increasingly acute.

He has divided MAGA, the most powerful political force protecting him from facing the full consequences of his actions. Meanwhile, the opposition is not only more united but downright burning with rage.

The story of Greene and a demoralized MAGA base is the untold aspect of next year’s congressional elections. Most of the focus is on indie voters who are getting madder about the high cost of essentials, and for good reason. Independents helped Trump beat Kamala Harris.

But what happens when MAGA thinks of Trump as no better than Harris? As Greene said, “both parties have failed.”

They don’t vote for Democrats.

They stay home.