Donald Trump Is Losing Control of MAGA

On Sunday night, Donald Trump abjectly surrendered in one of the most intense political battles of his second term. For months, the White House had been pressuring congressional Republicans to hold the line against a bill that would require the release of Justice Department files connected to late pedophile—and Trump pal—Jeffrey Epstein. But Trump couldn’t get every GOP member to do his bidding. Four Republican representatives—Thomas Massie, Lauren Boebert, Nancy Mace, and Marjorie Taylor Greene—stubbornly joined with every House Democrat to support the bill’s passage. This group created a beachhead in Congress that was inciting more GOP defections. Trump saw where the wind was blowing. In flip-flopping on the files, he was caving to the inevitable.

But just because Trump has admitted defeat doesn’t mean he won’t seek revenge. And he’s started by targeting the person whose defection might cut deepest of all: Marjorie Taylor Greene. Trump harbors a particular bitterness toward Greene—the kind that a cult leader has for a once-prized disciple who becomes an apostate.

Unlike most Republican lawmakers, Greene had no real political identity before Trump. She entered Congress in 2020 as an especially enthusiastic cheerleader for the MAGA revolution, going so far as to defend the January 6 attack on the Capitol as a movement to “overthrow tyrants.” She also hyped QAnon conspiracy theories that portrayed Trump as the victim of “deep state” conspiracy. All of this made her seem more Trumpian than Trump, a true harbinger of the future of the GOP as a MAGA-dominated party. Like Trump, Greene possesses a larger-than-life personality and a talent for provocation. This helped make her a national figure in the social media age, where the attention economy rewards inflammatory rhetoric.

But it’s precisely because she was a Trumpian true believer that Greene was also able to see that the Epstein scandal was her opportunity to seize the mantle of leadership away from Trump. Her own political career was stalling, since she was unpopular with congressional Republican leaders such as Mike Johnson. Further, Trump reportedly blocked Greene’s plans to run for Senate in Georgia next year.

Finding her political future stonewalled, Greene became increasingly critical of the president and GOP orthodoxy, criticizing the bombing of Iran as a violation of Trump’s promise of an anti-interventionist stance, questioning whether unconditional support and armament of Israel was really America First, and even becoming the first Republican in Congress to describe the slaughter of civilians in Gaza as a “genocide.” She has also launched critiques of Trump and fellow Republicans for not having policies that deal with affordability or spiraling healthcare costs. Taken together, this a populist platform that uses Trump’s own rhetoric to position Greene as more authentically MAGA than Trump himself.

Greene has been particularly effective in making herself the face of GOP opposition to Trump’s intransigence over Epstein—an issue that, despite Trump’s best efforts, the MAGA base refuses to let fade away. On Saturday, a letter signed by 27 women identifying themselves as survivors of Jeffrey Epstein was released, calling for a renewed bipartisan push to release the Epstein files. Because Greene had been repeatedly singled out for abuse by Trump, the letter specifically praised her for standing up “against the intimidation, silencing, and abuse.”

On Friday, Trump issued a lengthy Truth Social post denouncing Greene in vociferous terms. The post read in part:

I am withdrawing my support and Endorsement of “Congresswoman” Marjorie Taylor Greene, of the Great State of Georgia. Over the past few weeks, despite my creating Record Achievements for our Country … all I see “Wacky” Marjorie do is COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN! It seemed to all begin when I sent her a Poll stating that she should not run for Senator, or Governor, she was at 12%, and didn’t have a chance (unless, of course, she had my Endorsement — which she wasn’t about to get!). She has told many people that she is upset that I don’t return her phone calls anymore, but with 219 Congressmen/women, 53 U.S. Senators, 24 Cabinet Members, almost 200 Countries, and an otherwise normal life to lead, I can’t take a ranting Lunatic’s call every day. I understand that wonderful, Conservative people are thinking about primarying Marjorie in her District of Georgia, that they too are fed up with her and her antics and, if the right person runs, they will have my Complete and Unyielding Support. She has gone Far Left, even doing The View, with their Low IQ Republican hating Anchors. Thank you for your attention to this matter. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!

Greene responded to the post by taking the high road, calling on fellow Republicans to focus on affordability rather than stonewalling the Epstein investigation. She also argued, plausibly enough, that Trump’s incendiary rhetoric about her being a “traitor” could incite violence. More unexpectedly, she also apologized for “taking part in toxic politics” in some of her own previous inflammatory attacks on Democrats.

Greene could afford to be magnanimous because all evidence indicates that she’s winning the battle over the Epstein files, which itself could help her triumph in the civil war now engulfing MAGA.

The Trump/Greene feud is part of a larger story. Recently humiliated in the off-cycle elections, Trump is rapidly approaching lame-duck status. The 2026 midterms are less than a year away, and the moment they’re over, the impending 2028 presidential race will push Trump further and further into the background. Those in the MAGA movement know he won’t be able to run again and are now trying to position themselves as Trump’s heir in waiting. This explains the intense debate surrounding potential power brokers such as Tucker Carlson and Nick Fuentes, the white nationalist whose increasing prominence is dividing the right.

On Saturday, the popular right-wing podcaster Tim Dillion, whom Republicans often turn to in order to reach young men, commented on Trump’s diminished role as leader:

This is the end of the Trump administration. This is the beginning of the lame duck presidency. It’s obvious to everyone, even his most ardent supporters show up to the White House like Laura Ingraham, she’s kind of shocked, like, “What the hell is going on?” Now we’ll start three years talking about the ballroom. He will trail off, he’ll get older, he’s adorning the White House in gold. Epstein’s gonna suck the oxygen out of a lot of this.

The splintering of MAGA and the weakening of Trump should be welcomed on the left, since it hobbles the GOP and offers opportunities for recruiting some Republican votes on key issues, as in the release of the Epstein files.

But it also should go without saying that Marjorie Taylor Greene, despite her welcome shift on a few issues, remains beyond the pale of decency. She’s still an ardent xenophobic nationalist who blames immigrants for economic problems. Despite her recent apologetic words, there’s no reason to forget her long history of antisemitism, racism, and conspiratorialism. Like Trump, Greene refuses to criticize Tucker Carlson for platforming Nick Fuentes in a lengthy and largely uncritical interview. In fact, Greene has called on CNN to interview Fuentes.

Greene is fighting Trump because she wants to replace him as the head of MAGA. We can cheer her on in a few of her attacks on Trump, but she is still our political foe. If she is Trump’s heir, she’ll have to be fought as fiercely as Trump himself.