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<\/p>\nEoin Higgins is the author of \u201cOwned: How Tech Billionaires on the Right Bought the Loudest Voice on the Left.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Marjorie Taylor Greene,<\/span> the three-term Georgia representative, is leaving office in January, a decision that comes after a year of mounting tensions between her and President Donald Trump. The right-wing superstar has watched Trump\u2019s popularity wane and has distanced herself from him and his administration. It appears she\u2019s angling for something bigger than Congress \u2014 but what that is remains to be seen.<\/p>\n For some commentators eager for a return to the horse-race politics of a general election, Greene is positioning to run for president in 2028. Those rumors have been fueled by members of the right-wing firebrand\u2019s camp, who have told reporters<\/a> that the representative may well be considering a run. (There has also been reporting<\/a> that Greene has told people she wants to run in 2028.)<\/p>\n Greene\u2019s maneuvering could also be read as an effort to make herself the spiritual successor to her own brand of MAGA after Trump leaves office. The past six months have shown a different side of the representative in what looks like a calculated attempt to distance herself from the current leadership of a political ideology that\u2019s not delivering for Americans \u2014 and alienating the general public.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Georgia Republican is also embracing the non-interventionist side of the right while tailoring her language to a broader audience. In June, after Israel attacked Iran, and Trump eagerly joined in <\/a>on attacking Iranian nuclear sites<\/a>, Greene criticized the U.S. bombings<\/a> as counter to the \u201cAmerica First\u201d ideology that\u2019s been central to MAGA for a decade. Greene railed against the trillions in U.S. debt and warned that pursuing war would only raise that number at the American people\u2019s expense.<\/p>\n Her language could have come from Ron Paul, another hard-right anti-interventionist with similarly questionable views on race and social issues. \u201cAmerican troops have been killed and forever torn apart physically and mentally for regime change, foreign wars, and for military industrial base profits,\u201d Greene said. \u201cI\u2019m sick of it.\u201d<\/p>\n In a neat turn of phrase, Greene framed war with Iran as not only a waste of money and resources but also as the administration taking its eye off the real threat: fentanyl and other drugs coming from Latin America. Where were the bombing campaigns on cartel targets, she asked<\/a>, adding, \u201cI don\u2019t know anyone in America who has been the victim of a crime or killed by Iran, but I know many people who have been victims of crime committed by criminal illegal aliens or MURDERED by Cartel and Chinese fentanyl\/drugs.\u201d<\/p>\n By October, Greene had broken from the administration on an even more important issue: Israel\u2019s genocide in Gaza. In an appearance that month on CNN \u2014 itself a sign of her moderating tone as she began to expand her appeal beyond hardcore MAGA supporter \u2014 Greene made the very basic point<\/a> that the majority of the victims of Israel\u2019s relentless bombing and starvation campaign were not \u201cHamas\u201d but \u201cliterally women and children.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou can\u2019t unsee the amount of pictures and videos of children that have been blown to pieces and they\u2019re finding them dead in the rubble,\u201d Greene said. \u201cThat isn\u2019t \u2014 those aren\u2019t actors, that isn\u2019t fake war propaganda. It\u2019s very real.\u201d<\/p>\n This pivot has garnered her cachet and credibility with elements of the left, including with the co-founder of the activist group Code Pink, Medea Benjamin<\/a>, who somewhat perplexingly called her<\/a> a \u201cstrong anti war voice\u201d in Congress and said she would \u201cmiss her.\u201d<\/p>\n But her sympathy for the victims of U.S. weapons only went so far. After the administration instructed the military to target boats off the coast of Venezuela in a series of attacks that left dozens dead<\/a> under questionable, at best, circumstances, Greene expressed<\/a> her \u201cfull support\u201d for the action.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n