Marjorie Taylor Greene or Trump: Who gets MAGA in the divorce?

When President Donald Trump was booked and fingerprinted at the Fulton County Jail in 2023, there was just one elected official there to support him — U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.

When Trump was huddling with his lawyers to defend himself in criminal cases around the country, Greene joined then-U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida to hold “America First” rallies from California to Florida to keep the MAGA movement going in his absence.

When Trump was in New York City to be booked on fraud charges there, Greene was there again, proclaiming his innocence as loudly as he was.

Through it all, Greene knew her deep red, pro-Trump congressional district had her back.

But Greene is finding out the hard way that loyalty to the president is a one-way street. And as the congresswoman from Rome now finds herself in the unexpected position of battling against Trump instead of for him, the question now is whether Georgia’s 14th Congressional District is still MTG country or if Trump’s threats to run a primary opponent against her could cost Greene her job.

Brian K. Pritchard, a conservative host of a streaming talk show based in North Georgia who has long supported Trump, said much of what Greene is saying about the Epstein files and the cost of living resonates with the MAGA base, no matter her break with the president.

“If Donald Trump endorses another candidate in the 14th District against MTG, I still predict MTG will win her district,” he said. “Most of her district still likes her, and for the ones that did not like her in the past, they kind of like that she’s moved a little to the center, where they can deal with her. I don’t think she’s hurt to the point that she can lose.”

If anyone could beat Greene, Pritchard said, the challenge would have to come in the GOP primary and would need to be more than a name Trump simply decided to get behind.

“If Donald Trump just picks someone else and says, ‘I’m going to put my name behind you,’ I don’t think they stand a chance,” he said.

Greene can count on the support of Denise Burns, who chaired the Republican Party committee in Greene’s 14th District for the last four years. When Trump called Greene a “traitor” on a social media post, Burns jumped in.

“I can confirm that our congresswoman worked her butt off and spent her own money relentlessly supporting President Trump during the exile,” she wrote on X. “She was mocked and ridiculed by other GA politicians for her stance. To call her a traitor is an insult to the 850k ppl she represents in Congress.”

State Rep. Will Wade, R-Dawsonville, said the Trump-Greene fallout still barely breaks through among the constituents he talks to compared with the anxieties they share about paying for groceries and insurance.

If anybody expresses an opinion, it’s mostly positive.

“I’m very close to people in the faith community, and they very much appreciate her softening her tone.”

The reality is that Georgia voters have shown very recently that they can support Trump and the Republicans he targets at the same time. In the same year Greene was first reelected in 2022, both she and Gov. Brian Kemp won the 14th District GOP primary and general election by wide margins, even as Kemp faced a Trump-backed primary challenge from former U.S. Sen. David Perdue.

If Greene does lose some support on the right in her break with Trump, she probably can’t count on Democrats in the district to make up the difference. Wendy Davis, a Democrat who challenged Greene in her 2022 race, is skeptical any Democrats would support her until her votes match her rhetoric.

“All I can say is a broken clock is right twice a day,” Davis said. “I have not yet seen her proposing any legislation or any measure that she could vote on that matches her newfound kinder, gentler persona.”