Greene talks about her ‘genocide’ comment and being an ‘early indicator’ of GOP discontent

Date:2025-08-05 22:31:16 Category:politics Views:1 Comment:0

The Movement is a weekly newsletter tracking the influence and debates steering politics on the right. Sign up here or in the box below.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) says Republicans should take her vocal criticisms of the GOP — which she insists are not criticisms of President Trump — as a warning about coming troubles with their base.

“I’m an early indicator, and my complaints are felt and being said far and wide among your average American people who voted for the president and Republicans in 2024,” Greene told me in a phone interview Monday. “The Republican Party is the one drifting away from what we campaigned on.”

Greene also expanded to me on being the only Republican in Congress to call Israel’s conduct in Gaza a “genocide.” Far from backing away from the term, Greene said: “It’s easy to call it a genocide.” More on that in a moment.

I had reached out to the firebrand Georgia congresswoman in wake of her comments to the Daily Mail that the GOP had “turned its back on America First” and that she was unsure of whether “the Republican Party is leaving me, or if I’m kind of not relating to Republican Party as much anymore.”

The comments surprised some, given Greene’s ardent support of Trump, who is the leader of the GOP. She told me it is “ridiculous” to suggest she does not support the president.

But they are part of a pattern of Greene breaking with leaders in the GOP, including Trump.

In recent weeks, she called the crisis in Gaza a genocide; raised the alarm about U.S. strikes in Iran; critiqued the U.S. continuing to sell weapons to help Ukraine; and pushed for more Jeffrey Epstein disclosures despite resistance from Trump, among other gripes.

Just Monday, Greene in a post lamented that there have been zero arrests in a number of MAGA-amplified scandals like the “Russian Collusion Hoax,” “COVID,” “Mar-A-Lago Raid,” and “Epstein Pedophile Arrest,” among others. She posted: “Don’t talk about it if you aren’t going to do it.”

Who was she talking about in that post, and who needs to change? Greene declined to name specific names.

“That criticism is to everyone, literally everyone, and no one’s left out of that,” Greene said.

“If you’re going to go on television — and this is for everybody — and point their fingers at all these people and call them criminals, say they committed treason, then do something about it,” Greene said. “If they make these accusations, but yet hold no one accountable, they’re going to lose everybody. They’re going to lose a vast majority of people who really were told they had to care about this, and they cared about it, but yet nothing got done.”

After Greene and I spoke Monday, CNN reported that Attorney General Pam Bondi was directing federal prosecutors to start a grand jury probe into Obama administration officials over their role in the 2016 Russia election interference investigation.

The question is whether Greene is a canary in the MAGA coal mine, or whether her criticisms just put her on an island.

She is a giant figure in terms of followers and attention, but some could dismiss her concerns as representing only a minor faction on the right. Greene said she is reflecting what she is hearing in her deep-red Georgia district.

But there is clearly some annoyance with the criticism from Greene.

Asked about Greene’s comments in the Daily Mail and on X, a White House official told me: “President Trump campaigned on securing the border, signing tax cuts, and ending the genital mutilation of minors. He’s accomplished all three within the first 200 days. Those are all promises MTG campaigned for and should be happy about.”

Greene in response told me that she had posted over the weekend praising zero crossings in the past three months, and noted she voted for Trump’s megabill that locked in tax cuts. But she pushed back by saying Trump has not had the opportunity to sign her bill, the Protect Children’s Innocence Act, to codify Trump’s executive order banning gender-affirming care for minors because it hasn’t yet gotten a vote in the House or Senate.

“I’m not criticizing the president on this. I’m criticizing everyone around him. They’re actually working against the president by making his executive orders, his accomplishments only temporary,” Greene said.

Greene’s “America First” critique of U.S. foreign policy — going as far as to call the crisis and conflict in Gaza a “genocide” — is perhaps the most notable break.

Greene said she dubbed the situation a “genocide” by “simply looking at the truth and being willing to speak,” saying that there are “many others” who agree but “they’re afraid to say it.”

“I support Israel, and we want to see every single hostage released …. It was horrific what happened on Oct. 7,” Greene said. “But it’s also horrific what’s happening in Gaza, and many innocent people are being killed, have been killed. Christians have been killed, and children have been killed and are being starved.”

“It’s easy to call it a genocide. And I think Israel has made clear what they want to do. They really want to, basically, move all the Palestinians out of Gaza, and that’s what they’re in the process of systematically doing,” Greene said.

I noted that even many progressive Democrats critical of Israel have not used the term “genocide” to describe what’s happening in Gaza, as the term implies targeted destruction of an ethnic group based on their identity. American Jewish groups, not to mention Israel itself, strongly reject accusations of genocide.

“I think it’s pretty easy to understand. It’s targeted at who they are, so that’s their identity,” Greene said. “I mean, they’ve bombed it to the point where it’s unlivable. … They are in talks of trying to get other countries to take Palestinian refugees. So I don’t think it can be any more clear.”

Welcome to The Movement, a weekly newsletter looking at the influences and debates on the right in Washington. I’m Emily Brooks, House leadership reporter at The Hill. Tell me what’s on your radar: [email protected].

Not already on the list? Subscribe here

STRANGE BEDFELLOWS FOR ‘ORGASMIC MEDITATION’ CONVICTS

Can the right-wing outrage over “weaponized” prosecution give a boost to those involved with a salacious case?

Those defending the sexual wellness company OneTaste are finding strange bedfellows on the right as they fight convictions of the group’s founder and former CEO Nicole Daedone and its former head of sales Rachel Cherwitz.

Daedone and Cherwitz were convicted in June for “forced labor conspiracy in connection with their coercive scheme to obtain the labor and services of certain OneTaste employees.” The company, which taught “orgasmic meditation,” turned from a startup celebrated for its focus on female sexuality to being criticized for alleged abuse of employees. It was the subject of a controversial 2022 Lena Dunham-produced Netflix documentary, “Orgasm Inc.”

It’s not the type of case that immediately invites a conservative defense, but defenders of Daedone and Cherwitz see an opening with those skeptical of overzealous prosecutors — like those in the MAGA movement supportive of Trump and outraged about his prosecutions, as well as those of Jan. 6 rioters.

“The bulk of the support has come from the conservative movement,” said Juda Engelmayer, the crisis publicist for Daedone and Cherwitz. Getting others to take a deep look at the underlying legal issues, he said, requires “getting your head around that concept is an ick factor.”

The libertarian magazine Reason’s senior editor Elizabeth Nolan Brown in February outlined a key argument of those defending OneTaste heads: “The two face a single count of conspiracy to commit forced labor … Neither woman is charged with actually forcing labor or engaging in other criminal acts.”

Former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who was once investigated by the DOJ for alleged sex trafficking but never charged, has criticized the case on his One America News show. Trump adviser Roger Stone has critiqued the FBI over the case, as well.

And it doesn’t end in the conservative media space. There are people privately pressing the DOJ to look into the case. One member of Congress wrote to FBI Director Kash Patel with concerns about the case earlier this year, the Daily Mail reported.

The Daily Mail censored the name of the member of Congress who wrote to Patel about the case — identified only as being a House Judiciary Committee member who has a law enforcement background. But Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas), who fits that bill, confirmed to me that he was the one who sent the OneTaste letter to the FBI.

The “ick factor” could be a limiting factor for the defendants as they hope for more support on the right — given social conservative values opposed to the sex-positive OneTaste ethos.

Daedone and Cherwitz are scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 23, and plan to appeal the conviction.

GAMBLING TAX DIVIDE EMERGING ON THE RIGHT

A divide is emerging on the right over whether gamblers should be able to deduct their losses on their taxes, pitting social conservatives against top Republicans who hope to reverse the recent change.

At issue is a last-minute provision in the “One Big, Beautiful Bill” that lowered the gambling loss deduction from 100 percent to 90 percent, set to kick in in 2026. That means if a gambler broke even one year, winning $1 million and losing $1 million, the gambler would still be taxed on $100,000 worth of income on winnings.

House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.) said in a “field hearing” in Las Vegas, Nev. last month that he was open to nixing that change.

“I know that many members on both sides of the aisle are open to working to address it before it goes into effect on Jan. 1,” Smith said.

But social conservatives are starting to pipe up encouraging the opposite direction. Advancing American Freedom, the group founded by former Vice President Mike Pence, is circulating a memo opposing that reversal and encouraging to lower the deduction even more: “Gambling losses should not be deductible at all.”

“Nearly all gamblers lose money, leading to further financial, health, and family problems. Congress should encourage a pro-growth tax code by declining to reinstate full expensing for gambling losses,” the memo said.

Further reading from my colleague Aris Folley… Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ could spell trouble for gamblers: What to know

ON MY CALENDAR

It’s a quiet August here in Washington. Send me your interesting upcoming seminars, Capitol Hill forums, and galas to be featured in this section: [email protected]

Monday, Aug. 25 to Thursday, Aug. 28: State Policy Network annual meeting in New Orleans, La.

THREE MORE THINGS

The Trump administration is not planning to mandate coverage for in vitro fertilization, contrary to the president’s campaign pledge, The Washington Post reported.
The Young Republicans honored four leaders at its national convention in Nashville, Tenn., over the weekend, inducting them into the 1856 Society: Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of the Office of Political Affairs Matt Brasseaux; former National Director of Election Integrity for the Trump campaign and Republican National Committee Christina Norton; The Washington Reporter Editor-in-Chief Matthew Foldi; and Trump 2024 National Delegate Selection Director John Findlay.
Douglass Mackey, whose conviction over posting memes about the 2016 race was overturned by an appeals court this year, was celebrated at a bash at MAGA Capitol Hill hangout Butterworth’s on Friday. Napkins at the event featured the meme telling voters to text to vote that Mackey posted under an anonymous Twitter account that was the center of the conviction of conspiracy to suppress voters.