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She was one of the staunchest supporters of Donald Trump, amplifying the America First agenda of his Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement, but Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has had a public falling-out with the United States president.

Greene, one of the most vocal voices from Trump’s MAGA base, has increasingly been expressing her disagreements, accusing the Trump administration of prioritising foreign policy over pressing domestic issues, such as a cost-of-living crisis. She has particularly been critical of US military support for Israel’s war on Gaza, which she has called a genocide.

But the breakdown of their relationship came after Greene backed Democratic efforts to release files related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who was a friend of Trump’s.

On Friday, Trump announced he was revoking his endorsement of Greene as he used his Truth Social platform to call the 51-year-old lawmaker “wacky” and a “ranting lunatic”. A day later, he continued his broadside, calling her a “traitor” and a “disgrace” to the Republican Party.

In response, Greene said Trump is coming after her “hard”, seeking to “scare all the other Republicans before next week’s vote to release the Epstein files”.

On Saturday, the Republican lawmaker accused Trump of putting her life in danger, saying his online criticism has triggered a wave of threats against her.

So who is Greene, and why has her relationship with Trump broken down? How will it impact the MAGA base?

Who is Marjorie Taylor Green, the MAGA champion?

Greene’s interest in politics, according to the US broadcaster NBC News, began in 2016, when she began writing on topics supporting the far-right QAnon conspiracy theories.

She was elected to represent Georgia’s 14th Congressional District in 2020.

As a member of the US House of Representatives since January 2021, Greene has been a staunch Trump supporter and also stood by the president during the January 2021 Capitol Hill insurrection, which saw Trump supporters force their way into the US Capitol building to try to stop the certification of the presidential election victory of Trump rival and Democrat Joe Biden.

Greene said “January 6 was just a riot” and defended it as a movement to “overthrow tyrants”. But after a backlash, she said she had been joking.

Greene has been a vocal supporter of the conservative agenda in the US, calling herself anti-abortion, pro-gun and anti-immigration. She has backed the US building walls along its borders to prevent undocumented immigrants from entering the country.

Born Marjorie Taylor in Milledgeville, Georgia, in 1974, Greene graduated from the University of Georgia in 1996 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration.

She then began working in her family’s company Taylor Commercial, a construction and renovation company, and in 2002, she and her husband at the time, Perry Greene, took over the business. In 2012, Marjorie entered the fitness sector and opened a CrossFit gym that she expanded and eventually sold.

Which issues are creating divisions within Trump’s MAGA base?

In recent weeks, Greene has been critical of the US president’s policies, especially linked to the Epstein files, the cost of living crisis, healthcare and foreign policy.

Epstein files: On Wednesday, US lawmakers released more than 20,000 pages of documents from Epstein’s estate, putting Trump’s relationship with the sex offender under scrutiny.

Epstein died by suicide in prison in 2019 after being arrested on charges of sex trafficking of minors. Trump, who had a 15-year friendship with Epstein, denies all wrongdoing and has repeatedly stated that he was never involved in – or even knew about – Epstein’s sexual crimes.

But the US Department of Justice has repeatedly refused to release the court files, raising eyebrows – not least among Trump’s own Republican Party and MAGA base.

Greene has been critical of Trump’s handling of the Epstein files and has repeatedly said all the files should be released.

“The American people deserve full transparency into who was involved in these horrific acts,” she said on X on Thursday.

The US House of Representatives will vote on releasing all remaining sealed court files pertaining to Epstein this week.

Cost of living: In recent weeks, Greene has railed against Trump’s budget and spending policies and also accused Republicans of not paying enough attention to the cost of living crisis.

Since Trump returned to the White House in January, he has insisted that he would bring prices down in the US by bringing in more revenue to the government by imposing tariffs. He has also repeatedly said inflation is not currently a serious concern for the US economy.

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, as of September, grocery prices have risen every month since Trump took office. According to the US Energy Information Administration, the price of electricity bills has also risen.

In an interview with former Trump Press Secretary Sean Spencer on Friday, Greene said: “President Trump and his administration [do] deserve a lot of credit for lowering inflation and holding it steady, but that doesn’t bring prices down. And so gaslighting the people and trying to tell them that prices have come down is not helping.”

“It’s actually infuriating people because people know what they’re paying at the grocery store. They know what they’re paying for their kid’s clothes and school supplies. They know what they’re paying for their electricity bills,” she said.

Healthcare costs: Greene has also accused Republicans of failing to grapple with rising healthcare costs, expressing her concerns about the issue as the government shutdown, the longest in US history, ended without a guarantee on tax credits for health insurance.

Democrats have proposed a bill for a three-year extension of the healthcare subsidies, which are due to expire at the end of this year.

“When the tax credits expire this year, my own adult children’s insurance premiums for 2026 are going to DOUBLE, along with all the wonderful families and hard-working people in my district,” she wrote in an X post on October 7.

“Not a single Republican in leadership talked to us about this or has given us a plan to help Americans deal with their health insurance premiums DOUBLING!!!” she added.

Trump has proposed to send healthcare subsidies directly into people’s bank accounts.

Why has Greene accused Trump of deviating from his America First agenda?

During his presidential campaign, Trump repeatedly prioritised the interests of American citizens by promising more jobs and bringing down the cost of living.

But according to Greene, the president has not devoted time on domestic issues. She has been critical of US military support to Israel and became one of the first Republicans to call Israel’s war on Gaza a genocide.

She publicly took on Trump for military intervention in Iran in support of Israel.

Greene has also been opposed to the Trump administration sending more weapons to Ukraine as Europe’s deadliest war since World War II rages on. In July after Trump approved more military support to Kyiv, Greene, said on X: “MAGA voted for no more US involvement in foreign wars.”

In August, she also expressed dissent against the Trump administration’s $20bn economic support to Argentina, accusing the government of ignoring its America First agenda.

In an interview with NBC News this month, she said: “We didn’t elect the president to go out there and travel the world and end the foreign wars.”

“We elected the president to stop sending tax dollars and weapons for the foreign wars – to completely not engage any more,” she said, addeding: “One of the big campaign issues is Americans were fed up with foreign wars.”

How has Trump responded?

Announcing that he is withdrawing his endorsement of Greene in a post on Truth Social on Friday, Trump said all he sees “‘Wacky’ Marjorie do is COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN!”

“She has told many people that she is upset that I don’t return her phone calls anymore,” Trump said.

“I can’t take a ranting Lunatic’s call every day.”

He also said she should not run for governor or senator of Georgia and accused Greene of going “far left” in her views.

In an interview with Fox News last week, Trump also defended his MAGA strategy and said MAGA was his idea. “I know what MAGA wants better than anybody else.”

On social media after the release of the Epstein files on Wednesday, he said it was a “hoax” by Democrats and said “a very bad or stupid Republican would fall into that trap.”

How has Greene responded?

Responding to Trump’s attack late on Friday, Greene said on X that she’s astonished about how hard Trump’s fighting “to stop the Epstein files from coming out that he actually goes to this level”.

“But really most Americans wish he would fight this hard to help the forgotten men and women of America who are fed up with foreign wars and foreign causes, are going broke trying to feed their families, and are losing hope of ever achieving the American dream,” she said, adding that’s what she voted for.

“I have supported President Trump with too much of my precious time, too much of my own money, and fought harder for him even when almost all other Republicans turned their back and denounced him,” she said.

“But I don’t worship or serve Donald Trump. I worship God, Jesus is my savior, and I serve my district GA14 and the American people.”

President Trump just attacked me and lied about me. I haven’t called him at all, but I did send these text messages today. Apparently this is what sent him over the edge.

The Epstein files.

And of course he’s coming after me hard to make an example to scare all the other… pic.twitter.com/EcUzaohZZs

Many MAGA supporters have expressed their support to Greene after Trump’s attack against her.

“I respect President Trump but I stand with my Congresswoman @mtgreenee,” said Emory Roy, who works for Turning Point Action, the organisation founded by Trump supporter Charlie Kirk, who was shot and killed in September.

“While we are seeing progress under President Trump’s Administration, I know the people of NWGA [Northwest Georgia] will stop at nothing until we get back to the founding principles that made this country so great,” she added.

Some MAGA users also began expressing their discontent with Trump after the feud.

“I voted for Trump three times and I regret it. I will not be voting for him in the midterms. I hope he loses,” one X user said on Saturday.

Another X user shared a similar view and said: “He’s lost his way from maga.”

What are the other controversies Greene has been a part of?

Greene has been a controversial figure, known for a combative style of dealing with politicians as well as journalists.

She told a journalist to “f*** off” during an interview last year. After then-British Foreign Secretary David Cameron urged the US to back Ukraine, Greene said: “David Cameron needs to worry about his own country and, frankly, he can kiss my a**.”

Greene has faced criticism for her support for QAnon before being elected to Congress in 2020, even though she insists she has distanced herself from the ideology.

One of her theories included the claim that 9/11 was an inside job and there is no evidence that a plane had crashed.

“Some people claimed a missile hit the Pentagon. I now know that is not correct. The problem is our government lies to us so much to protect the Deep State, it’s hard sometimes to know what is real and what is not,” she said on X in 2020.

But a month after becoming a member of the House, she said: “9/11 absolutely happened. I remember that day, crying all day long, watching it on the news. And it’s a tragedy for anyone to say it didn’t happen. So that I definitely want to tell you all, I do not believe it’s fake.”

Shortly before being elected to the House, she said: “Muslims do not belong in government.”

In 2021, she posted an Islamophobic thread on X, saying: “It’s not irrational to fear Islamic terrorism or a religion that states it’s goal is world domination and the death of infidels,” drawing condemnation from House members.

In 2021, she was stripped of her House committee assignments over her past incendiary comments and her apparent support for violence against Democrats.

Greene has also been called out by House members for her racist views towards Black people.

According to a June 2020 Politico report, Greene called Black Lives Matter (BLM) activists “idiots” and compared them to neo-Nazis and Ku Klux Klan members. The BLM movement, which highlights racial inequalities in the US, began after George Floyd, a Black man, was killed by a police officer in the US in June 2020 during an arrest.

Greene has also been accused of expressing anti-Semitic views. According to US media reports, in 2018, she had said in a Facebook post that the wildfires in California could have been caused by an international cabal tied to Jews. She has since deleted the post.

In 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, she compared anti-COVID measures such as wearing masks to the yellow stars Jews were forced to wear during the Nazi era.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy at the time condemned her views.

Earlier this week, a flight carrying 153 Palestinians from Gaza landed in South Africa without documentation. The passengers were stuck on the plane for 12 hours before the South African authorities, who claimed they had not been informed by Israelis about the deportation flight, allowed them to disembark on humanitarian grounds.

The Palestinians on board had paid between $1,500 and $5,000 to a company called Al-Majd Europe to leave Gaza. The operation is run by a few Palestinians on the ground in coordination with the Israeli occupation authorities. At least two other such flights had already been made since June this year.

This is the latest scheme Israel is deploying to depopulate Gaza – a longstanding goal of its apartheid regime that goes back to the early 20th century.

Since the beginning of the Zionist movement, Palestinians have been perceived as a demographic obstacle to establishing a Jewish state. In the late 19th century, Theodor Herzl, one of the founding fathers of Zionism, wrote that the displacement of Arabs from Palestine must be part of the Zionist plan, suggesting that poor populations could be moved across borders and deprived of employment opportunities in a quiet and cautious manner.

In 1938, David Ben-Gurion, a key Zionist leader who would later become Israel’s first prime minister, made clear he supported forced “relocation” and saw nothing “immoral” in it. Part of this vision was carried out 10 years later during the Nakba of 1948, when more than 700,000 Palestinians were forced out of their homes in what Israeli historian Benny Morris has called “necessary” ethnic cleansing.

After 1948, Israel continued efforts to displace Palestinians. In the 1950s, tens of thousands of Palestinians and Palestinian Bedouins were forcibly transferred from the Naqab (Negev) desert to the Sinai Peninsula or Gaza, which was under Egyptian administration at that time.

After the June 1967 war, when Israel occupied Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, it adopted a strategy of what it called “voluntary migration”. The idea was to create harsh living conditions to pressure residents to leave, including demolishing homes and reducing employment opportunities.

In parallel, “emigration offices” were established in the refugee camps of Gaza to encourage people who have lost any hope of return to their homes to leave in exchange for money and travel arrangements. Israel also encouraged Palestinians to go work abroad, especially in the Gulf.  The price Palestinians had to pay for leaving was never being allowed to come back.

After October 7, 2023, Israel saw another chance to carry out its plan of ethnically cleansing Gaza – this time through genocide and forced expulsion. It thought it had the necessary international sympathy and diplomatic capital to carry out such an atrocity, as statements by various Israeli officials, such as ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, show. They even came up with the so-called “General’s Plan” to fully depopulate northern Gaza.

The new scheme for forcing Palestinians out of Gaza fits well into this historical pattern. What distinguishes it, however, is that Palestinians are made to pay for their own forced displacement and their desperation is exploited by Palestinian collaborators who seek to make easy profit. This, of course, is meant to further the financial depletion of the Palestinian population and create more internal fissures and tensions.

This scheme, like previous ones, also has the central feature of denying Palestinians return. None of the passengers on the plane received Israeli exit stamps on their passports, which was the reason the South African authorities struggled with the admission process. Having no legal record of leaving the Israeli-occupied territory of Gaza means these people are automatically classified as illegal migrants and have no possibility of returning.

It is important here to clarify why Israel is allowing these flights to take place while impeding the evacuation of ill and injured Palestinians and students accepted in foreign universities. These exits of patients and students would be legal, and they imply the right to return – something Israel does not want to allow.

That there are Palestinians willing to fall for this flight scheme is unsurprising. Two years of genocide have driven the people of Gaza to unimaginable desperation. There are that many Gaza residents who would willingly board those planes. And yet, Israel cannot fly us all to South Africa.

Through decades of Zionist occupation, Palestinians have persevered. Palestinian steadfastness in the face of wars, sieges, home raids, demolitions, land theft, and economic subjugation confirms that the Palestinian land is not merely a place to live, but a symbol of identity and history that people are not willing to give up.

In the past two years, Israel has destroyed the lives and homes of two million Palestinians. And even that has failed to kill the Palestinian spirit and drive to hold onto the Palestinian land. The Palestinians are not flying out; we are here to stay.