Former GOP Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has said that the midterm elections are a "referendum" on President Donald Trump due to his "betrayal" of voters.
Greene, once one of Trump's biggest supporters in Congress, criticized Trump for a number of issues including launching the Iran war and the cost of living crisis impacting millions of Americans.
Talking to CNN about the possibility of a Republican loss in the midterms, Greene said: "I think it's a complete referendum on Donald Trump—his betrayal where he promised no more foreign wars and to bring world peace; not releasing the Epstein files.
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"And also not listening to everyday Americans who are saying, 'we cannot afford the cost of living, we cannot afford health insurance, we cannot afford these high prices of gas and diesel.' While he is constantly bragging about a ballroom and his big donors and having these big fancy dinners as if he cannot relate to the American people."
Greene added that the elections would be a referendum on House Speaker Mike Johnson and Republicans in Congress "who never, ever stood up to Donald Trump and pushed their own agenda in the House of Representatives and in the Senate."
Greene also said that Trump had failed to match the tone of the American people, particularly when addressing the public in front of the newly completed Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on Monday, during which he devoted 20 minutes to the newly opened landmark and his D.C. renovations.
"Standing in front of the Reflecting Pool that most Americans—I would say 99.999 percent of Americans—don't ever think about on a daily basis was absolutely the wrong message to send to Americans, asking them to go vote for Republicans tomorrow," she said.
Donald Trump and Marjorie Taylor Greene: A History
Relations between Trump and Greene are far from their once warm friendship. In 2020, Greene ran for Congress in Georgia as an outspoken pro-Trump candidate.
After winning her Republican primary, Trump praised her as a future Republican “star,” calling her “strong on everything and a “real winner.”
From 2021 she became one of Trump’s most visible defenders, including backing his claims about the 2020 election and repeatedly defending him even when he was out of office.
It was not until Trump’s second term that Greene began to increasingly criticize positions taken by the Trump administration, and a public rift emerged particularly around cryptocurrency legislation and later the Jeffery Epstein files.
The Epstein issue became the clearest flashpoint. Greene pushed for release of the files and publicly aligned herself with Epstein survivors, while Trump initially resisted the pressure and characterized the controversy as a Democratic “hoax,” before eventually urging Republicans to support releasing the files.
In November 2025, Trump publicly withdrew his endorsement and support for Greene, branding her a “traitor” and “disgrace” to the Republican Party.
“I was called a traitor by a man that I fought for five, no actually, six years for, and I gave him my loyalty for free,” she told reporters at the time.
As of September 2026, Greene describes herself as “politically homeless,” having resigned from the House earlier in the year.
At the Texas Tribune Festival in September, she went substantially further, declaring “MAGA is dead” and describing the broader MAGA movement as a “cult.”
‘Like Listening To a Really Bad Home Salesman’
Beyond the CNN interview, Greene also shared a 284-word criticism of Trump on her X account.
As well as doubling down on her criticism of Trump’s appearance at the Reflecting Pool, Greene said that most Americans “do NOT support” Trump’s war in Iran, adding that it has “hurt Americans with high gas and diesel prices.”
She also addressed Trump’s previous promise to give every adult American $5,000 if Republicans win the midterm elections. “After failing to deliver the other promised DOGE and tariff checks to the American people,” she said.
“It’s all like listening to a really bad home salesman lying and making up ridiculous claims about a piece of crap product he’s selling as he refuses to leave your living room and you really regret letting him in the front door. Hair and all,” she said.
Newsweek reached out to the White House via email for comment.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Matthew Robinson and Emma Lee-Sang
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