Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene separated herself from President Trump and Republicans on issues such as the government shutdown and the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files as she appeared Tuesday on ABC’s “The View.”
“Here’s something you all may not know about me,” the Georgia Republican said. “I think a lot of people on the left are learning that when I ran for Congress in 2020, I ran criticizing Republicans and Democrats equally, because I come from a working-class family, ran a construction company for over 20 years, and I feel like the government has failed all of us, and it purely disgusts me.”
She said she has “no problem pointing fingers at everyone.”
Ms. Greene called out House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, for having the lower chamber on a break for weeks during the government shutdown.
“The worst thing that I just can’t get over is we’re not working right now. And I put that criticism directly on the speaker of the House, and we should be at work,” she said. “All the people sitting in this audience, they go to work every day, people at home watching the show, they go to work every day. Ladies, you go to work every day.
“It is an embarrassment to me that we’re not in session and getting paid,” she said, adding she wasn’t taking a paycheck.
The government shutdown tied for the longest in history Tuesday as it hit the 35-day mark, with no signs of stopping. The second-longest shutdown was in Mr. Trump’s first term.
The filibustering by Senate Democrats has caused a stopgap spending bill to be blocked 13 times over the expansion of Obamacare premium subsidies that are set to expire this year.
Ms. Greene has been a rare Republican who has sided with Democrats calling for more time for the subsidies.
“My phone and my office — my district office in Washington — is ringing off the hook every single day. People are beyond outraged, and they’re terrified, but this has been going on for a long time,” she said. “And I’ll say this: We also watch health insurance companies drop out of the market, and health care costs have risen and risen and risen and risen. But I’m going to pick on Republicans. Republicans never fixed it.”
She said she yelled at Mr. Johnson during the GOP conference call last week over no Republican moves to offer an alternative health care plan.
“There’s a lot of ideas, there’s a lot of bills, but there’s no consensus, and I think that’s a failure,” Ms. Greene said.
As for the president, she said it’s OK if he’s not her biggest fan right now.
“I mean, Donald Trump, he usually yells at everybody. So, we’re all used to it,” she said.
Ms. Greene, who is one of the only Republicans calling for the release of the Epstein files, said she doesn’t know why the GOP wants to protect the documents.
“It seems like very rich and powerful men are being protected,” she said. “I will sign anybody’s resolution, and I’ll get on board with anyone’s push to release those files, because this is about women, especially when they were teenagers, were victims of rape and sexual abuse by Jeffrey Epstein.”
She called it a “failure across administrations” that victims of human trafficking haven’t gotten justice.
When asked by the hosts why it seems like she’s a completely new MTG because she’s speaking out against the president and GOP, she said, “Nothing has changed about me.”
She added, “I’m so America first. … I am staying absolutely 100% true to the people that voted for me, and true to my district.”
She praised “The View” hosts for keeping the 20-minute interview civil, saying she thought they were “doing a great job of exchanging our ideas and things that we believe in, and we’re doing it in a very professional and kind way.”
She continued, “I think we need more of that in America. I really do. And a lot of people wanted me to come on the show and say nasty things. They wanted all of us to fight.
“I didn’t want to [fight] today, because I believe that people with powerful voices, like myself and like you, and especially women to women, we need to pave a new path. This country, our beautiful country, our red, white and blue flag, is just being ripped to shreds, and I think it takes women of maturity to sew it back together.”
Ms. Greene, an outspoken supporter of Mr. Trump and sometimes a spreader of conspiracy theories, was criticized by some for accepting the show’s invitation.
She hit back last week, saying on social media, “There are pathetic Republican men (mostly paid social media influencers) attacking me for going on Bill Maher’s show and The View.
“Here is my voting card and nothing has changed about me, I’m 1,000,000% America ONLY,” she said, adding a screenshot of her card that gave her a 100% Liberty Score. “Sorry I’m not sorry I don’t obey Republican men’s demands that I, as a woman, remain seen but not heard.”
