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DONALD TRUMP’S RELUCTANCE to release documents from investigations into the infamous sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has caused a rift in his MAGA base and a former diehard fan of the president has now become one of his most prominent critics.
Marjorie Taylor Greene has led calls from within the Republican Party for Trump to release what are commonly referred to as the “Epstein files”. Her public feud with the president has seen him lash out at her in press appearances and social media posts, dubbing her “Marjorie Traitor Greene”.
Trump is well known to have been close friends with Epstein and a recently released trove of the now deceased financier’s emails includes one in which he says Trump “knew about the girls”.
In July, Trump complained about his supporters calling for his attorney general Pam Bondi to be sacked over her handling of the Epstein files disclosures.
He had sought to present the situation regarding the documents and his relationship with Epstein as a “Democratic hoax” and when asked about the issue by reporters he has often attacked them personally while avoiding giving straight answers.
In an abrupt U-turn on Monday, Trump appeared to relent and said, “House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files, because we have nothing to hide”.
Taylor Greene is not the only Republican politician who has opposed the Trump administration’s flip-flopping approach to the Epstein saga, but she is certainly the leader of the pack and has emerged as a potential threat to the president’s popularity in the wider MAGA movement.
The Georgia congresswoman rose to prominence on a platform that included believing in QAnon, a sprawling conspiracy theory that cast Trump himself as a warrior for justice fighting against the Deep State and a cabal of paedophiles running the US government.
During the latter days of the Biden administration, Taylor Green had said that the US federal government was “literally controlling the weather”.
She has since distanced herself from her endorsement of QAnon, most recently in an appearance on the daytime TV show The View, during which she insisted she still loves Trump.
Her appearance on The View, which is hosted by Whoopi Goldberg and a number of other female TV personalities, was seen as a surprise as she had previously criticised the show’s hosts as “nasty women”.
They in turn had long been vocal critics of Taylor Greene but more recently Goldberg had said the Congresswoman was “the surprising voice of reason” on the US government shutdown.
The dissent in the MAGA ranks is not confined to the Epstein issue, though. Trump’s positions on a number of policies have been met with disquiet and even anger from some of his supporters, who feel they do not align with the MAGA presidency they were promised.
One of the issues is visas for foreign students and high-skilled workers, another is foreign policy.
The MAGA faithful have been upset that Trump has not stopped immigration outright, which is not in the interests of the Silicon Valley CEOs with whom Trump has allied.
Tomorrow Congress will finally vote to release the Epstein files.
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) November 18, 2025
This should have never been a fight.
Raping teenage girls, trafficking victims, and protecting powerful people is not a hoax.
I unapologetically and proudly stand with these women.
pic.twitter.com/JDd8Ekrjkt
Similarly, Trump had promised to be a “president of peace” and drastically scale back US interventionist foreign policy but since beginning his second term, he has attacked Iran and Yemen and the US military is preparing for what looks like a looming assault on Venezuela.
Trump’s support for Israel is also a factor in that debate and the division has been exploited by neo-Nazis like the influencer Nick Fuentes, whose recent appearance on Tucker Carlson’s podcast caused a public debate about how big the MAGA tent should be.
Carlson is perhaps the most influential voice in conservative US media. He is another longtime Trump supporter who has recently taken aim at the president’s immigration and foreign policies.
The pressure is beginning to tell, if Trump’s latest statements and attacks against Taylor Greene are anything to go by.
“MAGA was my idea,” he protested in an interview with the normally friendly Fox News host Laura Ingraham, who confronted him on whether visas for foreign students were “pro-MAGA.”
“I know what MAGA wants better than anybody else.”
By courting the conspiracist vote, endorsing extreme positions on immigration and promising an isolationist foreign policy during his rise to power, Trump may have created a monster he can no longer control.
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