Former Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene escalated her break with President Donald Trump over the weekend, calling him a "false little god" and a "neocon puppet" after Trump attacked Greene, Tucker Carlson and former Rep. Thomas Massie over their increasingly public effort to organize a political movement outside his orbit.
The bitter exchange, unfolding on Truth Social and X on Aug. 21 and 22, underscores a widening dispute among figures who once belonged to the same populist coalition. Foreign policy, the Jeffrey Epstein files and the meaning of "America First" have emerged as fault lines separating Trump from some of his former allies.
Trump opened the latest round by ridiculing Carlson, Greene and Massie following their meeting earlier this month. "Tucker Carlson just met with Lightweight 'Former' Congressman, Thomas Massie, and Marjorie 'Traitor' Greene, LOSERS ALL!" Trump wrote.
The president also suggested Carlson lacked the political support necessary to pursue elected office. "Tucker wants to run for political office, but he should be required to take a cognitive test," Trump wrote. "He's got no chance, but could probably take a couple of points away from whatever the Republican ticket happens to be!"
Trump's criticism of Greene was similarly personal. He referred to his former congressional ally as "Marjorie Taylor Brown" and a "highly neurotic young woman," while arguing that she moved away from conservative politics after he withdrew his endorsement. He also attributed her departure from Congress to weak polling in Georgia.
Greene responded with a lengthy attack that challenged Trump on political loyalty, religion and the Epstein controversy. She accused the president of behaving like an "internet troll" and said he was "not a Christian at all."
"This is why Trump now calls me a traitor because instead of bowing down to him like some false little god, I stood up and fought for women who were raped as teenagers and abused by the richest most powerful men in the world, friends of Donald Trump," Greene wrote.
Greene then widened her criticism to Trump's record in office, arguing that his policies no longer represent the movement that helped return him to power. "He attacks us with such vitriol because we actually are everything he claimed to be, conservative and America First, and he has proven as President that he is nothing more than a neocon puppet for Israel, corporations, big donors with special interests, and his dear friends in the Epstein class."
Greene didn't provide evidence establishing that Trump's latest attacks were motivated by the Epstein dispute or polling, and her characterization of his relationships and motives represents her political accusation rather than an established factual finding.
The rupture has been building for months. Greene left Congress in January after saying she didn't want to endure a "hurtful and hateful primary," while Massie had repeatedly clashed with Trump, including over efforts to disclose government records connected to Epstein. Massie later lost a Republican primary to a Trump-backed challenger.
The split became more organized this month when Greene posted a photograph showing herself with Carlson, Massie, Joe Kent and conservative journalist Brian Glenn. She described the gathering as the beginning of a political "movement" rooted in opposition to foreign military interventions and dissatisfaction with Trump's leadership.
"We said no more foreign wars and we meant it and supported Donald Trump because he made that promise," Greene wrote on Aug. 1. "But he's betrayed us all. Our commitment is America First for all Americans, right, left, and centre."
"The movement has begun," she added.
Opposition to the Iran war has become one of the group's central complaints. Greene, Carlson and Kent have portrayed the conflict as incompatible with the anti-interventionist promises they say were fundamental to Trump's appeal, turning a foreign-policy disagreement into a larger fight over ownership of the America First label.
Carlson has separately discussed establishing a third political party, though no formal organization has been announced. Speculation about a possible 2028 presidential campaign has also followed him, and Greene argued in her latest response that Carlson is "beloved by many Americans" and particularly popular among young men.
