NBC News reports:

When the White House discouraged Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene from launching a Senate bid in Georgia this spring, Greene — a longtime loyal ally of President Donald Trump — agreed to back off her statewide ambitions.

But that didn’t mean the firebrand Republican was going to back down from other fights she felt were worth waging — including, or perhaps especially, with her own party.

Over the past six months, Greene has made waves in Washington for publicly breaking with Trump and the GOP on a number of high-profile issues and lobbing some pointed attacks at her fellow Republicans in the process. She was critical of the Trump administration’s strikes on Iran, referred to the situation in Gaza as a “genocide,” signed her name to an effort to force a House vote to require the Justice Department to release its files related to the Jeffrey Epstein case and, most recently, sided with Democrats in calling for an extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies amid the government shutdown fight.

“I’m not some sort of blind slave to the president, and I don’t think anyone should be,” Greene said in an interview. “I serve in Congress. We’re a separate branch of the government, and I’m not elected by the president. I’m not elected by anyone that works in the White House. I’m elected by my district. That’s who I work for, and I got elected without the president’s endorsement, and, you know, I think that has served me really well.”

Greene won her first House primary in Georgia in 2020 without Trump’s endorsement before she received his support in the general election in her deep-red district.

“So I get to be independent as a Republican,” she added, “and I think what helps [Trump] the most is when he has people that are willing to be honest with him and not just tell him what they think he wants to hear.”

Greene denies that her statewide ambitions’ being dashed has anything to do with her recent independent streak, saying that has always been her brand. She also slammed the Republican-led Senate, insisting she was never all that interested in serving there anyway, even though she had publicly talked about her desire to run.

“I don’t want to serve in that institution. Look at them. They’re literally the reason why the government is shut down right now,” Greene said. “I think all good things go to die in the Senate, and I certainly don’t want to go there. But I think those are just attacks to try to marginalize me or try to sweep me off, so to speak. And I really don’t care.”

While Greene has been a solo operator in the past, her recent behavior has surprised even some people who are close to her. She tried on the role of “team player” for a while, especially when former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., was in charge. But she has grown increasingly disillusioned with politics and her own party, and she felt especially burned after the White House talked her out of running for the Senate, according to four Republican sources familiar with the matter.

One of those sources, who is close to Greene — who openly expressed interest in becoming homeland security secretary — said she was also disappointed she didn’t get a job in the Trump administration. Another one of the sources, who is also close to Greene and spoke to her recently, added that she has felt “ignored” by GOP leadership and the White House.

If Greene’s intentions were to get Trump’s attention, it appears to have worked. In recent months, he called at least two senior Republicans to ask, “What’s going on with Marjorie?” according to two GOP sources with direct knowledge of the conversations.

Greene, who is arguably more in tune with the MAGA base than any other member of Congress, says she still supports Trump and maintains close ties with him. But her relationship with his staff is a different story.

The White House has unsuccessfully tried to pressure Greene to remove her name from the Epstein discharge petition. Greene was particularly incensed when she read an anonymous White House official told reporters that supporting the petition would be seen as a “hostile act.” She then went on Real America’s Voice and called that official a “coward.” [Continue reading…]