The Sundarban
When Bill Newton gathers with his mates at Doug’s Diner in downtown Rome, Georgia, it is a politically diverse crew: Two staunch Democrats, of which he is one; two common Republicans; and one prosperous Republican who backs Rating. Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Amid the breakfast bustle, the community talks politics and native gossip. It is the style of social gathering which might maybe seem elusive in a polarized, scorched-earth expertise, one which Ms. Greene, a MAGA firebrand first elected to Congress in 2020, has come to personify. Here in this Atlanta exurb, house to center-class dreams and working-class struggles, is Ms. Greene’s world, studded with modest housing developments, strip division shops, and roadside gyms – all wedged into the Appalachian foothills.
In Ms. Greene’s ruby-red district, strengthen for President Donald Trump runs deep, which is why their extremely publicized spat is the talk of this diner counter. In fresh weeks, she has broken with Mr. Trump on Israel protection, health-care premiums, inflation, and, most particularly, the release of the Justice Division’s recordsdata on convicted intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein. She was once one of four GOP lawmakers who sided with Democrats over the Epstein topic, finally forcing Mr. Trump to reverse course and signal a invoice on Wednesday to release the recordsdata.
Why We Wrote This
The public falling-out between U.S. Rating. Marjorie Taylor Greene and President Donald Trump has introduced splits in the MAGA movement into the originate. In Ms. Greene’s solidly Republican district, voters are weighing their populist allegiances.
In return, Mr. Trump has ridiculed Ms. Greene, who had been amongst his most ardent and outspoken supporters, and labeled her a traitor. None of which has cowed her. “I’ve never owed him the rest,” she stated at a press convention on Tuesday, held with some of Mr. Epstein’s victims. She stated she fought for President Trump and “for The USA first,” and then he known as her a traitor “for standing with these females.”
“Let me repeat you what a traitor is. A traitor is an American that serves international countries and themselves. A patriot is an American that serves the United States of The USA, and People admire the females standing in the assist of me,” she stated.
Her refusal to assist down has fueled talk of a split within the MAGA coalition and of a that you just’re going to be ready to contain dilution of Mr. Trump’s approach-absolute sway over the Republican inferior. It has additionally raised questions about Ms. Greene’s political future and whether she’s going to common her caustic political style, and, if this is the case, to what pause. On Sunday, she told CNN’s “Lisp of the Union” that she regretted participating in “toxic politics,” asserting that the assassination of accurate-hover activist Charlie Kirk had resulted in her to copy on her combative rhetoric.
Amongst Republicans going about their daily lives in Ms. Greene’s district, there is respect for her protection positions and a stage of frustration with the president they voted for. Many solid their votes in hopes of better economic times.
Patrik Jonsson/The Christian Science Video display
Greg Ledbetter says he supports Rating. Marjorie Taylor Greene and that she “looks out for the lower and middle classes, which is where I fit in,” in Rome, Georgia, Nov. 18, 2025.
Greg Ledbetter works for a firm in Rome that makes styrofoam bait coolers. He reckons The USA “has her jump assist” below Mr. Trump and that inflation is below shield an eye on. However he’s additionally a fan of Ms. Greene, who he says “looks out for the decrease and center classes, which is where I slot in.” He needs to repeat all the facts about Mr. Epstein and thinks that Mr. Trump is too targeted on international protection and now not on “The USA First.”
“In lots of ways, Trump is now not doing the whole thing he’ll be doing for the folks, and I suspect she is, or is making an try,” he says.
Most Trump supporters in northeastern Georgia don’t pay shut attention to Washington politics, says David Pennington, the mature mayor of Dalton, a carpet-making city north of Rome. However they surely in actuality feel the pinch of a slowing economy and “mindboggling” rises in health-care premiums. Whereas he’s now not been a supporter of Ms. Greene, Mr. Pennington says he is chuffed to survey GOP lawmakers admire Ms. Greene buck Mr. Trump and refocus on the economy.
Nonetheless it’s onerous to be a Trump critic inner the occasion, he warns. “It’s a balancing act. A lot of her voters are Trump voters, and they strengthen him regardless of what he does.”
“She’s a central personality of our age”
By calling Ms. Greene a traitor, Mr. Trump is turning a protection disagreement into a deepest feud that is onerous to sq. with her myth, says Amy Steigerwalt, a political science professor at Georgia Lisp University. Her criticisms over health-care and grocery costs are “channeling the interests of her constituents,” whereas the release of the Epstein recordsdata was once a campaign promise to the MAGA inferior. “It seems so farcical to exclaim this one who has been one of these bastion of strengthen can’t hiss a differing glimpse on a pair of things,” she says.
Mr. Trump has vowed to strengthen a foremost challenger to Ms. Greene, who was once unopposed in her final foremost and obtained reelection by nearly 30 aspects.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP/File
Rating. Marjorie Taylor Greene greets President Donald Trump as he arrives in the Dwelling chamber to address a be half of session of Congress, March 4, 2025.
“There are lots of of us in town who stand in the assist of Trump who are questioning her,” says Ansley, a actual property agent who didn’t relish to offer her final name for dread of alienating attainable purchasers. A Democrat, Ansley hasn’t voted for Ms. Greene, however that can change. “I constantly realizing she was once too radical, however it completely seems admire she’s had an epiphany. It seems she’s looking out to manufacture the accurate thing.”
Again at the diner,
