U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday rebuked Georgia Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, saying she has “lost her way” after a series of public criticisms of his administration and fellow Republicans.
Greene, once one of Trump’s staunchest defenders on Capitol Hill, has in recent weeks broken ranks with the White House, urging the president to prioritize domestic issues over foreign affairs.
In a social media post on Monday, she questioned Trump’s decision to meet with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, whom she described as “a former Al Qaeda terrorist,” and said she wanted to see “nonstop meetings at the White House on domestic policy, not foreign policy and foreign country’s leaders.”
Asked about her remarks during an Oval Office press briefing, Trump appeared visibly irritated. “I don’t know what happened to Marjorie,” he said. “Nice woman, but I don’t know what happened. She’s lost her way, I think.”
Defending his engagement with foreign leaders, Trump said the presidency required a global perspective. “I have to view the presidency as a worldwide situation, not locally,” he told reporters. “We could have a world that’s on fire, where wars come to our shores very easily.”
The president acknowledged al-Sharaa’s “rough past,” noting that he was a former al-Qaeda commander previously sanctioned by Washington, but said dialogue was necessary for stability.
Greene’s criticism has stood out in a Republican Party largely united behind Trump.
Once a high-profile ally who fiercely defended him through multiple controversies, she has recently struck a more independent tone, calling the war in Gaza a “genocide,” praising former Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for an “incredible career,” and publicly lamenting that the GOP-controlled House was not in session during the ongoing government shutdown.
She has also faulted Trump’s rollout of tariffs as “bumpy,” questioned his claims that inflation is under control, and urged Republicans to present a clear plan to reduce healthcare costs.
Greene has further pressed the administration to release any records related to the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, a move Trump has dismissed as a “hoax” fueled by Democrats.
“I’m not some sort of blind slave to the president, and I don’t think anyone should be,” Greene told NBC News last month.
Trump’s remarks mark a rare public rift with one of his most vocal allies and underscore growing ideological tensions within the Republican Party as it grapples with how to balance Trump’s assertive foreign policy agenda with voter concerns over the domestic economy.
Source: Reuters
Written By Rodney Mbua
