By: Fern Sidman – Jewish Voice News

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene launched an extraordinary public counteroffensive against President Trump on Tuesday, deepening one of the most dramatic ruptures yet within the MAGA movement and drawing renewed attention to her long-criticized pattern of anti-Israel and anti-Jewish rhetoric — a pattern that ABC News noted in a report on Tuesday that stands in stark contrast to the overtly pro-Israel posture championed by Trump and central to the America First agenda since 2016.

Speaking at a press conference outside the U.S. Capitol, Greene appeared alongside several women who survived or were victimized by the late Jeffrey Epstein, in a tense tableau that the ABC News report described as both politically fraught and symbolically explosive. The Georgia Republican, who for years fashioned herself as one of Trump’s most unwavering loyalists, framed herself on Tuesday as a martyr punished merely for supporting transparency into the sprawling Epstein scandal.

Yet the unfolding feud has taken on deeper ideological contours, amplified not only by Greene’s combative posture toward Trump, but also by her history of incendiary attacks that targeted Jews, Jewish philanthropists, and the State of Israel — attacks that the ABC News report emphasized have often placed her at odds with the mainstream MAGA coalition Trump constructed. These tensions, simmering for years, surfaced sharply as Greene reacted to Trump’s weekend statement branding her “Marjorie ‘Traitor’ Greene.”

“I was called a traitor by a man that I fought for five, no, actually, six years for, and I gave him my loyalty for free,” Greene declared, invoking the years she spent positioning herself as a vanguard figure of Trump-aligned conservatism. She reminded reporters that she won her 2020 Republican primary “without his endorsement,” adding, “I’ve never owed him anything, but I fought for him, for the policies and for America First, and he called me a traitor for standing with these women.”

ABC News reported that Greene then escalated her rhetoric even further, insinuating that the former president himself had behaved like a “traitor.” The remark reverberated across Washington, with many Republicans suggesting it marked the moment Greene effectively severed her own ties with Trump’s leadership of the movement she once championed.

“Let me tell you what a traitor is,” Greene continued. “A traitor is an American that serves foreign countries and themselves. A patriot is an American that serves the United States of America and Americans like the women standing behind me now.”

Those comments, the ABC News report noted, immediately revived memories of earlier controversies in which Greene had invoked conspiratorial tropes about global elites and cast suspicion on Jewish individuals and institutions. Her notorious “Jewish space laser” remarks, and her mocking depictions of Israel’s security concerns have been widely condemned by prominent Jewish Republicans. Many within the MAGA movement have regarded Trump’s strong pro-Israel platform as foundational; Greene’s rhetoric, by contrast, has often strayed into antagonism toward Jewish interests, generating deep skepticism among Trump-aligned Jewish conservatives.

The immediate catalyst for the break came through Tuesday’s House vote on a bill to compel the Department of Justice to release all files related to Jeffrey Epstein. For months, Trump opposed the measure — a fact ABC News highlighted as increasingly untenable — before abruptly reversing course once it became clear the resolution would pass overwhelmingly.

Greene accused Trump of hypocrisy in resisting the bill earlier this year and suggested she was being punished for refusing to withdraw her name from the discharge petition that forced the vote onto the House floor. Her stance had earned praise from both Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna and Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, who stood with her on Tuesday.

“When Ro and I started this effort, most discharge petitions never make it — maybe only 4% — so we had long odds,” Massie said, according to the ABC News report. “But we had some brave women on the Republican side. My colleague, Marjorie Taylor Greene, is one of them.”

Several victims at the press conference commended Greene. Survivor Haley Robson went so far as to say she would “hold her hand” if Greene ever chose to read out Epstein-connected names from the House floor.

Yet the symbolic weight of the moment — Greene casting herself as a truth-seeker facing political punishment — obscured a larger, more uncomfortable reality: her position in the GOP has grown increasingly precarious amid mounting criticism over her anti-Israel outbursts, which ABC News reiterated have alienated many conservatives who remain deeply loyal to Trump’s pro-Israel agenda.

Trump’s imprint on Republican foreign policy, particularly regarding Israel, has been unmistakable. He moved the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, promoted the Abraham Accords, and has consistently condemned antisemitism both domestically and internationally. Greene, by contrast, has trafficked in language that Jewish groups and civil rights organizations have long labeled as antisemitic, including rhetoric demonizing “globalist” Jewish donors, spreading conspiracies about Israel’s role in Middle Eastern conflicts, and echoing online voices hostile to Jewish communities.

The ABC News report contextualized Tuesday’s clash as the eruption of a broader ideological dissonance: a purported America First lawmaker whose language often emboldened the fringes of the far right, standing against a MAGA movement whose central figure built diplomatic achievements celebrated by many American Jews and by Israel’s government itself.

ABC News reported that Greene’s feud with Trump reflects a deeper unraveling of the alliance she once relied upon for political capital. Some Republicans described Tuesday’s events as a formal divorce between Trump and one of his loudest former defenders.

Asked by ABC News Senior Political Correspondent Rachel Scott whether she takes Trump “at his word” regarding his stated willingness to sign the Epstein files bill, Greene replied coldly: “I only take people’s actions seriously, no longer words.”

She then invoked her own seniority within Trump’s early political coalition.

“I wasn’t a Johnny-come-lately to the MAGA train. I was Day 1, 2015,” she said. “And there’s a big difference in those Americans and those that decided to support President Trump later on.”

Her statement, ABC News noted, underscored how Greene continues to cast herself as an original architect of the movement — even as she increasingly uses that identity to challenge the very leader who built it.

But Greene’s version of MAGA, the ABC News report emphasized, has frequently diverged from Trump’s own priorities, especially on issues related to Israel and Jewish Americans. Where Trump pushed policies embraced by Israel’s national leadership, Greene has used social media to flirt with rhetoric that demonizes Jewish organizations and has even appeared at events featuring speakers aligned with extremist positions on Israel.

Several longtime pro-Israel Republicans told ABC News that Greene’s pattern of inflammatory statements has made her “a political liability,” especially at a moment when antisemitism has surged nationwide and GOP leaders have attempted to distance themselves from far-right voices that target Jewish communities.

Greene claimed the battle over the Epstein files “has ripped MAGA apart,” but the ABC News report noted that the fracture predated this week. Her alignment with online influencers who routinely target Jewish Americans, her attacks on Jewish conservatives who oppose her, and her embrace of cultural narratives that cast Israel as an enemy of America First priorities have created a growing rift between Greene and the institutional MAGA movement.

Even before Tuesday’s confrontation, senior Republican figures had voiced concern that Greene’s rhetoric undermined the coalition Trump built — particularly its strong alliance with American Jews and Israeli leadership. The ABC News report observed that Greene’s remarks over the years have been condemned by Jewish Republicans, Israeli officials, and major Jewish advocacy organizations.

Trump’s disavowal of Greene over the weekend therefore represented something larger than personal frustration; it signaled a clear attempt to draw a boundary between the movement’s pro-Israel identity and Greene’s increasingly volatile messaging.

As the House overwhelming passed the Epstein files resolution on Tuesday, Greene basked in praise from survivors and co-sponsors — even as the political ground beneath her shifted dramatically. Trump remains the dominant force in Republican politics, and his decision to renounce her suggests he is no longer willing to tolerate behavior he views as damaging to the movement’s moral or political credibility.

Greene, for her part, signaled she has no intention of retreating.

“Watching this actually turn into a fight has ripped MAGA apart,” she repeated, placing herself firmly at the center of the conflict.

But the ABC News report emphasized that the division now appears far more personal than ideological. Trump continues to command overwhelming support within the party and remains aligned with pro-Israel policies many Republicans regard as essential to the America First doctrine. Greene, by contrast, stands increasingly isolated — championing a version of populism that frequently clashes with the movement’s foundational commitments, especially on Israel.

Whether Greene’s fight marks a temporary eruption or the beginning of a permanent schism within the MAGA universe remains unclear, ABC News reported. Yet Tuesday’s events drew attention to a broader political truth: the once-unbreakable alliance between Trump and Greene has been shattered, revealing deep tensions about rhetoric, responsibility, and the future direction of the conservative movement.

And as the ABC News report noted, Greene’s longstanding anti-Israel and anti-Jewish outbursts — long a vulnerability — now sit at the center of the unfolding controversy, highlighting just how far she has drifted from a movement that once embraced her, but now appears to be moving on.