Marjorie Taylor Greene Claims She Was 'So Naive' To Believe In Donald Trump

Marjorie Taylor Greene says the moment she heard Donald Trump declare 'I hate my opponent, and I don't want the best for them' at Charlie Kirk's memorial, something inside her finally snapped.

For years she had been one of his loudest cheerleaders in Congress, a MAGA firebrand who tied her political identity to his. Now, days before she walks away from Washington altogether, the Georgia Republican admits she feels 'so naive' for ever believing he was truly a man of the people.​​

Marjorie Taylor Greene Says She 'Was Just So Naive' About Trump

Speaking to the New York Times for a lengthy profile on the implosion of their relationship, Greene, 51, looked back on how quickly her faith in Trump crumbled after Kirk's assassination. Watching the memorial service on television, she was moved by Charlie's widow, Erika Kirk, 37, as she stood before thousands and said she forgave her husband's alleged killer. Then Trump took the stage.​

'He [Charlie] did not hate his opponents. He wanted the best for them,' Trump told the Arizona crowd, before drawing a stark contrast with himself. 'That's where I disagreed with Charlie. I hate my opponent, and I don't want the best for them. I'm sorry.'​​

Greene said that line was the breaking point. 'That was absolutely the worst statement. It just shows where his heart is,' she texted a reporter, adding: 'And that's the difference, with [Erika] having a sincere Christian faith, and proves that he does not have any faith.'​

In the interview, she confessed: 'I was just so naive and outside of politics. It was easy for me to naively believe [in him].' Seeing Trump mock, in effect, the very Christian message of forgiveness Erika had embodied forced her to confront how far his instincts were from the faith she claimed to share.​

Marjorie Taylor Greene Says MAGA Taught Her 'Never Apologize'

Greene went further, saying the memorial exposed the 'toxic culture' she had helped fuel. As a loyal MAGA foot soldier, she said, the unwritten rule was simple: 'to never apologise and to never admit when you're wrong. You just keep pummelling your enemies, no matter what.'​

'As a Christian, I don't believe in doing that,' she told the Times. 'I agree with Erika Kirk, who did the hardest thing possible and said it out loud.' She recalled telling a friend after Kirk's death: 'I realised that I'm part of this toxic culture. I really started looking at my faith. I wanted to be more like Christ.'​

Her comments underline how deeply the Kirk killing has shaken the MAGA world. For some, it has become a rallying cry for even harsher rhetoric and promised 'retribution' against political enemies. For Greene, it was the opposite: a wake-up call that the movement's obsession with never backing down had crossed a moral line.​

Marjorie Taylor Greene's Exit Sparks Backlash from Trump Camp

Greene is now just days away from resigning her seat representing Georgia's 14th District, with her last day in Congress set for 5 January 2026. In a 10‑minute video and statement on X in November, she said she had 'too much self respect and dignity' to stay, and did not want her 'sweet district' dragged through what she called a 'hurtful and hateful' primary fight stoked by the very president she once fought for.​

The Trump White House has hit back hard. Spokesperson Davis Ingle insisted: 'President Trump remains the undisputed leader of the greatest and fastest growing political movement in American history – the MAGA movement.

' By contrast, he accused Greene of 'quitting on her constituents in the middle of her term and abandoning the consequential fight we're in – we don't have time for her petty bitterness.'​

Greene, however, appears at peace with her decision, even as she becomes an unlikely critic of the man she once idolised. For her, Trump's hate‑filled riff at Charlie Kirk's memorial did more than offend – it convinced her that the leader of MAGA was never guided by the faith and grace she saw in Erika Kirk, and that staying on his side meant betraying her own.