Marjorie Taylor Greene Finds Herself Increasingly Isolated Within Congress

Marjorie Taylor Greene has come under fire from a number of her Republican colleagues in Congress after she called for Speaker Mike Johnson to resign in response to the House passing a $95 billion foreign aid package.

In an interview with CNN, GOP Senator Thom Tillis called Greene "a total waste of time" and a "horrible leader." One political scientist told Newsweek however that Greene "represents today's brand of the Republican Party" better than many moderates.

On Tuesday, the Senate passed the foreign aid bill after it was approved by the House on Saturday in four separate votes, and it is expected to be signed into law by President Biden on Wednesday.

Greene alleged on X (formerly Twitter) that Johnson had "betrayed Republicans by handing the gavel to Joe Biden" and called for him to resign. She had already filed a motion to vacate though didn't push for it to be taken up immediately.

Newsweek contacted Representative Greene for comment at 8 a.m. ET on Wednesday. This article will be updated if she decides to comment.

Speaking to CNN reporter Lauren Fox on Tuesday, Senator Tillis hit out at Greene, commenting: "I think she is uninformed, she is a total waste of time, and I'm embarrassed to have actually lived geographically in her district at one time before she was there.

"She is a horrible leader. She is dragging our brand down. She, not the Democrats, are the biggest risk to us getting back to a majority," he said.

Addressing reporters outside Congress, Utah Senator Mitt Romney said: "There are some folks that try to get themselves as many tweets, as many followers, as they can. A lot of sound and fury signifying nothing."

His fellow Republican Senator Kevin Cramer said that if Johnson "is not good enough, no one's going to be good enough," according to The Daily Beast.

Greene was also attacked by The New York Post, once dubbed Donald Trump's "favorite newspaper," which posted a doctored photograph of her wearing a Soviet-style hat and the headline "Nyet, Moscow Marjorie" on its front page.

On Friday, in an interview with CNN before the aid bill passed in the House, former representative Ken Buck, a Republican from Colorado, hit out at Greene after being played a clip of a commentator on Russian state TV claiming she was "running Congress."

He replied: "Well, 'Moscow Marjorie' has reached a new low. She is just mouthing the Russian propaganda and really hurting American foreign policy in the process. She's acting completely irresponsibly. And, again, when history looks at this period of time, Russia invaded Ukraine, Ukraine is fighting for its freedom, and we should be with the freedom fighters in this war."

However, Thomas Gift, who heads the Centre on U.S. Politics at University College London, U.K., told Newsweek that Greene is closer to the Republican grassroots than many of her GOP critics in the Senate.

He said: "Marjorie Taylor Greene represents today's brand of the Republican Party more than moderates like Mitt Romney. Trump has remade the GOP in his image, but it's fringe politicians like MTG that carry water for him in Washington.

"She, along with the rest of the 'blow up the system' wing of the GOP, is not only closer to the median Newsmax-watching, MAGA-hat-wearing conservative in ruby red districts across the country, they also hold more political clout in a nearly evenly divided House, with the unchecked power to call a snap vote on the speakership. One vote on Ukraine doesn't change that."

On Sunday, The Daily Beast's Julia Davis shared a video on X of Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of the Russian state-controlled media outlet RT, describing Greene as a "beauty" on the TV channel Russia-1.