Nov.17

electoral-vote.com

Dem 47

   

GOP 53

Is MTG Running for Vice President?

Probably the second biggest news story now (after Epsteingate) is about Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA). She has had a falling out with Donald Trump and it is getting messier by the day. Greene has long been a staunch ally of Trump's but something has changed now and the two are taking potshots at each other.

Greene has accused Trump of drifting away from his "America First" agenda that supports "the forgotten man and woman of America." She claims she represents them and Trump no longer does. She has at least five issues where they are far apart:

• Epstein: Greene was one of three female House Republicans who signed the discharge petition. She recently wrote: "I never thought that fighting to release the Epstein files, defending women who were victims of rape, and fighting to expose the web of rich powerful elites would have caused this, but here we are. And it truly speaks for itself." She has never talked about her own history, but the other two Republican women signers have. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) was impregnated at 16 and Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) was the victim of sexual assault. Greene appears to really mean it and Trump really, really does not want the Epstein files out there. This conflict cannot easily be resolved. At one point Greene said: "Releasing the Epstein files is the easiest thing in the world. Just release it all, let the American people sort through every bit of it, and, you know, support the victims."
  
  
• Health Insurance: On health insurance, Greene is against Trump and against the Republicans. She does not want health care insurance to get more expensive. She is disgusted by the possibility that premiums might double for some people this year. She is open to the Republicans offering a better plan than "Obamacare," but so far there is no plan. Consequently, she wants the subsidies to continue. This puts her on the same side as the Democrats. Trump despises this.
  
  
• Affordability: Greene has also attacked Trump for promising to lower prices on day 1 of his presidency and then taking no steps to actually do so. She has predicted a disaster for Republicans in 2026 if they do not decrease the cost of living. When Trump responded to this, he didn't talk about any steps he is taking to decrease prices. Instead he said: "I don't know what happened to Marjorie. Nice woman, but she's lost her way." She came back with: "He shouldn't be trying to stop the release of the Epstein files, when so many of his most ardent followers are struggling to pay the bills."
  
  
• H-1B Visas: Trump has said the U.S. needs more immigrants, specifically talented ones in ICT (Information and Communication Technology), medicine, and other specialized areas. This just happens to align well with the wishes of Big Tech and some other sectors, where foreign workers sometimes undercut salaries of Americans. Greene's position is "no more immigrants" competing with Americans for jobs, not even at the upper end. She wants to phase out the H-1B program altogether, along with other programs for admitting foreign workers. Actually, Trump doesn't really have a special place in his heart for high-end immigrant workers. His company requested temporary visas for a record-breaking 184 foreign workers last year. We doubt that they all had master's degrees from one of the top IITs (Indian Institutes of Technology).
  
  
• Foreign Affairs: Trump promised to end all forever wars. Still, he keeps helping Ukraine and seems to be starting a war with Venezuela. She wants to cut off funding to Ukraine and also to Israel.

In short, they have plenty of actual issues where they are miles apart. Has Trump tried to say she is wrong on all these issues? Of course not. Instead, he sent out a long post on his boutique social media site withdrawing his endorsement of "Wacky Marjorie" and calling her a "ranting lunatic." She responded with a tweet of her own, saying among other things: "It's astonishing really how hard he's fighting to stop the Epstein files from coming out that he actually goes to this level." She could be on to something.

Since he can't beat Greene on the issues, Trump is going nuclear and reverting to being a fifth-grade schoolyard bully, posting this about her: "Lightweight Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Brown (Green grass turns Brown when it begins to ROT!), betrayed the entire Republican Party when she turned Left, performed poorly on the pathetic View, and became the RINO that we all know she always was." He also called her "Marjorie Traitor Green." Surely he will soon combine his brilliant thoughts and call her Marjorie Traitor Brown. Why not go whole hog and use Marginal Traitor Brown?

Greene is not taking this lying down. She went on CNN yesterday to make a plea for Americans to come together to solve our problems—which is rich coming from her. Here is her interview with Dana Bash. In it, she seems perfectly normal and rational. She even toned it down a bit and said she supports Trump and his administration. She is also afraid that someone even crazier than she is might come after her and put her life in danger.

Greene is not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but she is a clever politician. She knows that opposing Trump on so many points was sure to draw his wrath. She is very good at manipulating him. But why? We don't know, of course, but maybe she dreams of being on the GOP ticket in 2028. She probably realizes that if even Democrats have trouble voting for a woman as president (see Clinton, Hillary and Harris, Kamala), Republicans are certainly not going to. But her being #2 is probably acceptable to Republicans, so a Vance/Greene or Rubio/Greene ticket might fly. Carlson/Greene would be heaven.

But one of the unwritten rules in politics is that you can't run for vice president. You run for president, do well, and then get picked by the winner. Suppose in 2028, the MAGAts think Trump has lost his way and they want someone to get the movement back on course. She could run for president and possibly get enough votes to impress Republicans with her MAGA beliefs. To make a serious run, she needs to stay in the news and have her name on everyone's tongue. Opposing Trump for not being MAGA enough might just keep her in the news every day. It makes some sense. (V)