Marjorie Taylor Greene's standing within the pro-Trump MAGA movement appears to have taken a tumble, with the Georgia Republican having been expelled from the right-wing House Freedom Caucus and scoring poorly in a recent straw poll on who should be the GOP's vice presidential candidate in 2024.
Greene has been one of the most outspoken House Republicans in support of Donald Trump, but she broke with other Congress members who share this position by vocally supporting Kevin McCarthy's bid to become speaker in January, as well as the debt ceiling deal he negotiated with President Biden in May.
After backing McCarthy's deal the influential Freedom Caucus voted to expel Greene, while Trump White House strategist Steve Bannon called for her to face a primary challenge on his War Room podcast.
The expulsion took place after Greene was involved in a verbal confrontation on the House floor with Colorado's Lauren Boebert, a prominent Freedom Caucus member and former ally, who she reportedly called a "little b****" in a row over rival bids to impeach Joe Biden.
Newsweek reached out to Greene by telephone for comment.
Over the weekend, polling company The Trafalgar Group surveyed attendees at a conference organized by right-wing campaign group Turning Point Action at the Palm Beach County Convention Center, in Florida. Turning Point Action was founded in 2019 by Charlie Kirk, a passionate Trump supporter, as a spinoff from his Turning Point USA youth group.
The survey found overwhelming support for Trump to be the Republican Party's 2024 presidential nominee, with 85.7 percent of respondents picking him as their first choice, versus 7.8 percent for second-placed businessman Perry Johnson and just 4.3 percent for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
In the race to be the GOP's vice presidential nominee, Greene was far back at just three percent, well behind the pack leader Kari Lake, at 30.8 percent. Also ahead of Greene were Florida Representative Byron Donalds, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem and DeSantis.
Newsweek reached out to The Trafalgar Group via email asking for additional information on the straw poll's methodology, particularly the number surveyed, which didn't appear to be immediately available.
Thomas Gift, who runs the Centre on U.S. Politics at University College London, says that Greene has been outflanked by others on the Republican right.
"I'm not sure it's so much that Greene has alienated the Trump base as it is that others are more the apple of their eyes," Gift told Newsweek. "You know the Trump base is feeling emboldened when even a far-right flamethrower like Greene isn't sufficiently Trumpian.
"Since the 2020 election, figures like Kari Lake have arguably been even more aggressive in peddling the 'Big Lie' and brandishing the Trump flag, without even a hint of cozying up to 'establishment' types like Kevin McCarthy. That's what earns street credit in the MAGAverse," he said.
As recently as January, Bannon suggested Greene, who had appeared on his podcast, could be the GOP's vice presidential candidate.
"This is no shrinking violet. She's ambitious, she's not shy about that, nor should she be. She sees herself on the shortlist for Trump's VP," he said. "Paraphrasing Cokie Roberts, when MTG looks in the mirror she sees a potential president smiling back."
