Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene made clear she is at odds with the president and other Republicans who support an aggressive posture against Iran, acknowledging that there’s a “very big divide” in the party over the issue and that her position opposing foreign wars is becoming “more popular” among the base.
“I got elected on the exact same campaign promises that President Trump got elected on. We promised no more foreign wars, no more regime change,” Greene told CNN on Monday.
Earlier in the day, she wrote in a lengthy post on X that Trump’s decision to authorize US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites over the weekend “feels like a complete bait and switch” on the MAGA agenda.
The US strikes in Iran further inflamed a growing divide within Trump’s party, between those cheering on intervention in the conflict, like Sen. Lindsey Graham, and those warning against engaging in forever wars, like Greene and Rep. Thomas Massie, as well as influential conservative voices like Steve Bannon and Charlie Kirk.
Asked if Trump risks alienating his MAGA base, Greene acknowledged a “very big divide” among Republican voters, noting younger generations are more “skeptical.”
“We’ve been lied to too many times, and I think it’s right to be skeptical,” she said.
Greene, who has consistently opposed funding Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression, said she thinks her position opposing US involvement in foreign conflicts is becoming “more popular” among Republicans.
“If this war were to continue, and we were to see, sadly, see American troops coming home with on flag-draped coffins, I think you would see Americans totally saying the same thing I’m saying, I hope that never happens again,” she said, adding, “I think President Trump has us on a path to peace.”
She said she hopes the sharp divide in the GOP over involvement in Iran won’t hurt the party in next year’s midterm elections, but she emphasized that “Republicans need to earn Americans’ votes.”
“I don’t think we’re earning our votes in the midterm, and that’s on Congress,” she said, urging her colleagues to pass Trump’s massive domestic policy bill that is the subject of tense negotiations between Republican factions.
Greene said she had not yet been briefed on the situation in Iran and the threat posed by its nuclear program, but brought up the start of the Iraq War, which engendered distrust in many Americans after the revelation that Iraq did not have the weapons of mass destruction that the US had used to justify it.
“We have people suffering today with terrible PTSD and lifelong injuries from these wars that we should have never gotten involved in,” she said, emphasizing her belief that entering into foreign conflicts is not at the top of most Americans’ minds.
“When most Americans are walking around, they’re not thinking about Iran,” she said, later adding, “They’re very much focused on their American life and their American problems and that’s exactly what they should be focused on.”
Following an Iranian missile strike on a US airbase in Qatar on Monday, Greene said, “We saw President Trump’s measured response,” pointing to the president’s online messages urging peace in the region, which she said was “exactly the same messaging that we elected him for.”
She later brushed off the “no kings” protest movement staged in opposition to Trump earlier this month, “President Trump is not a king. MAGA is not a cult. And I’m entitled to my own opinion.”
“I can support the president at the same time as I say, I don’t think we should have foreign wars. And I can tell you right now, President Trump doesn’t want to stay in a foreign war,” she added.
Though Greene disagrees with Trump ordering strikes in Iran, she wouldn’t go so far as some of her colleagues on both sides of the aisle in saying Congress should have voted to authorize the move, noting that former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush also authorized attacks without congressional approval.
“The president, by law, can lead. He’s the commander in chief,” she said.
Greene acknowledged that Congress is constitutionally required to authorize military action if the conflict lasts more than 60 days, but she cast doubt on whether lawmakers could get that done now.
“Let’s be realistic, Congress isn’t very good at doing very many things,” she said, explaining, “We’re fighting over certain parts of the big, beautiful bill and trying to get an appropriations budget passed. So I don’t know what a vote would look like here in Congress.”
Asked if she had talked to Trump about Iran since he authorized the strikes, Greene answered, “He’s been pretty busy.”
CNN’s Lauren Fox contributed to this report.
For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
