How MTG became MAGA's moral compass on Gaza

This week, Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor-Greene became the first in her party to call the Gaza crisis a “genocide.”

“It’s the most truthful and easiest thing to say that Oct. 7 in Israel was horrific and all hostages must be returned, but so is the genocide, humanitarian crisis, and starvation happening in Gaza,” the Georgia Congresswoman said on X Monday evening.

That language is newsworthy. Her stance, even more so.

As the bloodshed and chaos continues in Gaza — as does U.S. aid to Israel — the Republican Party has been primarily split into two camps. The first represents the majority of GOP lawmakers who contend that Israel’s government and military maintain the right to retaliate, virtually unconditionally, after the October 7, 2023, terrorist attack by Hamas. It also supports continued and unfettered U.S. diplomatic support and military aid for that effort.

The other camp, much smaller in number in Congress but I believe is becoming more influential online and outside Washington, particularly among conservatives under 30, also condemns the Hamas attack in which 1,195 people were killed in Israel, including 736 Israeli civilians and 79 foreign nationals. But it also questions whether Israel’s government has gone too far, creating a humanitarian crisis that looks more like collective punishment of the entire Gaza population.

Voices in this camp reacted fiercely to the bombing of Gaza’s only Catholic church on July 17, killing three and wounding several others, including the priest. They also question if the U.S. should continue to fund Israeli’s war which has already caused more than 60,000 deaths, mostly civilians, including more than 18,000 children, and has destroyed or damaged 70% of civilian structures including homes, hospitals, schools and shelters.

Rep. Greene or “MTG,” has served as the tip of the spear in defining MAGA. Brash and controversial, she has been the embodiment of President Donald Trump’s movement on Capitol Hill and has had the president’s back at almost every turn.

Except, seemingly, where she perceives Trump might stray from MAGA principles. In June, Greene initially supported but then turned against the heavily Trump-promoted “Big Beautiful” spending bill. Earlier this month, she also opposed the president’s decision to continue sending aid and weapons to Ukraine.

She’s now come out swinging against Israel’s war in Gaza and U.S. support for it.

“I can unequivocally say that what happened to innocent people in Israel on Oct 7th was horrific,” Greene posted on X on July 27. "Just as I can unequivocally say that what has been happening to innocent people and children in Gaza is horrific.”

“This war and humanitarian crisis must end!” she added.

When Greene introduced an amendment to stop U.S. weapons aid to Israel, she criticized Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez or “AOC” for voting against it.

"AOC, the darling of the progressive left, the one that claims to be against all the wars and wants to lead...did not vote for my amendment. She would not do it and she got called out hard.” (Progressive Democratic Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib did vote with Greene in support of this legislation, as did her colleague Rep. Ilhan Omar). Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, the only other Republican on the Hill who has been as vocal a critic of Israel in Gaza as Greene, also voted with her. He was the only Republican to do so.

Harshly criticizing AOC, whether the Congresswoman is essentially right or wrong, is a typical thing for MAGA to do. But what Greene did next was even more interesting.

Florida Republican Rep. Randy Fine may be the most extreme version of that camp of Republicans who believe Israel can do no wrong. He actually encouraged Palestinian children to "starve away" in an X post.

On Monday, Greene took to X to express how she felt about Fine (it was the same post in which she called out "genocide"). “I can only imagine how Florida’s 6th district feels now that their Representative, that they were told to vote for, openly calls for starving innocent people and children."

On Thursday, MTG, who is an evangelical Christian, continued her appeal to American Christians in particular:

Yesterday I spoke to a Christian pastor from Gaza. There are children starving.

And Christians have been killed and injured, as well as many innocent people.

If you are an American Christian, this should be absolutely unacceptable to you.

Just as we said that Hamas killing and kidnapping innocent people on Oct 7th is absolutely unacceptable.

Are innocent Israeli lives more valuable than innocent Palestinian and Christian lives? And why should America continue funding this?

The secular government of nuclear armed Israel has proven that they are beyond capable of dealing with their enemies and are capable of and are in the process of systematically cleansing them from the land.

Most Americans that I know don’t hate Israel and we are not antisemitic at all.

We are beyond fed up with being told that we have to fix the world’s problems, pay for the world’s problems, and fight all the world’s wars while Americans are struggling to survive even though they work everyday.

This line in the sand on Gaza that Greene continues to draw is important in terms of not only what MAGA and the Trump coalition are, but what they become. The president as of late has seemed to favor the foreign policy preferences of extreme pro-Israel hawks, like South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham and talk host Mark Levin, over those of Tucker Carlson or Steve Bannon, both of whom have become highly critical of Israel.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says there is no starvation in Gaza. Greene says otherwise. Late Tuesday, Trump agreed, telling reporters that anyone could tell that there was “real starvation” in Gaza “unless they're pretty cold-hearted or, worse than that, nuts,” and promised aid on that front.

You can feel any way you like about Greene, who Trump once called (if negatively) the “Queen of MAGA.” But her full-throated posts about the carnage in Gaza and her being the first to call what is happening “a genocide," may be a significant watershed moment, allowing the MAGA faithful to see what is happening in a new light, and maybe, just maybe, Donald Trump might, too.