Video News Clips: In Their Own Words

Ex-CNN Analyst Floats Theory About Why MTG Quit Congress

[Screenshot/YouTube: Chris Cillizza]

NewsNation political contributor Chris Cillizza theorized on Friday that Republican Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene was resigning from Congress because she was “fed up” with how both political parties operate.

Greene announced Friday that she would officially step down on Jan. 5, 2026, following her political tension with President Donald Trump and her criticisms of Republicans for the government shutdown. Cillizza stated on his YouTube channel that Greene is likely going through a personal “reinvention” and is breaking away from the MAGA movement.

“So I do think it is possible that she’s kind of in the midst of a personal, I don’t know if conversion experience is the right word, but a personal, and I don’t know if crisis is the right word, but a reinvention of some sort,” Cillizza said. “And that she doesn’t want to, because if you do read her interview, she sounds like a totally different person in the last three months than she sounded like her entire time in Congress thus far. Not that she’s a liberal, but just very sick of sort of how the two parties operate … So maybe she’s just fed up and she wants to move on to a different stage of her life. I actually think that could be the reason here.” 

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Others have speculated that Greene is planning to run for Senate or enter the 2028 presidential race as an independent. Cillizza argued that Greene’s timing of her resignation announcement would not be the most effective if she were planning on reentering politics in the near future.

“I mean, if you were going to do something like that, you would think you would like go to the House floor while the House was in session, middle of the day, make this big announcement, this kind of big like I’m breaking from the two parties, neither of them serve our interests kind of announcement. So it’s a little odd to me that this is the timing that she’s chosen if she does want to run for president down the line,” Cillizza continued. 

Cillizza said that it appeared more likely that Greene has personally changed and is distancing herself from Trump.

Greene became publicly critical of Trump’s foreign policy, including his decision to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities and the missile strikes on narco ships. She attacked Republican leadership, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, during the government shutdown for not addressing the upcoming skyrocketing healthcare premium costs as the tax credits in the Affordable Care Act are set to expire in December.

The Georgia congresswoman refused to remove her name from a discharge petition which called to release the files surrounding sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s case. Trump labeled Greene a “traitor” during a Nov. 16 statement with reporters over her support to release the Epstein files.

In her resignation announcement, Greene outlined her frustration with both parties for their inability to make life better for the American people. She highlighted American jobs being shipped overseas, the skyrocketing debt and Americans’ taxpayer dollars going toward endless wars and foreign interests.