Surprise! MTG’s Performative ‘Rebranding’ Is A 2024 Political Calculation

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) has been on a mission lately to “rebrand” herself as a serious politician. The MAGA-aligned conspiracy theorist congresswoman has spent the last few weeks trying very hard to lean into what looks like a new public image where she is no longer the famously far-right member of Congress – who won her first bid in 2020 on the back of her QAnon beliefs – but instead the number one ally to Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and other moderate Republicans. 

Well, evidently, the change in her tactical approach to politicking is fueled by grander ambitions than just looking like the reasonable member of the Freedom Caucus.

Greene is angling to be Donald Trump’s running mate in 2024, according to NBC News.

“This is no shrinking violet, she’s ambitious — she’s not shy about that, nor should she be,” Steve Bannon, who hosts the conspiracy theory show “The War Room, told NBC News. “She sees herself on the short list for Trump’s VP. Paraphrasing Cokie Roberts, when MTG looks in the mirror she sees a potential president smiling back.”

Her “whole vision is to be vice president,” a second source who has ties to former President Trump and has advised Greene told NBC.

Becoming vice president is one of the main motivations behind Greene’s recent attempt to rehab her image, the unnamed source told NBC.

Greene was one of the few conservatives who supported Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) speakership bid through the 15-round, very public days-long fight. She was even praised by Republicans after she reportedly called former President Trump during the voting crisis to try to convince the conservative detractors to vote “present” to help McCarthy secure the speakership. 

She has also publicly picked fights with some of her far-right allies over the past month. Moving away from and alienating some of her fellow MAGA Freedom Caucus members might have been a calculated risk, Bannon told NBC.

Journalist Robert Draper, who writes for The New York Times Magazine and GQ, first floated the possibility that Greene could be Trump’s running mate in 2024 a couple of months ago. He confirmed the rumors on Andy Levy’s “The New Abnormal” podcast in October 2022 when he said, the idea has been “discussed since February of this year, and it’s been discussed repeatedly. Now, to be fair, I mean, how many of these conversations has Trump had with other people?”