Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene says President Donald Trump’s decision to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro marks a sharp break from the “America First” agenda she believed voters signed up for.
Speaking Sunday on NBC News’ Meet the Press, Greene argued that the operation followed “the same Washington playbook” she says Americans are exhausted by, even as Trump defends the move as protecting U.S. energy and stability interests. NBC News reports Greene made the comments just days before her final day in Congress, after months of public clashes with the president.
“This is the same Washington playbook that we are so sick and tired of that doesn’t serve the American people,” Greene told moderator Kristen Welker. “It actually serves the big corporations, the banks and the oil executives.”
Here is my full interview about Venezuela, America First, Free Speech and Censorship. pic.twitter.com/6kwxKBLUbb
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) January 4, 2026
According to the Meet the Press transcript, Greene said Trump and his team campaigned on Make America Great Again with the understanding that it meant putting domestic priorities first. Instead, she argued, Americans are watching another overseas intervention while costs at home continue to rise.
“I want to see domestic policy be the priority that helps Americans afford life after four disastrous years of the Biden administration,” she said, pointing to housing, jobs, insurance and health care costs as issues she believes should take precedence.
Greene also pushed back on the idea that Venezuela should be treated as part of America’s immediate sphere of concern.
I’ve served on the Homeland Security Committee for the past three years. I’m 100% for strong safe secure borders and stopping narco terrorists and cartels from trafficking deadly drugs and human trafficking into America.
Fentanyl is responsible for over 70% of U.S. drug…
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) January 3, 2026
“We don’t consider Venezuela our neighborhood,” she said. “Our neighborhood is right here in the 50 United States, not in the Southern Hemisphere.”
Trump, for his part, defended the operation when asked how temporarily running Venezuela aligns with his America First agenda. He framed the move as a way to stabilize the region and secure energy resources.
“We want to surround ourselves with good neighbors. We want to surround ourselves with stability. We want to surround ourselves with energy,” Trump told reporters. “We have tremendous energy in that country. It’s very important that we protect it. We need that for ourselves. We need that for the world.”
Greene has publicly criticized the Maduro operation beyond television interviews. In a post on X on Saturday, she said Americans’ anger over military action abroad is justified.
🚨New: Here is Marjorie Taylor Greene’s resignation letter. Her last day is tomorrow pic.twitter.com/cUjBDrgLrW
— The Calvin Coolidge Project (@TheCalvinCooli1) January 4, 2026
“This is what many in MAGA thought they voted to end,” Greene wrote. “Boy were we wrong.”
USA Today notes that Greene said she does not support Maduro and said she was “happy” for the Venezuelan people, but questioned whether Trump’s justification, including claims about narco-terrorism, matched where drug trafficking into the U.S. actually originates.
“If this was really about narco-terrorists and protecting Americans from cartels and drugs,” she said, “the Trump administration would be attacking the Mexican cartels.”
Greene’s criticism comes as she prepares to leave Congress following a public fallout with Trump, despite years as one of his most vocal allies. According to USA Today, she previously broke with the president over foreign policy, Obamacare subsidies and the handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
Marjorie Taylor Greene on the capture of Maduro:
“If prosecuting narco terrorists is a high priority then why did President Trump pardon the former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez who was convicted and sentenced for 45 years for trafficking hundreds of tons of cocaine… pic.twitter.com/kDPVkPML7U
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) January 3, 2026
As lawmakers continue to debate the fallout from Maduro’s capture, Greene’s remarks highlight a growing divide inside Trump’s political coalition, one centered less on Venezuela itself, and more on what “America First” is supposed to mean now.
