Marjorie Taylor Greene Criticizes Trump’s Plan to Speed Weapons to Ukraine

The right-wing congresswoman from Georgia suggested that the president’s new proposal to help speed weapons to Ukraine betrays the promise to voters to end U.S. involvement in foreign conflicts.

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, on Monday harshly criticized President Trump’s new plan to help speed weapons deliveries to Ukraine, saying it breaks a key promise that he and many in his party made to voters to end U.S. entanglement in conflicts overseas.

“It’s not just Ukraine; it’s all foreign wars in general and a lot of foreign aid,” Ms. Greene said in an interview, arguing that Mr. Trump was turning his back on the America First approach that helped secure sweeping victories for him and Republicans. “This is what we campaigned on. This is what I promised also to my district. This is what everybody voted for. And I believe we have to maintain the course.”

Her comments were in response to Mr. Trump’s announcement from the Oval Office earlier in the day, when he laid out plans to sell weapons to NATO countries that would then send those arms to Ukraine. The president emphasized that the arrangement would come at no cost to U.S. taxpayers, addressing a key concern among Republicans increasingly wary of the war’s price tag.

But Ms. Greene was unconvinced, arguing that Americans would bear costs, and that there was no scenario in which the United States would avoid involvement.

“Without a shadow of a doubt, our tax dollars are being used,” she said, arguing that indirect costs such as deploying American troops to provide training on the weapons being sent, would entangle the United States financially and logistically in the conflict. She also noted that the United States is the largest contributor to NATO, saying those indirect costs are being borne by American taxpayers. “And so it is U.S. involvement,” she said.

The issue of foreign aid has repeatedly put Ms. Greene at odds with many in her own party, and recently, with Mr. Trump himself. She has also been harshly critical of the president’s bellicose approach to Iran. She insists that Mr. Trump’s base is with her, not with his recent more hawkish approach, which included a threat against Russia to accept a peace deal or be hit with crippling financial penalties.

“I said it on every rally stage: ‘No more money to Ukraine. We want peace.’ We just want peace for those people,” Ms. Greene said, recalling how those pronouncements routinely drew the loudest cheers as she traveled the country stumping for Mr. Trump.

“And guess what? People haven’t changed.”

Other Republicans who have long questioned U.S. aid to Ukraine have avoided taking issue with Mr. Trump’s reversal.

Representative Warren Davidson of Ohio praised Mr. Trump’s plan as a pragmatic approach that avoids direct aid.

“The president really gets it right in saying, ‘Hey, we’ll sell NATO countries these weapons and if they want to pay for them, they can buy them,’ ” Mr. Davidson said during an interview on CNN, adding that he too believes “this is not our war.”

But Ms. Greene said Mr. Trump’s foreign policy decisions are inseparable from the domestic concerns she says dominate her district, particularly the economic anxiety of working-class people and what she characterized as a pervasive sense of being left behind by those in Washington sent to represent them.

“No one’s walking around thinking about Ukraine. No one’s walking around thinking about Russia. They’re just not,” she said. “They walk around and all they think about is their bills, their problems and the road that may look like crap in front of their house — or they can’t buy a house.”

And she warned that voters would turn away from Mr. Trump and Republicans if they failed to hold to the America First promises that helped deliver them control of the White House and both chambers of Congress.

“We’re opening the door for younger generations to turn to radical leaders,” Ms. Greene said.

Our Coverage of the War in Ukraine

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• Cooking for the Front Line: A chef appeared on TV before joining the army when Russia invaded in 2022. Now he makes his borscht for Ukrainian troops instead of cooking show judges.
• Sanctions for Russia?: Flattery and pressure — coupled with Trump’s growing dissatisfaction with Putin — have helped build momentum for new economic punishments.
• Putin, Undeterred: The Russian leader is brushing aside Trump’s professed disappointment in him and is pushing ahead in Ukraine with renewed intensity, analysts and people close to the Kremlin said.
• ‘Widespread’ Rights Violations: In symbolic rulings by the European Court of Human Rights, Moscow was again blamed for the downing of Flight MH17 in 2014 and for an array of war-related human rights violations, including the transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia.
• Reemergence of Land Mines: Five countries plan to revive the use of the weapon prohibited by treaty for more than a quarter of a century, hoping to strengthen their defenses against any Russian attack.

How We Verify Our Reporting

• Our team of visual journalists analyzes satellite images, photographs, videos and radio transmissions to independently confirm troop movements and other details.
• We monitor and authenticate reports on social media, corroborating these with eyewitness accounts and interviews. Read more about our reporting efforts.

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