Marjorie Taylor Greene, Tucker Carlson, and a small group of former Trump allies gathered at Carlson's Maine cabin over the weekend, announcing the start of a new political movement after a bitter public break with the president.
Greene posted a photo of the Saturday meeting showing seven people seated around a table, herself, Carlson, outgoing Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie, former National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent, and their spouses. The former Georgia congresswoman paired the image with a pointed message aimed directly at the man she once championed more fiercely than almost any other Republican in Washington.
"We said no more foreign wars, and we meant it and supported Donald Trump because he made that promise," Greene wrote. "But he's betrayed us all."
She added:
"Our commitment is America First for all Americans, right, left, and center. The movement has begun."
Massie shared Greene's post with a caption that carried its own edge: "This meeting will not be televised." Alex Jones reposted it approvingly, calling the group "a great group of Americans."
The Maine gathering did not materialize from thin air. It followed months of escalating friction between these former loyalists and the president they helped elect. Greene resigned from Congress in January, with her last day set for January 5, 2026, rather than face a Trump-backed primary challenger. Trump had already withdrawn his endorsement of her on Truth Social, calling her a "traitor" and "wacky," according to AP News.
The rift grew from specific policy disagreements. Greene and Massie had pushed aggressively on Capitol Hill for the release of Jeffrey Epstein files, a cause that put them at odds with the administration. Greene also broke with Trump over foreign policy, particularly regarding Israel and the use of military force abroad. Joe Kent resigned from his administration post over the conflict in Iran and appeared on Carlson's show days after his departure.
Greene's own warnings about U.S. military involvement in Iran had already signaled how deep the divide ran on foreign policy.
Massie, a seven-term congressman from Kentucky, had his own collision with the White House. He bucked Trump on the "One Beautiful Bill" tax legislation, described as Trump's signature domestic priority, and paid for it. In May, Trump's hand-picked challenger, retired Navy SEAL and farmer Ed Gallrein, defeated Massie in the Republican primary. Breitbart reported that Greene's resignation statement made clear the break with Trump was significant enough that she did not want her district subjected to a similar challenge.
Greene has been careful not to position herself as a convert to the left. In a June announcement, she said she was leaving the Republican Party entirely, citing what she called betrayal over the Epstein files and relations with Israel. But she has also directed fire at Democrats.
"There is A LOT of us that are absolutely fed up and will not support a party that betrays its voters and country," Greene posted, as reported by the Washington Examiner. "That does not mean we are turning into Democrats either. But we are DONE with the America LAST Republican Party."
She elaborated on the idea of a third path: "I think there's a group of us that if we decide to align, we could launch a true America-focused party that doesn't fall into the traps of Democrats or Republicans."
Carlson has traveled the same road. The podcaster, who publicly left the Republican Party over disagreements with the administration's Israel policy, hosted the Maine meeting at his own cabin, sitting at the head of the table in the photo Greene posted.
On her appearance on ABC's "The View" after leaving Congress, Greene refused invitations from the hosts to become a Democrat or an Independent. "I haven't said if I'm leaving the Republican Party, but my focus is America first," she said, according to the New York Post. She also took aim at both parties on fiscal policy: "It's Democrats and Republicans together that have put us in nearly $40 trillion in debt."
Greene had earlier followed Carlson's lead in publicly distancing herself from the GOP, framing her exit as a matter of principle rather than personal grievance.
Not everyone on the right welcomed the Maine gathering. Laura Loomer, described as a right-wing journalist, responded with a blistering post calling for all seven attendees to be placed on a government watch list.
"Every single one of these people belongs on a government watch list. Every person in this photo is a traitor to America and an anti-Trump operative amplified by foreign adversaries."
Meghan McCain, the podcaster and daughter of the late Senator John McCain, offered a different kind of dismissal: "Why does everyone in this photo look like they're at Patricia's Sunset Cocktails?"
Independent journalist Walter Kurt questioned Greene's standing to lead anything at all. "You quit Congress in the middle of your term to get married in Vegas and go on a media tour," Kurt wrote. "Why would anyone look to you as the leader of a movement?"
Kurt's jab referenced Greene's recent Las Vegas wedding to Brian Glenn, held on a Tuesday night at the Bellagio's Terrazza di Sogno. The couple obtained their marriage license just one week before the ceremony. Greene and Massie, along with their spouses, also recently traveled together to Costa Rica, a trip that drew its own round of commentary.
The pattern of high-profile conservatives breaking with the administration extends beyond this group. Mark Levin publicly turned on Trump over Israel policy as well, accusing the administration of bullying a U.S. ally, another signal that the right's internal fault lines run deeper than personality conflicts.
For all the dramatic language, the group has not announced a party name, a formal organizational structure, or any legal filings. Greene's post used the word "movement," not "party." The only concrete policy position stated so far is opposition to foreign wars. No platform document exists, at least not publicly.
National Review's editors offered a blunt assessment of what the breakaway faction is up against. Trump, they wrote, "still unquestionably runs the movement." They added that "he still has the power to vaporize entrenched Republican members of Congress, even if they have their own well-established political identities." Greene's own resignation, forced by the threat of a Trump-endorsed primary challenger, illustrated that point.
Greene acknowledged as much in her resignation statement, writing that "loyalty should be a two-way street and we should be able to vote our conscience and represent our district's interest." She also said her "self-worth is not defined by a man, but instead by God."
Whether this group can build something durable remains an open question. Third parties in American politics have a long history of generating attention and a short history of winning elections. Greene, Massie, and Kent are all now out of government. Carlson commands a large media audience but no political apparatus. And the voters they hope to attract, frustrated, populist, skeptical of both parties, are the same voters Trump has held more tightly than any Republican in a generation.
A movement built on broken promises will need more than a photo at a cabin in Maine. It will need answers to the questions that photo did not address, starting with whether "America First" means anything specific when the people saying it no longer hold any office.