\n<\/p>\n
In the latest episode of the soap opera that passes for politics in the United States, President Donald Trump has dramatically split with Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, a former ally and a notorious wearer of the MAGA hat<\/a>.<\/p>\n Writing on his Truth Social platform on Friday, Trump denounced his fellow Republican as \u201cwacky\u201d and \u201cFar Left\u201d, claiming that he did not have time to deal with her alleged barrage of phone calls: \u201cI can\u2019t take a ranting Lunatic\u2019s call every day.\u201d<\/p>\n As The New York Times noted, Trump had previously \u201cstood by\u201d Greene when she was criticised \u201cfor voicing conspiracy theories about the Sept. 11 attacks, school shootings and wildfires started by space lasers\u201d.<\/p>\n Anyway, nothing \u201cLunatic\u201d about any of that.<\/p>\n Greene denies having called the president, saying instead that she had texted him to suggest that he cease endeavouring to thwart the full release of the so-called Epstein files pertaining to the late paedophile and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, which may implicate Trump.<\/p>\n The US House of Representatives is set to vote this week on the matter \u2013 and Greene is not the only Republican to have broken ranks. Several other House Republicans have also defied Trump on the Epstein front, including Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Lauren Boebert of Colorado.<\/p>\n In a typical about-face, Trump has now spontaneously reversed his position on the Epstein files, posting on Truth Social late on Sunday: \u201cHouse Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files, because we have nothing to hide.\u201d<\/p>\n And yet the Epstein files are hardly the only issue that raises the question of whether MAGA might not be headed for some sort of self-combustion.<\/p>\n As Trump recently reminded Americans, \u201cDon\u2019t forget, MAGA was my idea. MAGA was nobody else\u2019s idea.\u201d<\/p>\n And so it\u2019s only logical that folks would associate the distinct failure to \u201cmake America great again\u201d with the idea man himself.<\/p>\n Outright propaganda can only go so far \u2013 and people tend to notice when they don\u2019t have enough money to put food on the table in spite of upbeat presidential pronouncements regarding the state of the economy.<\/p>\n Even Trump has apparently realised, to some extent, that he stands to further alienate his base by insisting on nonsensical tariffs and other punitive financial measures. As a nonsolution, the government will now lower tariffs on coffee and bananas while the president muses over potential $2,000 tariff rebate cheques and 50-year mortgages.<\/p>\n