Marjorie Taylor Greene explains real America First agenda 

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is one of the most ideologically consistent, truly America First members of Congress. She’s a Republican, she’s MAGA, and she supports Donald Trump — but she isn’t afraid to say what policy areas are working and which ones are not. To that end, she recently appeared on Tim Dillon’s podcast, and made some news by admitting that she thinks the tariffs might be getting in the way of President Trump’s agenda, by driving up costs for manufacturers. 

“I’m talking to major manufacturing companies and they are saying we’re having a problem with these tariffs,” said Greene. “Has regular people’s stress come off? No. That should be the focus. It shouldn’t be helping your crypto donors. The focus should be the people that showed up at the rallies. I don’t think those people are being served.” 

And it’s not just tariffs. MTG also explained why the administration’s deportation policy, if taken to an extreme, is going to hurt American businesses: “We have to do something about labor, and that needs to be a smarter plan than just rounding up every single person and deporting them.” 

Undoubtedly, some regime sycophants are going to be knocking MTG for daring to speak her mind and admit that she recognizes some downsides associated with tariffs and mass deportations. I see things differently: In fact, I think we need to start calling her BASED Marjorie Taylor Greene. Because she’s absolutely right. And smart people in the administration need to listen to her. 

Because let’s be clear: Trump was elected president with a mandate to reduce illegal immigration and mitigate the harms associated with it. That’s absolutely true. We need to reduce crime, and unfair competition from foreign labor — that is, workers who don’t have to follow the same labor regulations as Americans because of their illicit status. By all means, let’s end that. 

But we can’t just round up everybody who’s technically here illegally, and who’s working, without devastating the farming sector, the hospitality sector, the tech sector, and so on. The Republican Party is the party of business: big business and small business. We can’t drive labor costs up for business owners and expect to remain in power.  

GOP voters, and Americans writ large, want food to cost less. They want electronics to cost less. They want services to cost less. And it’s not just about the immigrants — it’s also, as Based MTG notes, about the tariffs. If businesses have to pay more money to obtain raw materials, they pass those costs onto you and me. It’s just a fact. 

Trump is well within his rights to use U.S. trade policy as a negotiating tactic with other nations, in hopes of bringing down overall barriers to trade between America and the rest of the world. But painful, significant, across-the-board tariffs are going to cripple U.S. industries. That’s the great irony of the populist faction of MAGA. They see we need to reshore our factories and have manufacturing taking place domestically, but they’re unwilling to push for the policies that we need to make that possible: free trade in the relevant raw materials, and more permissive labor regulations, including around immigration. 

MTG understands that, because unlike many of her colleagues in the Republican and Democratic parties, she actually listens to her constituents. She asks them what their concerns are. Amazing concept. Maybe more members of Congress can follow her lead. 

Robby Soave is co-host of The Hill’s commentary show “Rising” and a senior editor for Reason Magazine. This column is an edited transcription of his daily commentary.