MTG in Iowa makes strong case for Trump — and the vice president slot

In a pre-caucus trip to Iowa, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) on Thursday made a forceful case for front-runner President Donald Trump and continued to show why her name is clicking up his list of potential running mates.

“We have to put President Trump back in the White House because we can trust him,” she said at a rally in Keokuk, Iowa’s southernmost city.

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Before a large crowd that cheered her one-liners, Greene reminded voters of the positive economy that Trump left behind, said he would return tough-border policies, and highlighted the absence of wars under the Republican.

She also whacked the former president’s top challengers, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) and former Trump-era Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley.

At one point, she repeated the harsh line Haley had about Iowa during a rally in New Hampshire, where Haley hopes to stop Trump’s run for another term after his expected victory in the Iowa caucuses later this month.

“Did you hear about this?” Greene asked. “Nikki Haley was in New Hampshire. And she said that New Hampshire, they’re going to have to correct what Iowa does. Wow. So what does she think about Iowa? What does she think about Iowans? How Hillary Clinton of her.”

Ever since the businesswoman was first elected to the House in 2020, Greene has been a loyal Trump supporter. She is often seen warming up his political rallies, is on the former president’s speed dial, and is close to his operation and family.

She has expressed a wish to be on his list of possible top aides and running mates but hasn’t been pushy about it. Her support has won her a large national audience that draws invitations to speak around the country, mostly to promote Trump’s candidacy.

Trump recently said he isn’t focused on who he would pick as his running mate if he secures the GOP presidential nomination, though it is clear he would prefer a conservative woman such as Greene or Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SC). Trump has floated Haley’s name, but much of his MAGA base has vetoed that.

Trump insiders said he appreciates and cheers Greene’s assault on media critics without a care of how it might hurt her back home in Georgia.

In Iowa on Thursday, for example, she mocked liberal outlets such as MSNBC and CNN and hosts (including Joe Scarborough of MSNBC’s Morning Joe) for suggesting that Trump will be a “dictator” ready to execute his enemies.

“I know they’re rolling out the lines. ‘President Trump is a dictator.’ Really? OK. He was our president for four years. We know what he can do. Thanks so much,” she said to hoots.

“They’re like bringing up President Trump is going to destroy democracy. Oh, really? OK. What a joke,” she added of President Joe Biden’s line of attack.

She said that only Trump has faced and fought off such attacks and that he should be rewarded for surviving them.

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“We have to have President Trump because we have to protect free speech. And let me tell you the difference in all these candidates running. There is not one of them, not one of them, that knows what it’s like to be attacked by the deep state, the media, big corporations, social media. Not one of them know what that’s like. I can tell you right now — I know President Trump very well — he appreciates free speech and our freedoms more than any of you can understand. Because he is being persecuted, absolutely persecuted for his own speech,” the congresswoman said.

She added: “And that is a very big reason, when you talk to your friends about, well, DeSantis, and blah, blah, blah, Nikki Haley, yada, yada, yada. Let me tell you something. The man you want in the White House fighting to defend your freedoms, fighting to defend your speech, fighting to protect our border, fighting Washington, D.C., that loves war … the only one you can trust is President Trump.”