Suddenly Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) is displaying a strange new tendency to break with the Trump party line of her Republican Congressional colleagues --and tell the truth.

Of course Greene mostly remains the same old conspiracy monger, bigot and extremist. But as the government shutdown drags on, the far-right Congresswoman is speaking out against her own party leadership on the Affordable Care Act subsidies that Democrats are trying to save. Her apostasy may be a sign of doubt in the Republican caucus, whose constituents will suffer when the Trump budget explodes health care costs.

“Let’s just say as nicely as possible, I’m not a fan [of Obamacare]," she wrote in a lengthy post on X. “But I’m going to go against everyone on this issue because when the tax credits expire this year my own adult children’s insurance premiums for 2026 are going to DOUBLE, along with all the wonderful families and hard-working people in my district.”

Being Greene, she added her own nutso spin, noting that she considers "health and all insurance" to be a "scam," whatever that means. She echoed the Republican leadership's lie that Democrats are seeking to provide Medicaid to undocumented immigrants. “No I’m not towing the party line on this, or playing loyalty games," she wrote. "I’m a Republican and won’t vote for illegals to have any tax payer funded healthcare or benefits. I’m AMERICA ONLY!!!" To repeat the obvious, federal law prohibits the provision of Medicaid, Medicare or other government healthcare benefits to the undocumented except in a tiny sliver of emergency cases.

Why would Greene switch sides on Obamacare funding in this partisan confrontation?

Asked about her position, Greene told NBC News, “It’s important to know that I am fighting this issue because all health insurance premiums are already extremely expensive and increasing health insurance premiums is going to crush people.” Perhaps -- or maybe, as when she joined a few other dissident Republicans to demand that the White House release the "Epstein files," she prefers to be on the popular side of a divisive issue.

“It’s one of the top issues I hear about in my district,” she told NBC News on Monday. “I’m conservative and obviously want to do everything I can to reduce spending and the overall national debt... However, I am unapologetically America-first to the point of being America-only and would rather spend money on Americans, helping Americans, rather than fund foreign wars and foreign countries.” (She still wants to abandon Ukraine to the Russians -- and she has also become an implacable critic of U.S. aid to Israel's war in Gaza, another issue where public opinion is rapidly shifting.)

Whatever Greene's intentions, as a candidate for re-election or a rumored 2028 presidential hopeful, her complaint about her own party's betrayal of its populist promises sounds like a door slamming:

"Not a single Republican in leadership talked to us about this or has given us a plan to help Americans deal with their health insurance premiums DOUBLING!!!"

She couldn't have delivered a better quote for Democratic midterm advertising in 2026.

Joe Conason is founder and editor-in-chief of The National Memo. He is also editor-at-large of Type Investigations, a nonprofit investigative reporting organization formerly known as The Investigative Fund. His latest book is The Longest Con: How Grifters, Swindlers and Frauds Hijacked American Conservatism (St. Martin's Press, 2024).