Marge took the Money and Ran

Majorie Taylor Greene announced her resignation on November 21st, due to what she hints is the MAGA right and President Trump turning on her. This turn was fueled by her decision to side against Trump and supporting the full release of the Epstein files.

Because of the attacks made by the President through his social media platform, Greene seems to have received multiple threats, including a threat of violence against her son, that seemed to cause her enough emotional stress that helped in her decision to resign.

Beyond the Epstein files, this all seemed to have started when Trump would not endorse her run for senate, instead, according to the Wall Street Journal, "eased" her out of that run for the sake of keeping majorities in the senate and the house. She's been fuming at the decision and at the Trump ever since.

But don't feel too bad for her– there's a number of reasons why you shouldn't.

First, the irresponsibility that comes with her actions, in being a "true believer" – believing in QAnon before QAnon really began (being one of the first with a spotlight to spread conspiracy theories about Democrats being involved in satanism/child sex cults) to the antisemitic conspiracies involving "Jewish Space Lasers" which she blamed were the cause of the 2018 California wildfires.

Even to the more horrendous as she's a Parkland and Sandy Hook denier, calling Parkland and Sandy Hook a "false flag" – being staged, with its victims being "crisis actors" who were paid for their participation. One can only imagine the abuse and torment her reckless nonsense brought to the very real victims of Parkland and Sandy Hook– emotional stress and threats of further violence due to MTG's actions, the same sort that helped make her decision to step down.

She is set to step down on January 5th.

She has decided on the January 5th date due to being entitled to her federal pension for "serving" in congress (you need to serve 5 years in order to qualify for said pension.) This would start at $8,717 annually, at the age of 62 and would total more than $265,000 over her lifetime. This is of course is chump change compared to the amount of money she has made while serving.

25 times more than when she joined congress in 2021. Reporting from different outlets, including Yahoo Finance, show that when Greene arrived in congress in January 2021, she was only worth around $700,000. This is known through disclosure, which must be filed annually. The same annual disclosure requirement in 2025 now puts her financially at $25 million. Pretty big gains considering that the base yearly salary of a member of congress is $174,000.

But the multi-million dollar question is: how does one suddenly, not double, not triple, but make 25 times more their worth in 5 years?

The same financial reporting claims that most of that fortune comes from being the majority holder in her construction company, Taylor Commercial Inc., which, according to Forbes, she holds a 51% stake in. This seems to be worth between $5 million and $25 million (the disclosure only requires a politician to declare values for their assets in ranges) which she gains up to $5 million in ownership distribution. This is a construction company she and her now ex-husband bought in 2002, but has grown enormously, thanks, most likely through her Washington influence.

How else has Marge being in D.C. influenced her wealth? Can you believe she's made a lot of that wealth in stock purchases?

An example of this is Greene's relationship with Palantir. Greene had purchased shares in the company on April 7th and 8th of this year, getting in at $77.32 and $92.01 per share respectively. Three days later, on April 11th, U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) award Palantir a $29.9 million dollar contract for a surveillance system called ImmigrationOS.

The deal went public on April 17th. By May, the price had risen to $116.20 a share. By June 1st, $132 per share. By August, the stock was up 142 percent from her initial purchase.

The twist? Greene is on the House Committee on Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, which might have tipped her off. MTG claims otherwise, arguing that her portfolio manager made the trade without her knowledge. Said portfolio manager must have been on a "roll" because around the same time she made the initial purchases in Palantir, she made other purchases she had to disclose in stocks in 17 companies– including Amazon, Apple, Nike, Tesla, Nvidia. She also sold between $50,000 and $100,000 in Treasury bills at the same time, April 3rd and April 4th, to be exact. More importantly, these transactions were made after Trump made his infamous "Liberation day" speech, which introduced a broad package of import duties/tariffs which sent global markets plummeting. Nearly all the stocks she'd purchase were hit with said announcement.

Later on that same week, April 9th, President Trump announced on his social media platform that there would be a 90-day pause on all the tariffs introduced on Liberation Day, a move Trump claimed would allow countries hit to negotiate trade deals, which made all those same stocks skyrocket. A small slice of that rise include:

• Nvidia: +23%
• Tesla: +24%
• Amazon: +11%
• RH (Restoration Hardware): +24.6%
• Lam Research: +13%
• Dell: +10%

All this makes for a pretty good argument for insider trading. She once again blamed the trades on her portfolio manager. Said manager might have had a little birdie named Marge whisper in their ear. This is not only an MTG problem, of course, as there are other members of congress, even those on the left, who seem to practice the same sort of trading.

One hears arguments over why its okay for members of congress to be allowed in the trading of stocks, even though they are privy to information that would create an enviorment for insider trading. There's always the argument that members of congress don't make enough money and so they must have other ways to supplement income. Politics is a money game, after all. Besides public support, besides the money needed to run a successful campaign, it takes money to stay in office. It takes money to be a politician. Washington D.C. is an expensive city.

But why does it have to be this way?

This is essentially another way of gate-keeping, of keeping qualified individuals who otherwise don't have the same resources from running for congress. It reminds of internships that pay in "experience" -in order to have that experience, one hopes to have wealthy parents or some way to justify taking the internship, because it could "jump start" your career. Earning enough money is the excuse for this corruption.

We could make it so that members of congress could be paid more. Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York has been vocal about doing just that. It would mitigate in this sort of financial dealing. It would make it so anyone who wasn't a millionaire many times over coulld participate in public office. A disproportionate share of lawmakers are millionaires — some many times over.

How can those who represent the American people actually do so if there is motive for their own money-making interests? How can they know the interests of the American people if they don't know of the financial burden they go through, whether from first hand or through lack of massive wealth instead of much more realistic income?

Transparency is all well and good, but a big problem with our current political landscape is that anyone involved in politics could, essentially, make a quick buck with the information they are given through their work or through the influence garnered through the relationships created through the work.

Marge's political career might be over on January 5th, but she will be fine. $25 million dollars fine with more to earn through book deals, podcasts and multiple media appearances. Why deal with the fustration of reelection when you've already made your money? That's exactly what she did.