Marjorie Taylor Greene laughs off protests to deliver pro-Trump message
at Georgia town hall
[April 16, 2025]
By JEFF AMY
ACWORTH, Ga. (AP) — U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene came to a town hall
in suburban Atlanta on Tuesday night to deliver full-throated support of
President Donald Trump, and she wasn't letting the protesters faze her —
not even the one who was wrestled to the ground by police and subdued
with a Taser.
Three people were arrested at the event — including a second person
police said they also shocked — and others were escorted out because
Greene and police said they were being disruptive. But a majority of the
crowd of more than 150 was supportive of the Republican, who represents
a heavily GOP district stretching from Atlanta's northwest suburbs to
the Tennessee border.
“What am I going to do? I am going to stand by my president,” Greene
said in response to a critical question as many audience members whooped
in approval. She added that she would “fight for his agenda with
everything I have in Congress.”
While Republican congressional leaders have advised their members not to
hold town hall meetings, Greene has always courted the spotlight. After
giving a speech and playing video clips of her supporting Trump, she
answered questions that had been submitted in advance and printed on
slides.
Most were supportive, like one asking when officials could begin
arresting politicians accused of treason. Greene was dismissive of most
of the hostile questions, twice suggesting that those behind them were
Democrats “brainwashed” by their news consumption.
Answering multiple questions on tariffs, Greene argued that the “real
economy” is thriving under Trump and that people shouldn't worry about
turmoil in the stock and bond markets. In doing so Greene flatly denied
the economic consensus that tariffs will lead to higher prices.
“The reality is tariffs are not a massive tax on the American people,”
Greene said. “The tax on the American people that you’ve been suffering
with is the inflation that Biden and the Democrats put on the American
people and their absolute reckless spending for the past four years.”
Greene also said she believes her supporters have the patience to wait
out negative effects of Trump's tariff policy and moves to slash federal
spending, saying it could take a long time to show results.
“Don’t be a ‘panican.’ That’s a new word President Trump came up with,”
Greene said, using an insult he coined online. “You see, look, it took
us decades to get here — decades to get the $36 trillion in debt. It
took decades for our factories to get shut down and our jobs sent
overseas. It took decades for us to all fall into this terrible — it’s
basically a grave that America has been put in and dug by our federal
government.”
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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., speaks during a town-hall style
meeting, Tuesday, April 15, 2025, in Acworth, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike
Stewart)
Greene, long one of Trump’s most loyal allies, has said she’s
considering running for U.S. Senate or Georgia governor in 2026, but
has yet to make any public moves toward what would be a bruising
race in the politically competitive state.
She repeatedly said “Bye” to people being escorted from the room and
praised officers' response, saying the appropriate place for those
ejected was with more than 100 protesters lining a street outside
the community center.
“This is a town hall; this is not a political rally; this is not a
protest,” Greene said.
One protester held up a sign alluding to claims that Greene
improperly profited from buying stocks when Trump partially paused
tariffs against many countries last week. In questions from
reporters afterward, Greene did not specifically deny having advance
knowledge of the pause but repeated that a financial adviser manages
her stock holdings without input from her.
“He did a great job. He bought the dip,” Greene said. “And that's
what anybody with any financial sense does when they know the market
is going to be going down.”
Acworth police said they arrested a 40-year-old Atlanta man on
misdemeanor charges of simple battery on a law enforcement officer
and obstruction of a law enforcement officer; a 45-year-old man from
Dallas, Georgia, on misdemeanor battery of a law enforcement officer
and felony obstruction of a law enforcement officer; and a
28-year-old Dallas woman on misdemeanor charges of violating a city
ordinance forbidding vulgar language in a public place.
Sgt. Eric Mistretta said officers responded with appropriate force
to people who yelled at Greene and resisted removal, although none
approached her. Police said in a statement that the people “created
an imminent public safety threat for all in attendance.”
About 30 officers from five agencies provided security, Mistretta
said.
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