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Jane Coaston: It’s Wednesday, October 15th. I’m Jane Coaston, and this is What a Day, the show celebrating that OpenAI has finally answered our biggest question about the biggest technological advance of our lifetime. When will AI get super horny? According to CEO Sam Altman, the answer for ChatGPT is now, for quote, “verified adults” by adding erotica. Because as I’ve always said, wouldn’t it be so great if the app that helps college students cheat on history tests also sexted them? [music break] On today’s show, Israel’s fragile ceasefire shows cracks as nine Palestinians are killed in Gaza as of this recording, and Israel cuts humanitarian aid. And former President Barack Obama throws his weight behind an upcoming ballot measure to check Trump’s power. But let’s start with Georgia Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene. When Greene entered Congress back in 2021, she did so as a conspiracy theorist who believed that the September 11th attack on the Pentagon was a hoax. And in 2022, she spoke at a far-right political conference hosted by white nationalists, leading to calls for the GOP to disavow her entirely. But in 2025, Greene is sounding more like um a liberal. Here she is discussing how Trump has not made the economy great again. Like, at all. 

[clip of Tim Dillon] The job market is weak. 

[clip of Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene] The job market is still extremely difficult. 

[clip of Tim Dillon] Right. 

[clip of Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene] Um. Wages have not gone up. Health insurance premiums are going to go up. Car insurance goes up every year. People’s homeowners insurance goes up. Uh. Rent is going up. People young people have no hope of buying a home. 

Jane Coaston: That’s from a recent episode of the Tim Dillon show, where Greene also went after the Trump administration over the Epstein files. She even railed against her fellow Republicans in Congress for the government shutdown, sexism, and for lacking any kind of a plan on healthcare. This is part of a trend for MTG. For example, in the last few months, she’s referred to the horrors taking place in Gaza as a quote, “genocide,” and offered an amendment to cut defense support to Israel. Since Greene has started sounding, well, sane, she’s getting kudos from Democrats, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. But this is still Marjorie Taylor Greene, the same person who thinks Bad Bunny is going to do, quote, “demonic sexual performances” at the Super Bowl. To me, Greene’s sort of evolution is less a story of a politician finding the light, and more about a widening rift between MAGA and the orange man they helped put in the White House. So to talk more about Greene’s political journey, I spoke to Annie Karni. She’s a congressional reporter for the New York Times who profiled Greene in September. Annie Karni, welcome to What a Day. 

Annie Karni: Thank you for having me, Jane. 

Jane Coaston: So you recently wrote a profile of Representative Taylor Greene and you interviewed her at this weird moment. She was backing a bill that demanded the release of more Epstein files, and the White House wanted her to stand down. And you wrote that she told you that she told the White House, quote, “You didn’t get me elected, I do not work for you, I work for my district.” And this is at such a weird moment, especially coming from this particular person who has backed Trump in insane claims of election fraud and apparently joked that if she had run the January 6th riots, she would have won. How are these the same people?

Annie Karni: It’s a really, really fascinating moment to be covering Marjorie Taylor Greene. It’s not just the Epstein Files. She was the first Republican in Congress to call the situation in Gaza a genocide. AIPAC is now considering trying to mount a campaign against her, which is probably impossible in her district. She broke with Trump on Iran and Ukraine and his involvement in foreign wars. Um. This isn’t coming out of nowhere. Marjorie Taylor Greene should be viewed as a spokeswoman for the MAGA base. I have a quote in that story from Steve Bannon saying, like, she’s where the puck is going. She is where the base is on these issues. They agree with her. She told me in that interview, she goes home to her district. There’s no pushback from voters from breaking with Trump here. They’re with her. So what it was really signifying is an interesting moment in the MAGA universe where there is a growing divide between Trump and the base. And Marjorie Taylor Greene, I think, really represents that divide. Um. She’s also willing to break with him um for a few reasons. Some of them are really personal. She has never forgotten that in 2020, he did not endorse her in her primary. And that has given her a big chip on her shoulder. Like, I got here without you. She kind of thinks she doesn’t need the president. She’s so associated with him, and she’s so associated with being such a loyal MAGA warrior that she’s not scared like some of these other Republicans on the Hill are of looking on like they’re not with it or they’re breaking with Trump. 

Jane Coaston: Yeah, it’s interesting because I think that the point that you’re drawing out and that she’s drawing out is that MAGA and Donald Trump are not necessarily the same thing. 

Annie Karni: Right. 

Jane Coaston: Like one would think that like being super MAGA, being super whatever would be being the most sycophantic Trump supporter imaginable, but that appears to not be true in this case. But you’ve mentioned a couple of other policies or ideas that she’s been pushing back on. What what else is on the short list? And what was most surprising to you that she’s been breaking from the White House on? 

Annie Karni: I’d say Ukraine and Iran are not surprising. That’s the America first Trump that ran. 

Jane Coaston: Right. 

Annie Karni: She thinks he’s changed since she got into office and that he’s acting like a more traditional Republican. So that is not surprising. The Epstein files, she kind of stayed the same. It’s the president who moved on that. I mean, that was an issue that was animating the base for a long time. Marjorie Taylor Greene just isn’t willing to back down on that issue. Palestine was a surprise. Having her say it’s a genocide was sort of a moment. Um. And it shows, you know, there’s obviously been a huge change in how Israel is viewed on the left. But to me, that was a statement that showed that even on the right, there’s a changing view of Israel right now um and of the situation there that Marjorie Taylor Greene would call it a genocide. Right now, on this shutdown fight. 

Jane Coaston: Right. 

Annie Karni: She’s breaking hard with Speaker Johnson saying Republicans aren’t talking about healthcare. They’re wrong on healthcare. Prices are rising, people are upset, Republicans aren’t addressing any of this, and we should come back to Washington. And she’s just completely breaking with the party line on why this shutdown is ongoing and occurring. 

Jane Coaston: It’s interesting also because Trump, MAGA, House Speaker Johnson, they seem allergic to disloyalty or even questions that edge towards disloyalty. We’ve seen so many Republicans get kind of pushed out of Congress because Trump endorses their competitor, or because they just get screamed at by all of the people who Trump listens to. That doesn’t seem to be really happening or having any result for Marjorie Taylor Greene. Like she hasn’t changed her mind. She isn’t being brought back into the fold by pressure. Like, what kind of impact is she actually having on other Republicans or other people who are her fellow travelers on any number of issues? 

Annie Karni: She is not a person who brings along a group of lawmakers. Like Matt Gaetz was very good at that, at sort of building a coalition. That’s how he managed to oust Kevin McCarthy. He tended to a small group of lawmakers who he made sure stuck together. And that gave him great power and influence because he had a group of seven to ten members that he could control their votes. Marjorie Taylor Greene is a party of one right now. She does not have a lot of allies. She’s not building coalitions like that. So no one else is following her lead. Although on the Epstein issue, she and there’s four Republicans right now who are signed onto this discharge petition with Democrats and won’t move. That means that it is likely eventually going to come to the floor for a vote. So she is having an effect there. I mean, she’s not caving. 

Jane Coaston: I’m I’m curious. Because I it does sound like she is exposing some differences between MAGA and the GOP writ large and MAGA and the White House, which is a weird thing to say at this in this time, where it’s like there there’s a difference between the two, but I can kind of see how that might work, especially for the America Firsters out there. But for people who are listening to the show, who are likely Democratic voters, maybe independents, people who just don’t like the policies out of this Republican controlled White House in Congress right now, what difference is she actually making? 

Annie Karni: I mean, you’re asking a bigger question, like what what can one member of Congress do? Not much. And what is Congress itself doing right now? Um. Not much. They’re not even here. Like the d– it doesn’t even exist right now. The House hasn’t been in in three weeks, and there’s no sign that they’re coming back anytime soon. The overarching story of this year is that Congress has just given over its power to the White House. And I don’t know that she’s showing a path of like we can be Republicans and have a job that we want our own power. But other than just saying that, I don’t know what what power she has to stop that. She’s not in leadership. 

Jane Coaston: Annie Karni, thank you so much for joining me. 

Annie Karni: Thank you for having me. 

Jane Coaston: That was my conversation with Annie Karni, Congressional Reporter for the New York Times. We’ll link to her profile of Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene in the show notes. We’ll get to more of the news in a moment, but if you like the show, make sure to subscribe, leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, watch us on YouTube, and share with your friends. More to come after some ads. [music break]

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Jane Coaston: Here’s what else we’re following today. 

[sung] Headlines. 

[clip of President Donald Trump] If he loses, we are not gonna be generous with Argentina. 

[clip of multiple news reporters shouting all at once] Mr President!

Jane Coaston: President Donald Trump is threatening to yank economic assistance for Argentina if midterm elections there don’t go his way later this month. Trump made that known on Tuesday as he welcomed Argentine President Javier Milei to the White House. Politically, they’re on the same page, and on the personal level, the Associated Press says the pair has entered a bromance. [sigh] So of course, Trump’s weighing in on Argentina’s midterm legislative elections that could be a referendum on his buddy Milei’s policies. Note that Milei himself is not up for re-election until 2027. But Trump couldn’t resist threatening what he’d do if his pal loses. 

[clip of President Donald Trump] If the president doesn’t win, I know the person that he’d be running against, I believe, probably. We probably have the person. That person is extremely far left and a philosophy that got Argentina into this problem in the first place. So we would not be generous with Argentina if that happened. 

Jane Coaston: Now, you probably remember us talking last week about how Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent promised Argentina a $20 billion currency swap to prop up the peso and replenish Argentina’s foreign currency reserves. Even with his threats about jumping ship, Trump insisted that the non-bailout bailout, which administration officials strenuously deny is a bailout, it’s a bailout, was about helping our neighbors rather than any ties to the upcoming midterms. Make it make sense. Israeli forces killed at least nine Palestinians in Gaza on Tuesday, just a few days into the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. According to the Israel Defense Forces, five of those deaths occurred when soldiers fired at a group of Palestinians approaching the yellow line that the IDF is now operating from in northern Gaza under the terms of the ceasefire. A spokesperson for the Palestinian civil defense disputed the IDF’s claims to ABC News, telling the outlet that the people killed were shot in an area designated as a quote, “safe zone.” Meanwhile, the Red Cross delivered the bodies of four more deceased hostages to Israel on Tuesday. Hamas has now returned eight out of twenty-eight deceased hostages this week. The Israeli military argues that Hamas is violating the ceasefire by not releasing all the remains of the hostages at once. And as a result, Israel says it will cut the number of aid trucks it’s sending into Gaza in half. A Hamas official told the New York Times that Israel’s destruction of Gaza during the war is now making it more challenging to quickly recover and return the bodies of hostages. Here’s Trump speaking with reporters about the situation at the White House Tuesday. 

[clip of President Donald Trump] Now, they misrepresented because we were told they had twenty-six, twenty-four of dead hostages, if we can use those terms. And it seems as though they don’t have that because we’re talking about a much lesser number. But that’s a very tough subject. I want them back. 

Jane Coaston: During those remarks, Trump also said that if Hamas does not disarm, quote, “we will disarm them, and it will happen quickly and perhaps violently.” He declined, however, to give any details on what his plan to disarm Hamas actually looks like. Former FBI Director James Comey landed the first punch in his fight against prosecution by Trump’s Department of Justice. On Tuesday, a federal judge denied the DOJ’s request to delay turning over evidence in his case. Comey faces charges for false statements and obstruction. The judge said the DOJ’s proposed protective order, legal speak for we get to keep the evidence secret, would have unnecessarily hindered Comey’s defense. The DOJ said it’s not hiding evidence, it’s simply protecting it. But the judge said the DOJ’s definition of protected was so broad that it basically includes everything. Meaning the DOJ can’t just pinky swear that it’s like super duper incriminating. This ruling is a potential rebuke of the Trump DOJ’s overreach. The judge referenced a 2018 decision in the Paul Manafort case, warning prosecutors against treating politically sensitive cases with a quote, “unnecessarily broad cloak of secrecy.” The DOJ must reveal its evidence, even if, when the curtain is pulled back, it’s just an orange man yelling into a microphone. The fight now shifts to whether Trump’s super qualified hand-picked prosecutor, who happens to have zero prosecutorial experience, Lindsey Halligan, can stay in the case. Comey’s team argues that Halligan’s appointment was unlawful, and they cite recent rulings that struck down cases prepared by similar Trump-installed prosecutors. If a judge agrees, the entire Comey prosecution could fall apart. Former President Obama is throwing his weight behind Democrats’ redistricting efforts in California. In an ad released Tuesday, Obama voiced his support for Prop 50, the ballot measure that could help the party gain five additional seats in the House. 

[clip of Barack Obama] Democracy is on the ballot November 4th. Republicans want to steal enough seats in Congress to rig the next election and wield unchecked power for two more years. With Prop 50, you can stop Republicans in their tracks. 

Jane Coaston: Prop 50 is the Democrats’ response to partisan gerrymandering that Texas Republicans carried out in August following pressure from President Trump. A recent poll by Emerson College found that 51% of California voters support the measure, while 34% oppose it, and the rest are currently undecided. Perhaps the backing of a popular former president will sway some of those voters. And that’s the news. [music break]

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Jane Coaston: That’s all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, contemplate the sad tale of the racists running young Republicans chapters nationwide, who spent months posting about how they love Hitler in a group chat on Telegram and are now losing their jobs. And tell your friends to listen. And if you’re into reading, and not just about how Politico exposed the group chat in a piece that featured the exact amount of casual racism, anti-Semitism, and misogyny you’d kind of expect from a young Republican’s group chat on Telegram, like me. What a Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at Crooked.com/subscribe. I’m Jane Coaston, and honestly, the best part is that Politico only discovered these messages while investigating how one young Republican’s chapter is nearly $40,000 in debt. Racism and misogyny and anti-Semitism and mismanaging money? They really are young Republicans. [music break] What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It’s recorded and mixed by Desmond Taylor. Our associate producers are Emily Fohr and Chris Allport. Our video editor is Joseph Dutra. Our video producer is Johanna Case. We had production help today from Greg Walters, Matt Berg, Sean Alle, Gina Pollack, and Caitlin Plummer. Our senior producer is Erica Morrison, and our senior vice president of News and Politics is Adriene Hill. We had help today from the Associated Press. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka. Our production staff is proudly unionized with the Writers Guild of America East. [music break]

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