Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Wednesday urged people to stop listening to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), suggesting her politics are drifting left.
Speaking on CNBC’s Squawk Box, Cruz said Greene’s recent attacks on fellow Republicans amid the government shutdown weren’t worth attention, advising viewers not to “spend much time worrying about what Marjorie is saying.”
“What I’ve found is that whenever an elected official decides that they are going to turn on Israel and hate Israel, you will very quickly see every other policy out of their mouth become very, very liberal,” Cruz continued. “And so suddenly Marjorie is for massive government spending and taxes and open borders and amnesty; OK, fine. That is not where the American people are. Where the American people are is real simple. We’re on Day 29 of the stupidest shutdown.”
Cruz echoed Sen. Bernie Moreno’s (R-Ohio) requests for Greene to cease openly criticizing House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).
“If this is something she‘s passionate about, put pen to paper, write a bill, present an option,” Moreno said during an appearance on CNN’s “The Source.” “Don‘t just criticize what other people are doing.”
On Tuesday, Greene criticized Johnson during a conference call for failing to present Republicans with an alternative to the Affordable Care Act. Her remarks come as Democrats push to extend ACA tax credits set to expire at year’s end.
“Johnson said he’s got ideas and pages of policy ideas and committees of jurisdiction are working on it, but he refused to give one policy proposal to our GOP conference on our own conference call,” the Georgia Republican wrote in a post on social platform X. “Apparently I have to go into a SCIF to find out the Republican healthcare plan!!!”
Cruz dismissed Greene’s criticisms of Johnson in May, calling her effort to oust Johnson from his leadership position “silly.”
“And I think Marjorie Taylor Greene, to try to topple the Speaker increases the chances of chaos, it increases the chances of handing control to the Democrats,” Cruz said on the RealClearPolitics radio show. “And there is zero chance a more conservative Speaker will result, so I think what she’s doing is really unhelpful to the country.”
In July, Greene became the first congressional Republican to call the humanitarian crisis in Gaza a “genocide” following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war. She later criticized AIPAC, arguing it should register as a foreign lobbyist.
“Israel is not hurting, and they’ve already proven that they are more than capable of not only defending themselves, but annihilating their enemies to the point of genocide,” Greene said on a show hosted by former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) on One America News Network in August. “And that’s what’s happening in Gaza.”
