Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's decision to resign from Congress reflects both her limited influence on Capitol Hill and her unwillingness to withstand political pushback from President Donald Trump, former New York Rep. Pete King told Newsmax on Sunday.
"I've always felt that her importance was overrated," King said on Newsmax's "Wake Up America Weekend." "I know she did appeal to a certain element of the Republican base."
Still, he said he thinks the Republican Party gave Greene, R-Ga., who will leave office in January, too much credit.
"Giving her something to say on foreign affairs, actually listening to her some policy pronouncements, I thought we were giving her too much credit, too much airtime, and more than she deserved," King said.
He added that Greene misunderstood the expectations of governing.
"If you agree with someone on most issues and you have a disagreement on a particular one, you don't attack them," King said. "The way she was attacking the Republican leadership and President Trump on the healthcare issue, on the government shutdown, to me, was going too far."
Former Georgia Rep. Jack Kingston said Greene's exit is a blow to House Republicans' narrow majority.
"You're going to get mad, you're going to be disappointed, [and] you're going to get frustrated as all get out with your own team," Kingston said.
"But you don't leave the post... not when you have a one, two, three vote majority. You have to stay in the fight," he added.
Kingston said Greene's explanation that she was acting out of disgust over the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein file release does not match her political behavior.
"When you're not able to get your colleagues to agree with you, so you start siding with the other team more than you're on the side with your team, that seems to create a problem," he said.
Kingston added that Greene's departure undermines her own voters.
"If you really love your folks back home who sent you for a two-year term, you fulfill that obligation, and you continue to fight the good fight," Kingston said. "You can't fight the good fight from home."
King noted that Greene's exit comes at a crucial moment, with another funding deadline early next year.
"Every single vote is going to be a big battle," he said, calling the move "politically calculated, and it's going to hurt the Republican Party."
Kingston pointed out that Greene resigned two days after she qualified for her congressional pension.
"It doesn't escape me that she also made it five years in, two days after she was just in time to be vested in Congress," he said.
The two former lawmakers also responded to last week's Oval Office meeting between President Donald Trump and New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.
King said he was troubled by the mayor's past positions.
"He has been promoting antisemitism in New York," King said. "He's been enabling riots and attacks on Jews. All was going on at Columbia University and other places."
King said he did not object to the meeting itself but questioned the tone.
"I have no problem with the wall coming down, shaking hands, any of that," he said. "But I just think saying this guy could be a great mayor, this guy is really impressed with what he has to say, and overlooking all the antisemitism, all that's gone on before, to me, is the reason why even [Senate Minority Leader] Chuck Schumer and many New York leaders have spoken out."
Kingston said the president had little choice but to meet with Mamdani, though he warned the mayor will test the relationship.
"They're both leaders," Kingston said. "But he is not going to keep this kind of facade of, yeah, let's all get along."
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