By Cameron McWhirter
DALTON, Ga. -- The Whitfield County Republican Party Christmas dinner Tuesday night offered the usual trappings of a Southern GOP gathering. About 50 party stalwarts dined on fried chicken and sweet tea, opened the event with a prayer to "Dear Lord Jesus" and closed by raffling off an AR-15.
In the heart of MAGA country, this should have been a night of unity. Instead, the deep-red northwest Georgia region has become ground zero for the broader friction and confusion in President Trump's Make America Great Again coalition.
The event, held in a restaurant that used to be a gas station, marked the Whitfield GOP's first Christmas shindig since local Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene publicly split with Trump, her onetime hero, and announced her resignation effective Jan. 5, halfway through her latest term. The two continue to trade barbs in the media.
Greene is a prominent voice in a MAGA wing that has clashed with the administration on issues such as foreign policy, the Jeffrey Epstein files, AI regulation and the economy. Two nights before the Christmas dinner, Greene drew the line on "60 Minutes." Asked if she was MAGA, she responded, "I am America First.... MAGA is President Trump's phrase."
The breakup comes as Trumpism's iron grip on the party is showing signs of slipping. The GOP-run Indiana Senate rejected a Trump-backed redistricting plan , Trump's approval rating has hit second-term lows, and Republicans have suffered a series of off-year election losses.
The falling out has left many in the district parsing whether they align with MAGA or America First.
Dawson Harper, a 26-year-old engineer and Georgia National Guard member, backs Trump but worries some in his administration are leading him astray. He also backs Greene. "She does voice our concerns and opinions, " he said. "A lot of working-class Americans are starting to feel left behind as they have been by previous administrations."
To Jackie Harling, 56, the new chairwoman of the 14th Georgia GOP District Committee, the intraparty grumblings are worrisome. Her job is to keep Republicans in the region united to beat the left. She stood up at the dinner to sound the alarm.
She warned that Greene's departure has created "a dangerous situation," with at least a dozen people announcing plans to succeed her in a special election scheduled for March. Too many Republican candidates, she cautioned, could dilute the vote and hand a Democrat the seat.
She urged people to pray, and described the coming vote as "D-Day."
The district
Georgia's 14th Congressional District spans Atlanta suburbs to remote mountain towns. The area remains largely white and rural, though Dalton has a substantial Hispanic population. Churches are ubiquitous. Most voters here consider themselves mainstream conservatives, although several years ago, billboards promoting QAnon ideas went up along Interstate 75 near Dalton exits.
Northwest Georgia voters have largely embraced Donald Trump for a decade, and today MAGA flags fly from homes and businesses. The area first elected Greene in 2020, and she has handily won re-election since. For years, the two stood side by side at events nationwide, trading compliments, with Greene usually sporting a red MAGA cap.
Then came the stunning breakup. On Nov. 14, Trump called Greene "wacky" and a "lunatic" on Truth Social, withdrew his support for her and urged conservatives to challenge her in a primary next year. In later posts, he called her a traitor.
In her four-page resignation letter, Greene stated that Trump had abandoned the movement's principles. She said his comments had brought death threats against her and her family.
In response to her "60 Minutes" appearance that aired last Sunday, Trump took to Truth Social to call her "dumb" and "not AMERICA FIRST or MAGA."
Some in the district favor Trump, including Ken Williams, an 81-year-old retired builder in Dalton. He said Greene "should think about things before she says them."
In Williams's view, the president is working to improve the economy. "It's hard for a billionaire to relate to a working man like myself, but I believe he's interested in making things better for working people," he said. "That's where the Democrats used to be until they wandered off into left field somewhere."
Others in the GOP differed. John McGuire, a Marine veteran, retired probation officer and longtime Republican, lives near Rome, Greene's hometown. She "showed courage," he said, calling the death threats "absolutely awful."
Political leaders of all stripes need to focus on the cost of living for average Americans, McGuire , 73, said. "We all go to the store several times a week, and it's kind of terrifying what a grocery bill can be."
'He's changed'
The Christmas dinner's mood was akin to a family gathering after the parents had announced their divorce. A red elephant statue sat at the room's entrance, but few of the speakers addressed the real elephant in the room: the path forward for MAGA.
Matt Fowler, a 21-year-old student at Dalton State College who attended the dinner, said older Republicans in the area, including his relatives, see Trump as "a political god," but many younger people feel Greene stayed focused on the needs of average Americans. He likes her partly because she touts that she doesn't accept money from the pro-Israel lobby known as Aipac, and he feels the president is too beholden to Israel and involved in foreign entanglements.
"He's changed," Fowler said of Trump. "She's stayed the same."
Many Republicans here are trying to move ahead while maintaining support for both figures.
MaKray Kyer, 29, chairman of the Whitfield County GOP, called the split a "weird situation" in an interview at the Christmas dinner. "We are very much still pro-Trump, and for not everyone, but for the most part, pro-Greene," he said.
The breakup -- and the special election it brings -- raises critical concerns for the party. Harling, the new district committee chairwoman, called recent Democratic victories in Georgia "terrifying.... We are not bulletproof." These include two landslide wins for statewide utility-commission posts and another for a state representative seat that Republicans previously considered safe.
Harling cried when she heard Greene was resigning. At the dinner, she praised her.
"Marjorie Taylor Greene represented us accurately," Harling said, drawing applause from the crowd. "She spoke on our behalf. She was a mama bear that was not perfect. Neither is any of us. But she left big shoes to fill."
Harling's focus is now keeping regional Republicans together -- a feat, she concludes, that requires accepting flaws in leaders for the greater good.
"I would die for my husband," said Harling, who has been married for decades
"I would kill for my husband. But I know things, I know his faults, and I know he's not perfect."
Write to Cameron McWhirter at Cameron.McWhirter@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 14, 2025 05:00 ET (10:00 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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