Overview
- Greene posted a widely shared photo on Aug. 1 that showed her, Tucker Carlson, Rep. Thomas Massie, former NCTC director Joe Kent and spouses meeting at Carlson’s Maine location and captioned the image, “The movement has begun.”
- The gathering gathers prominent Trump allies turned critics who have recently taken dramatic steps: Greene resigned from Congress in January, Massie lost a June primary, and Kent resigned from the National Counterterrorism Center in March in protest of the Iran war.
- Participants say the split centers on the Iran war and a promise to end foreign wars, with Carlson and others accusing U.S. policy of favoring foreign interests and urging an ‘America First’ platform focused on pulling back from overseas conflicts.
- President Trump has publicly attacked the dissenters, and coverage of the meeting drew strong reactions across the political spectrum while polls cited in coverage show broad public unease with the Iran war.
- The effort is early and informal: there is no party name, platform, or organizational rollout yet, and analysts note long-standing structural hurdles make a successful U.S. third party unlikely though the group could pressure the GOP going forward.