More than a decade ago, President Trump descended that golden escalator. At the time, he was polling in single digits among Republicans. Among the conservatives I knew, he was considered a joke, an aberration, and, even, a clown. Yet, here we are, nearly 11 years later — and no president has dominated American politics as he has since, maybe, President Reagan. 

Welcome to Washington, where this past week we got a glimpse into the post-Trump future. Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a devotee of the president’s, decided to quit the House for the lack of a political future. She is not running for the Senate, she is not running for Georgia governor, and, she insists, is not running for president come 2028. 

Ms. Greene’s sudden departure is, in my estimation, less about the firebrand Georgian, and more about Mr. Trump himself. Now, for the first time in more than a decade — and the first time in my career of professionally covering American politics — we are getting a view of the ugliness which may come as Mr. Trump’s power wanes. 

Less than a year from now, several Republican candidates will be jockeying for the party’s presidential nomination. The Democratic primary will be wide open, to be sure. One can list at least 30 Democrats who have the bona fides to seek that nomination. More importantly, I’m sure I can name those 30 Democrats without mentioning a single person who ran for the presidency ever before.

Today, it is clearer than ever that Vice President Vance surely does not have any guarantee that he will be his own party’s standard-bearer. 

“Today, many in my children’s generation feel hopeless for their future and don’t think they will ever realize the American dream, which breaks my heart,” Ms. Greene declared in her four-page letter announcing her January 2026 resignation, speaking to the concerns — especially among America’s youth — about the cost of living. 

While she says she is not running for president, Ms. Greene’s “American Only” vision will surely be represented. By whom, in its purest forms, I do not know, given that she says she will not run for the nomination. I can, though, confidently declare now that her favored isolationism, protectionism, and government intervention in the economy will have purchase with the party. 

“The legislature has been mostly sidelined,” she writes of the Congress. 

Such a line could be effective in a primary debate against Mr. Vance come 2027, as the Article I branch has ceded its power on tariffs and eschewed its simple responsibility in being at work for the last two months. 

“We endured an 8 week shut down wrongly resulting in the House not working for the entire time, and we are entering campaign season which means all courage leaves and only safe campaign re-election mode is turned on,” Ms. Greene argues. 

Speaker Mike Johnson’s decision to keep the House shut down for nearly two months was a political tactic. To his credit, though, the politics of keeping lawmakers far from the press and from taking votes and from negotiating quietly among themselves on the House floor clearly worked. Senate Democrats folded with nothing, and the speaker is now able to get back to regular order. 

Still, Ms. Greene in her “America First” garb gives us a glimpse, more than anyone else before her, to an intraparty fight. A congressman from Kentucky, Thomas Massie, a true libertarian  who, arguably — even more than Senator Rand Paul — represents the ideological strain of his father, Ron Paul, the former congressman, now could have a lane to run for the presidency after next year’s midterms.

Especially on the issue of tariffs and the Jeffrey Epstein files, Mr. Massie has been outspoken. At the same time, Mr. Vance — by dint of being vice president — has had to defend Mr. Trump at every turn. 

Ms. Greene’s decision to file a bill to ban visas for high-skilled employees cross-pollinates with Governor Ron DeSantis’s declared desire to slash such a program. Mr. DeSantis could yet emerge as the true anti-immigration — both legal and illegal — candidate of 2028. 

The real energy of the 2028 GOP primary could be around foreign policy, however, as Ms. Greene and other reactionaries have questioned foreign entanglements. Especially on Israel and Ukraine, there could be a candidate — if not Ms. Greene — who wins favor with the Georgia congresswoman. 

Mr. Trump, as a lifelong real estate magnate, has been transactional more than anything else. For more than a decade, his ability to be pragmatic in dealing with even the most ardent ideological opponents has given him some leeway with the GOP base. The coming crop of candidates, however, may get no such love from the Republican base.