Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) on Wednesday praised Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), overlooking her long history of attacking him.
During an appearance at a CNN town hall, Sanders called Greene a “good Republican” due to her support for a Democratic-favored solution that would extend Obamacare subsidies to end the government shutdown. Sanders’s remarks made him the latest and most prominent left-wing figure to applaud Greene for her stance, joining the likes of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY).
“There are some decent, honest Republicans,” Sanders told the audience. “And you know, in American society, we believe in democracy. You’re a conservative Republican. We disagree. So what? It’s called America. We have different points of view.”
Sanders appeared to center his praise for Greene over recent comments she made, asserting that she is “not some sort of blind slave” to President Donald Trump. While Greene is typically a staunch supporter of the president, she has broken with his administration to stand with Democrats in supporting attaching extensions to the Affordable Care Act to the Republicans’ continuing resolution to end the shutdown.
“I’m not elected by the president. I’m not elected by anyone that works in the White House. I’m elected by my district. That’s who I work for, and I got elected without the president’s endorsement, and, you know, I think that has served me really well,” she told NBC News in comments defending her stance earlier this month.
Sanders celebrated Greene’s positioning this week when pressed by a Republican voter during the town hall on which GOP leaders he believes would work with Democrats to attach Obamacare subsidies to the continuing resolution to reopen the government.
“I gotta tell you … one of the things that has concerned me very, very much is that we are seeing the Republican party. Doing less of representing their districts and their states than just swearing allegiance to the President of the United States,” he said Wednesday. “So I never thought that I would say this, but you have somebody like Marjorie Taylor Greene saying, ‘You know what, I was elected by my constituents, that’s who I am beholden to, not the President or the United States.’ So there are good Republicans out there.”
Socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) praises Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene (R-GA): She is one of the "good Republicans" pic.twitter.com/HxiHrBlKiX
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) October 16, 2025
Sanders’s friendly words come despite Greene’s long history of attacking him.
In 2021, Greene said Sanders was among the top Democrats who “swore” an oath to comply with “the communist agenda” while they were studying in college.
“Every single elected Republican should say no to every single thing they want and never give them a damn thing because they’re ruining our country,” she said during an appearance on Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast.
In 2023, Greene slammed Sanders for attacking “free speech” after he allegedly had members of an organization calling for an end to the Ukraine war arrested after they showed up at his Senate office in Washington, D.C.
“Today, I met brave @codepink activists who protested for peace in Bernie Sanders’ office. He had 11 of them arrested! Peace & free speech shouldn’t be a partisan issue,” she wrote in a post to X at the time.
The criticisms have continued this year despite Greene drawing closer to Sanders’s position on matters such as the war in Gaza, Israel, the Jeffrey Epstein case, and the White House’s decision to authorize strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities.
This spring, Greene criticized Sanders for jetting across the country with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) as part of their “Fighting Oligarchy” tour.
Sanders is “a joke,” Greene wrote in April, criticizing him for endorsing former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016, marking an end to their bitter battle to win the Democratic presidential nomination.
“Hillary Clinton literally stole the election from him and everyone knew it including him and then he turned and obediently endorsed her as the Democrat nominee for President, losing all trust and respect of his supporters who wanted to challenge the Democrat party status quo,” Greene continued.
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Greene again denounced Sanders in June for attending a “No Kings” protest against Trump.
“Bernie Sanders brags about protesting today at the funded ‘No Kings’ protest and encourages overthrowing the elected government,” she said. “Yet countries that actually have kings have no right to protest against their kings.”
