The Joy Reid Show: "BREAKING NEWS: MTG OUT! What’s Her Game?"

Date: November 22, 2025
Host: Joy-Ann Reid
Notable Guests: Elie Mystal (legal analyst), Jolanda Jones (Texas lawmaker), Stuart Stevens (political strategist)

Episode Overview

This overtime live episode opens with the breaking news that controversial Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (MTG) has announced she is quitting Congress. Joy-Ann Reid dives into the timing, motivations, and broader meaning of MTG's departure, weaving in discussion of her political future, her recent feuding with Trump, and wild speculation about whether she is seeking a bigger national stage.

Alongside this, the episode features sharp analysis of the Supreme Court’s latest interventions on gerrymandering and voting rights, and what the Republican Party’s current trajectory might mean for American politics.

Key Segments & Discussion Points

1. Marjorie Taylor Greene Resigns from Congress (00:21–10:48)

• Breaking News Read-Aloud: Joy reads MTG's lengthy resignation letter, filled with populist criticism of the “political industrial complex,” attacks on Washington, railing against immigration, foreign wars, the cost of living, and unpassed conservative bills.
• Host Analysis: Joy contextualizes MTG as a MAGA firebrand, closely tied initially to Trump and QAnon, but now estranged over issues like the Epstein files and Israel ("where they broke faith with one another was over the Epstein files and over Israel" – 08:00).
• Speculation on Motives: Joy notes her upcoming book, eyebrow-raising media appearances (e.g., “The View”), and theorizes MTG has bigger ambitions that could include podcasting or a presidential run:
  • "I think she’s going for the throne, y’all. I believe she’s going for the throne.” (09:53)
  • “Remember where she came from, she was a Q tuber. She was a pro QAnon YouTuber...” (10:20)
• Epstein Files/Trump Rift: Host highlights that supporting transparency around Epstein’s associates put her at odds with Trump and the donor class.

2. Supreme Court Gerrymandering Stay – With Elie Mystal (10:48–28:12)

• Texas Maps Ruling: Legal analyst Elie Mystal explains (10:48–16:45) the Supreme Court’s temporary stay on Texas’s gerrymandered maps—likely a precursor to allowing the maps (deemed “adjudicatedly racist” by a Trump-appointed judge) to stay in place for 2026.
  • “This is going to last a couple of business days before the full Supreme Court hears it...I do think that we will get the big stay next week from the full Supreme Court.” (10:55)
• The Two Legal Fronts: Mystal distinguishes between the Texas case (a constitutional challenge to a race-based gerrymander, not a Voting Rights Act case) and similar battles in Louisiana, California, and North Carolina.
  • “The Supreme Court says you can gerrymander for partisan reasons, but you can’t break people up strictly based on race...” (14:46)
• Supreme Court Tactics: Mystal walks through how the conservative majority can block fair maps without issuing a real decision—simply delaying until deadlines pass (see Purcell Principle, 17:45).
  • “All they have to do is delay hearing the case until February, until February of 2026...February 1 becomes the date that we have to be concerned about.” (18:40)
• Racial Representation & Roberts’ Role:
  • “Congress is 78% white...but white people are only 60% of the country.” (17:10)
  • “John Roberts basically acts as if the only way we can stop racism is if the racist self-report." (23:20)

3. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Political Future & Cowardice – Elie Mystal’s Take (28:12–33:16)

• Red State Protection: Joy and Elie dissect how, in theory, MTG should have been safe due to heavy gerrymandering—but facing a Trump-backed challenge, even MTG must retreat.
  • "The threat Trump can present to her is a primary of somebody even further to the right..." (28:20)
  • “Cowardly leaving is cowardly. She found a voice...and when the fight got hard, she ran. That is how I interpret most Republicans: They're cowards.” (28:55)
• Financial Motivation: Both note her exit date coincides with her congressional pension vesting, barely squeaking in before she leaves ("set for January 5, 2026...one business day after her congressional pension vests"). (29:30)

4. MTG, QAnon, and the Post-Trump Republican Party (33:16–36:21)

• Joy and Elie theorize that MTG could be positioning herself for leadership in a "post-Trump Republican Party," appealing to the conspiratorial base but possibly vying for national office ("pre-positioning for the post-Trump Republican Party" – 33:16).
• They discuss the popularity of releasing Epstein files with the QAnon wing, and how the GOP’s right-most possible future contenders (Nick Fuentes, Tucker Carlson, JD Vance) stack up.

5. The Unconstitutional Trump VP Gambit – Legal Mythbusting (36:24–40:09)

• Joy floats a social media theory that Trump could run as VP alongside a proxy, then swap jobs. Elie Mystal debunks this idea:
  • “No, it’s not. Not constitutional under the 12th amendment...nobody can run for vice president who is ineligible to be president.” (36:49)
  • Mystal raises realworld authoritarian examples (Putin, Xi Jinping, Bukele) and warns "paper laws" don't always constrain autocrats.

6. Supreme Court Stay – Jolanda Jones, Texas Lawmaker Perspective (41:44–52:04)

• Jones discusses the significance of December 8th (Texas candidate filing deadline) and why the administrative stay is a shrewd (if unlawful) Republican tactic.
  • “My mother always told me...don’t be surprised when white folks do white stuff...they’ve been trying to get back to Jim Crow for a very long time." (42:15)
  • “The Supreme Court in which at least five of them, probably six of them do not believe in the Voting Rights Act.” (45:45)
• She cautions Democrats to stop thinking short-term and start strategizing generationally:
  • “We literally need to start planning 50, 75, 100 years in the future. We cannot be two years away. We gonna get spanked all day, every day.” (52:00)

7. Stuart Stevens: MTG, GOP Succession, and GOP Extremism (53:09–73:17)

• MTG's Presidential Ambitions: Stevens agrees with Joy’s theory MTG may not know what she wants but may seek a higher national profile or even the presidency:
  • “She was hostess at the Cannibal Ball and thought they would never eat her… and as it turns out, the guests decided she looked delicious.” (54:15)
• GOP's Moral Collapse: Stevens recounts how Republican advancement has become about "stricter and stricter purity tests" and extremism.
  • “The Republican Party is not a traditional American political party anymore. It’s an extremist movement.” (57:01)
• Weak Leadership and the Cult of Trump: The party has bred a crop of weak, compliant politicians in thrall to Trump, with Stevens skewering Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio as morally empty figures.
  • “If you said to Marco Rubio, we need one of your children for tribute, he might summon the courage to say, can I pick the child? But that would be the limit.” (64:00)
• Structural Dependence on White Vote: Joy and Stevens analyze how the GOP relies almost solely on white voters; margins among nonwhite voters are not enough to change election dynamics.
  • “No Republican has ever been elected to office who did not win a majority of white people voters.” (69:58)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Joy-Ann Reid:
  • “I think she’s going for the throne, y’all. I believe she’s going for the throne.” (09:53)
  • “Remember where she came from, she was a Q tuber. She was a pro QAnon YouTuber...” (10:20)
  • "My mother always told me...don’t be surprised when white folks do white stuff...they’ve been trying to get back to Jim Crow for a very long time." (42:15)
• Elie Mystal:
  • “Cowardly leaving is cowardly...when the fight got hard, she ran...that is how I interpret most Republicans: They’re cowards.” (28:55)
  • “John Roberts basically acts as if the only way we can stop racism is if the racist self-report." (23:20)
• Stuart Stevens:
  • "She was hostess at the Cannibal Ball and thought they would never eat her… and as it turns out, the guests decided she looked delicious.” (54:15)
  • “The Republican Party is not a traditional American political party anymore. It's an extremist movement. And what do we know about extremist movements? …They always demand stricter and stricter purity tests.” (57:01)
  • “If you said to Marco Rubio, we need one of your children for tribute, he might summon the courage to say, can I pick the child? But that would be the limit.” (64:00)

Timeline of Major Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | |-------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:21–10:48 | Breaking: MTG resigns – Joy reads/resumes and analyzes her statement | | 10:48–28:12 | Supreme Court ruling/gerrymander explainer – w/ Elie Mystal | | 28:12–33:16 | MTG’s motives & cowardice – Joy & Elie | | 33:16–36:21 | MTG, QAnon, post-Trump GOP future | | 36:24–40:09 | Legal mythbusting: “Trump as VP” plan – Elie Mystal | | 41:44–52:04 | Texas lawmaker Jolanda Jones: SCOTUS, voting rights, long game | | 53:09–73:17 | Stuart Stevens: MTG’s future, GOP collapse, race, the cult of Trump |

Tone & Style

The episode balances deep legal/political analysis (sometimes irreverent and bracing) with Joy’s signature wit and blunt candor. Political rivals and institutional failures are called out forthrightly. Even as guests provide sobering insight, there are moments of levity and humor, especially when roasting public figures.

Takeaways for Listeners

• MTG’s exit is interpreted as self-serving (pension, planning a media/political future), but also a harbinger of ongoing turmoil within the Republican right.
• The Supreme Court’s maneuvers are critically important for American democracy and racial representation, but are being executed with little transparency and in a partisan fashion.
• The GOP is depicted as a party in moral and structural crisis—dependent on white identity politics and increasingly extremist.
• The Democratic coalition remains reliant on nonwhite voters; the battle for basic civil rights protections continues as the courts are weaponized for long-term partisan gain.

Closing Note

Joy closes with characteristic shade and a note of resilience: whatever MTG or her imitators do next, the fight continues—“The history of this country has taught us we’re gonna get through this...but we literally need to start planning 50, 75, 100 years in the future.”