Washington DC - President Donald Trump hit out at his once-devoted ally Marjorie Taylor Greene on Monday, marking the latest point in the breakdown of their relationship.

The fa-right Republican congresswoman from Georgia has emerged as an unlikely – and rare – dissenting voice on a host of issues.

In recent months, Greene has broken ranks with the president on issues ranging from Gaza to the affordability crisis.

The final straw came when she urged him to focus on domestic issues instead of foreign policy, as Trump hosted Syria's former jihadist president at the White House on Monday.

"I don't know what happened to Marjorie. She's a nice woman, but I don't know what happened. She's lost her way, I think," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked about her comments.

Trump said Greene was "now catering to the other side" and said she had "got some kind of an act going."

"I'm surprised at her. But when somebody like Marjorie goes over and starts making statements like that, it shows she doesn't know."

Greene's sudden shift has prompted speculation that she is lining up for her own presidential bid in 2028, although she has dismissed it as "baseless gossip."

The change is especially jarring as she made her name as a fierce defender of Trump's policies – particularly to foreign media, whom she regularly lashed out at.

But Greene has increasingly taken a softer tone, and one that is at odds with Trump on a growing number of issues.

The first signs came when she split with other Republicans over the summer when she called Israel's destruction of Gaza a genocide – a determination shared by a consensus of experts and scholars.

Then she became a leading voice calling for justice for victims of notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, despite Trump trying to dampen the reignited furor over the case.

More recently, Greene has been highlighting the healthcare and cost of living crises, telling CNN that "affordability is a problem" – just hours after Trump dismissed the issue.

She even appeared on the ABC's The View, where she surprised the hosts with her open attitude.

Then ahead of the visit of Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, whom she branded a "former Al-Qaeda terrorist", Greene said that "I would really like to see nonstop meetings at the WH on domestic policy not foreign policy."

Her comments, while more direct, in fact echoed Vice President JD Vance's remark last week that Republicans need to focus on the "home front" after heavy losses to Democrats in elections in New York, New Jersey and Virginia.

Trump defended his focus on foreign policy on Monday.

"It's easy to say, 'Oh don't worry about the world,' but the world is turning out to be our biggest customer," he said.