President Donald Trump’s once unquestioned grip on his MAGA political base is showing signs of strain as some of his supporters have started pushing back on White House policy proposals they see as contrary to his long-held promises on immigration and the economy.
As Trump takes heat from even the most loyal segments of his political base, he has remained defiant.
“MAGA was my idea. MAGA was nobody else’s idea,” Trump told Fox News host Laura Ingraham in an interview that aired Monday. “I know what MAGA wants better than anybody else, and MAGA wants to see our country thrive.”
Trump remains popular with Republicans, and he’s still able to make or break candidates in Republican primaries — 88% of Republican registered voters approved of Trump in the latest NBC News poll, conducted in late October, before the latest elections. Among voters who consider themselves part of the MAGA movement, it’s even higher — 96% — highlighting the loyalty he commands from core supporters.
But there’s a belief among some of Trump’s MAGA supporters that is spilling out online that the president is increasingly swayed by wealthy donors who have access to him at private White House events, his exclusive Mar-a-Lago club and the luxury boxes he sits in when he attends sporting events, including a Washington Commanders football game on Sunday.
“President Trump is instinctually America First, but things are seriously askew,” said Paul Dans, the architect of Project 2025 who is running against Trump-endorsed Sen. Lindsey Graham in South Carolina’s GOP primary. “America First is experiencing a hijacking right now. He’s [Trump’s] getting bad advice and is being kept in a bubble.”
It’s a shift in focus that some on the right say can be traced back to the assassination of Charlie Kirk, the influential conservative leader of Turning Point USA who was gunned down in September.
“Charlie Kirk was the last person who could walk into the Oval Office and speak on behalf of the base,” Mike Cernovich, a prominent MAGA social media personality, posted on X. “Now it’s all donors.”
The White House pushed back on the idea that Trump is distancing himself from the ethos of his MAGA agenda on key policy planks, such as on H-1B visas.
“In record time, President Trump has done more than any president in modern history to tighten our immigration laws and put American workers first,” White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said.
On Wednesday, the Trump administration had to contend with another issue that has divided and frustrated his base: the case of Jeffrey Epstein. The House Oversight Committee released more than 20,000 pages of Epstein emails — some of which discussed Trump. A bipartisan pair of House lawmakers also secured enough signatures — including from some Trump allies — to force a vote in the coming days compelling the Justice Department to release all of its documents in the Epstein case against Trump’s wishes.
A Trump ally said that if the issues prompting loud online pushback continue, there could be broader political problems electorally for Trump and Republicans. But, they said, they are not convinced that point has been reached yet, because past base concern has often been overblown.
“Sure, could this all end up adding up and become a real problem? Yes, it could,” said the person, who, like others in this article, was granted anonymity to speak candidly. “But that, I do not think, is the point we are at yet. Worth watching, sure, but I think much of this will pass.”
‘What an atrocious thing to say’
The right-wing backlash intensified this week following Trump’s interview with Ingraham, which aired Monday and Tuesday. Trump batted away concerns about affordability as a Democratic “con job,” and he said a controversial new proposal for 50-year mortgages was “not even a big deal.” He also talked up having 600,000 Chinese students study at U.S. universities and said the U.S. needed to bring in more workers from overseas through the H-1B visa program because native-born Americans lack “certain talents.”
“What an atrocious thing to say,” actor and Trump supporter Kevin Sorbo posted on X of Trump’s comments on American workers. “This will cost republicans the midterms.”
The H-1B visa issue has split two segments of the new GOP base. The right-wing MAGA supporters who have long backed Trump oppose the program because they believe it hands over jobs to foreigners that could be filled by Americans, while the tech industry, a newly powerful political force on the right, has long supported the program as a way to recruit high-skill labor.
On his “Human Events” program Wednesday, right-wing influencer Jack Posobiec scrutinized Trump’s visa policy following his interview with Ingraham and asked Tom Sauer, another influencer on the right, “what message” the administration’s posture sends to MAGA supporters.
“I think it really says we don’t value you as much,” Sauer said. “We worship GDP, and we worship profits more than we do the health of the American worker and the health of the American nation.”
The White House pushed back on the idea that Trump’s recent comments were not aligned with the MAGA political base, noting an executive order he signed increasing the cost it takes to obtain an H-1B visa.
“The $100,000 payment required to supplement new H1-B visa applications is a significant first step to stop abuses of the system and ensure American workers are no longer replaced by lower-paid foreign labor,” Rogers, the White House spokesperson, said.
The idea for a 50-year mortgage — which was not something Trump previously touted — also faced withering criticisms. Commentators said the proposal would lead to homeowners paying significantly more in interest over the life of their mortgage, something that would benefit banks that hold those mortgages.
“The idea behind the 15- and 30-year mortgage is that you eventually own the home you live in, whereas the 50-year mortgage abandons this pretense altogether and fully embraces the idea of housing as a speculative asset,” right-wing activist Christopher Rufo posted on X. “Not good, unless you’re a bank.”
Others defended the president, saying critics had their facts wrong while acknowledging that the White House may need to work on its messaging. Trump said during his interview with Ingraham that he is comfortable with 600,000 Chinese students studying in American universities on visas — which is roughly current levels — but angered many in his MAGA base who believe Trump promised to decrease those numbers.
“This is about one interview, not any policy changes,” a former Trump campaign official said of the Ingraham interview. “On the Chinese visas, he’s not pushing for more; it’s just the status quo. On H-1Bs, he signed an executive order making them more expensive, and the Labor Department has announced probes into H-1B abuse.”
“So, it’s not like he did a 180 on anything,” the former official added. “It’s just bad clips from an interview.”
‘Get out and meet with the people’
Trump has run all three of his presidential campaigns as a populist, but throughout this term, he has been surrounded by billionaires. At his inauguration, some of the richest men in the world — Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and tech titan Elon Musk — had VIP seats. Musk then became one of Trump’s top advisers, wreaking havoc on the federal government by trying to get rid of large numbers of civil servants.
Trump frequently spends his weekends at Mar-a-Lago. He received criticism for hosting a lavish “Great Gatsby”-inspired Halloween party — with the theme “A Little Party Never Killed Nobody” — as federal workers went without pay and low-income food benefits were set to expire for millions of people during the government shutdown.
Trump has also traveled across the country less in his second administration. At this point in his first term, he had gone to 27 states; this year, he’s done just 15. He hasn’t held a rally-style event since July 3. Trump has, however, done a significant amount of international travel, going to 14 countries.
Dans said that as Americans are struggling with rising electric and utility bills, property taxes and health care premiums, the president needed to go around the country and hear from more than just the “Mar-a-Lago dining set.”
“I would encourage the president to get out and meet with the people and actually hear from voices who are being shut out by the inner circle,” he said.
Seeming to respond to right-wing criticism that the president’s attention has drifted from key domestic issues, Vice President JD Vance posted on X after last week’s Democratic electoral romps: “We need to focus on the home front.”
“The president has done a lot that has already paid off in lower interest rates and lower inflation, but we inherited a disaster from Joe Biden and Rome wasn’t built in a day,” he added.
This is not the first time this year Trump has faced pointed criticism from supporters. A number of prominent voices on the right raised objections to his decision to strike Iran over the summer amid its conflict with Israel. Many too blasted the administration for pledging to release a trove of information on Epstein before suddenly pulling back.
That blowback subsided. But last week’s elections reignited some concerns, after Democrats performed better than expected in key races. NBC News polling released earlier this month showed that just 34% of registered voters believe Trump has “lived up” to expectations on the economy.
The president “needs to recalibrate and address the big stuff,” one Trump ally said, pointing to inflation, jobs and the overall economy. This person also said the president needs to talk up policies from his so-called big, beautiful bill, which polling has found to be unpopular as a whole.
“I’ve watched the right wing implode over the last two weeks and the reason we are is because many are afraid to legitimately criticize the admin,” Savanah Hernandez, a conservative political commentator, posted on X on Tuesday. “It’s our job to openly put the pressure on when we don’t feel the country is headed in the right direction.”
But the former campaign official said on one of Trump’s core promises, immigration, he has been consistent. They noted that those who have been let into the country of late have mostly been white South Africans, a move largely backed by Trump supporters.
“Obviously, refugee admissions are hilariously low and mostly white South Africans,” the person said, adding that “a lot of the loudest voices on the right online” tend to “spiral over everything.”
“That is one thing hard to deal with,” they said.
The most recent NBC News poll found Trump’s overall approval rating was at 43%, a 4-point dip from March, while 51% said he had lived up to their expectations on the issue of immigration and border security.
Some allies pointed the finger less at Trump losing his way than how the White House has handled messaging.
“The MAGA pushback on affordability wasn’t big until the H-1B visas [comment],” a Republican close to the White House said. “Now it’s a firestorm.”
This person, who said the current White House messaging on the economy “appears pretty chaotic,” added that the way for the administration to turn the tide is to do a better job of informing the public how Trump’s policies are making life more affordable.
“Don’t send him around the country cutting ribbons at factories,” this person said. “Come with facts.”