President Trump is challenging his MAGA base on foreign policy, immigration and the truth behind Jeffrey Epstein's suicide, irking some supporters in the process and highlighting divisions within his movement.
A big portion of MAGA does not back U.S. involvement in the Ukraine-Russia war, but Trump, annoyed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, has resumed sending weapons to Kyiv. Some in MAGA were also unnerved by Trump's use of force against Iran.
On immigration, Trump is responding to farmers spooked about labor issues by signaling support for efforts to ensure agriculture can employ migrants legally, though he has drawn a line on "amnesty."
The biggest eruption has been on Epstein, where the Department of Justice's announcement this week that Epstein committed suicide has drawn MAGA backlash and calls of a coverup.
“When you're president, there is no right decision. There's only an effective decision. … The difference between campaigning and governing is reality,” said GOP strategist Matt Bartlett, who served in the State Department during Trump’s first term.
“The administration seems to be dealing with reality. You can call it hypocrisy. You can call it backtracking. I think it's just a reality of the world, where some in the base are just so deeply wed to not just positions, but to conspiracy theories.”
MAGA cheered when Trump last week announced a pause in sending some weapons to Ukraine amid its ongoing war against Russia. The president has long promised to keep the U.S. out of “forever wars,” and 56 percent of Republicans in a March Gallup poll said the U.S. was doing “too much” to help Ukraine.
Just days later, Trump reversed course, saying “we have to” supply the weapons. The move vexed some MAGA voices, especially after military intervention in Iran last month.
“I did not vote for this,” wrote Derrick Evans, a convicted Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol rioter who ran unsuccessfully for Congress last year and was pardoned by Trump, in a post on X. Pro-Trump Newsmax host Todd Starnes said the same, also pointing to Trump’s moves on the Epstein case and immigration.
After winning the White House on a hardline immigration stance, including promises of day-one mass deportations, Trump last week signaled his aims to shield farmers who employ migrants illegally from his major crackdown, acknowledging that “serious radical-right people” may “not be quite as happy” with the move.
“There is no other issue the conservative base feels more passionately about than immigration,” commentator Chralie Kirk warned in a Monday post. “We must deliver mass deportations, not amnesty.”
Trump and his Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins have since stressed that there will be “no amnesty” for agricultural workers, though the administration will move forward with a work program to help the industry.
With these recent moves, strategists see a president grappling with the realities of the office while trying to live up to lofty campaign promises and please a broad base.
“It’s easier to campaign than it is to lead,” said GOP strategist Ron Bonjean. “Trump has done a good job of keeping his coalition together. At the same time, there are absolutely going to be some disagreements that take place.”
Trump is facing some tough questions on farm workers in particular.
“Even those MAGA voters, some of these businesses do have employees that are undocumented. … Where are you going to draw the line? And right now, if you're a MAGA supporter, probably the answer is: deport everyone. But Trump’s running into a problem [with] how businesses and farms operate … without those employees,” Bonjean said.
Republican strategist and Trump campaign alum Brian Seitchik said he “certainly” sees concern from MAGA world that support for Ukraine runs counter to Trump’s America First posture, but stressed that the president has to do “what he thinks is in America’s best interest” as new developments unfold abroad.
But the biggest development roiling many in MAGA world lately has been the administration’s moves around the Epstein case.
Attorney General Pam Bondi and other administration officials are taking the heat over a new memo that found no evidence Epstein kept a “client list” or sought to blackmail powerful figures, rebutting conspiracy theories that the disgraced financier was secretly murdered.
Figures in the Trump administration have long embraced related theories. But now, right-wing figures like Elon Musk, the Trump ally-turned-foe who has alleged that the president was named in the Epstein files, are accusing the administration of a cover-up.
Trump “led this coalition as a result of lack of faith in institutions,” Bartlett said, and even though he’s back in the Oval Office, it’s “unclear” whether or not that faith can be rebuilt among swaths of the base as the skepticism continues.
All the same, Trump allies downplayed the possibility that his supporters would abandon him or the GOP more broadly over the recent round of disagreements.
"His numbers are stronger than ever before with the Republican base. Republican voters are happier with him now than ever before," said one source close to the White House.
That source argued that in each case of disagreement, Trump supporters would likely direct their frustrations toward someone other than the president.
Much of the outrage over the Epstein debacle has been aimed at Bondi, for instance. And his supporters blamed "warmongers" in his ear advising him on Iran.
One official who served in Trump's first administration argued that Trump has the final word on what constitutes "America first" foreign policy, giving the president wide latitude to engage however he sees fit on the world stage.
"He said, 'I came up with this concept, and I decide what’s in it,’" the former administration official said.
"President Trump is proud of Attorney General Bondi’s efforts to execute his Make America Safe Again agenda, restore the integrity of the Department of Justice, and bring justice to victims of crime," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to The Hill. "The continued fixation on sowing division in President Trump’s Cabinet is baseless and unfounded in reality.”
That was on display as individuals who were initially skeptical of intervention in the Middle East, like Kirk, rallied behind Trump to argue his strikes on Iran were a necessary measure to protect American interests.
“They're the same influencers who are wholly supportive and going to continue to support President Trump because [of] the overall, big-picture policies. ... I don't think we'll ever see Charlie Kirk or people like him ever turn on Donald Trump,” said GOP strategist Brian Darling.
“I think that's the way most of the MAGA movement is going to treat it,” Darling said of the Epstein drama. “They're not going to like the way this was handled, but I think they're still going to be very loyal to the president and continue to support him.”
If there is a political impact from the recent divisions, it could potentially manifest in next year’s midterms, when the GOP will be looking to hold onto its majorities in the House and Senate.
“You could argue that the midterms are always tough for the party in power — that's no secret — and that potentially you're alienating some of these Republicans who may not turn out in a midterm election,” Seitchik said.
Conservative influencer Liz Wheeler called out Trump’s recent dismissal of a reporter’s Epstein question, warning in a post that “Trump is massively misreading his base on this one” and “it could cost him the midterms.”
“A lot of these issues are marginal issues, maybe even fringe issues,” Bartlett said. “Let's remember that a lot of our elections, whether they're House or maybe even president, are determined on the margins.”
Brett Samuels contributed.
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