Trumpist MAGA (Make America Great Again) supporters erupted this week over President Donald Trump’s claim that the United States needs foreign workers because it lacks “talented talent,” questioning his commitment to the “America First” policy championed and popularized by the Republican Party.
Congressional efforts to release government files on sex trafficking financier Jeffrey Epstein, a long-standing cause on the right, are moving forward against the wishes of the White House, even as Republicans deny the relevance of Epstein’s newly released emails, including some about Trump.
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, a longtime ally of President Trump, has sparred with the president on various fronts after suggesting the White House is too focused on foreign affairs and criticizing the country’s recent financial aid to Argentina.
Opponents showed a passionate base of supporters who disagreed with Trump on several issues, while supporting his leadership more broadly. The president’s critics have expressed doubts that the differences will damage support for him more permanently.
But the rare criticism reveals the limits of President Trump’s authority over his “America First” policy and raises concerns within the Republican Party ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. Some have warned that these differences could reduce the participation of less engaged voters that Trump has been able to mobilize in the past, but Republicans are already concerned about the fact that these voters will not turn out to vote in 2028, when Trump is not on the ballot.
“I think there’s a big risk to the 2026 midterm elections if we show that we don’t support them on these populist, nationalist issues,” said Republican strategist Steve Cortez, who argued that the U.S. has too many foreign workers and international students.
“I don’t know of anyone on the right who is furious enough to break with Trump, but we are disappointed,” Cortez said. “And we want to take you to a better place.”
Trump reacted defiantly to the criticism, insisting that he was the final arbiter of what the MAGA movement wanted.
“Remember, MAGA is my brainchild,” he said this week after Fox News host Laura Ingraham questioned the number of international students being allowed into the country. “MAGA was not someone else’s idea. I know better than anyone what MAGA wants.”
Later on social media, he called the “Jeffrey Epstein hoax” a distraction promoted by Democrats, saying, “Only very bad or stupid Republicans would fall into that trap.”
White House press secretary Abigail Jackson said in a statement that Trump has made many promises, from ensuring border security to “putting American workers first.” President Trump has introduced an aggressive tariff regime that he says is needed to bring jobs back to the United States, and his administration is seeking to rein in the H-1B program, which allows U.S. employers to sponsor skilled foreign workers, announcing $100,000 in visa fees and investigating allegations of abuse of the program.
“As the architect of the MAGA movement, President Trump will always put America first,” the spokesperson said.
But Republicans argue that the populist wing of the party is flexing its muscles and trying to pre-empt Trump’s efforts on certain topics, rather than simply following the president’s lead.
Mr. Ingraham’s interview with Mr. Trump on Monday sparked much of the recent backlash, which has been growing throughout this week. The interviewer pressed President Trump about the desire of some Republicans to reduce H-1B visas.
“If you want to raise wages for American workers, you can’t just flood this country with tens of thousands or even hundreds of workers,” she said.
“Well, I agree, but we also need to bring in talent,” Trump said.
“There’s a lot of talent here,” Ingraham said.
“No, not at all,” President Trump said. “No, we don’t,” he maintained, adding that it would be difficult to fill some skilled positions with Americans without experience.
The Republican reaction was unusually strong.
Conservative radio host Erick Erickson said on his show Wednesday that it was the “first time” he had seen so many longtime Trump supporters “furious at the president.”
“It’s not very ‘America First’ to say America doesn’t have the talent,” Erickson said. “There is a rift within MAGA because the president is a lame duck, and the president’s comments like this are exacerbating the rift.”
Influential figures in the Trumpist movement were outspoken in their condemnation. Right-wing YouTuber Tim Poole sarcastically wrote on Wednesday:
Laura Loomer, a radical right-wing influencer known for her loyalty to President Trump, said in an interview that the MAGA base “has a right to be disappointed” with the Trump administration’s approach. “We need to make sure that the promises made are kept,” she says.
“There’s always been a populist faction,” said Sean Logue, a former Republican county chairman in Pennsylvania, a major U.S. battleground state. “Mr. Trump has been able to take politics to new heights previously unimaginable. And Mr. MAGA will never abandon Mr. Trump. But this movement is now bigger than Mr. Trump.”
Some Republicans have focused their anger on those around the president, similar to other controversies where supporters have been reluctant to blame the president himself.
Steve Bannon, a former Trump adviser and prominent MAGA Base commentator, devoted much of his show Wednesday to the H-1B visa issue. But he focused on Trump’s Cabinet, showing footage of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reiterating Trump’s claims and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem defending the visa program. “The tech companies and the oligarchs are driving this,” Bannon said.
Party strategist Greg Keller echoed other sentiments, saying the base remains on Trump’s side. “I think it’ll be over by next week,” he said of the H-1B drama. “One of the things we learned about the Trump era is that tomorrow always brings a new news cycle.”
President Trump has clashed with allies on other issues as well. Last month, he faced a backlash from the right over financial aid to Argentina, which critics said was at odds with his “America first” message. The president approved a $20 billion aid package aimed at stabilizing Argentina’s currency and said the U.S. would buy Argentine beef to lower prices, worrying many U.S. ranchers and the Republicans who represent them.
Democrats are keen to use the Argentina issue against Republicans, seeing it as an effective tool to undermine President Trump’s populist message. However, this issue did not provoke a major revolt by the MAGA movement. Trump administration officials pushed back against the idea that the money was a Buenos Aires bailout, saying the U.S. government was making money from currency exchanges with allies.
Epstein’s pursuit has become an even more difficult subject for the White House. The issue exploded again Wednesday when Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released old emails. The documents included one in which Epstein wrote that Trump knew about the sexual abuse of minors but was not involved in the crimes. Mr. Trump was friends with Mr. Epstein, but denied knowledge of or involvement in Mr. Epstein’s crimes, saying they had a falling out in the mid-2000s.
The White House and most Republicans in Congress, including some who helped push the vote to release the Epstein files, have downplayed the emails and accused Democrats of releasing them to distract from their own failure to win concessions on the government shutdown that ended this week. Republicans have largely come to Trump’s defense this year, as news coverage has focused on the president’s relationship with Epstein and Democrats have become more vocal on the issue.
“Since the mainstream media has focused on this, MAGA’s base has become more defensive and unwilling to pursue some of the legitimate issues surrounding Mr. Epstein, let alone his relationship with the president,” said Matthew Bartlett, a Republican strategist.
But widespread debate over government information about Epstein, known as the “Epstein Files,” continues. Over the summer, influential Republicans helped raise questions about the case and pushed back against the administration after the Justice Department announced it had not found an “incriminating client list,” despite speculation from the right. Trump himself has criticized his supporters for being obsessed with the Epstein scandal, saying he no longer wants their support.
“He’s distancing himself from the MAGA base,” said Rep. Thomas Massey, one of the leaders of a petition calling for next week’s forced vote on releasing the Epstein files. The petition had the support of three other House Republicans, including Marjorie Taylor Greene, who spoke out harshly against President Trump this week on H-1B visas, foreign policy and other issues.
“I am America first and America only,” Greene wrote to X on Wednesday. President Trump said this week that Greene is “serving the other side.” “She’s a wonderful woman, but I don’t know what happened,” Trump said. “She got lost.”
About The Author
