Family feud: Trump at odds with MAGA movement on multiple fronts

 

President Donald Trump isn't on the same page with key figures in the Make America Great Again movement after a number of U-turns have miffed right-leaning activists on issues dear to their heart.

Most recently, MAGA-aligned conservatives have scorched the administration over a FBI and Department of Justice memo that failed to deliver on promises of new details in the Jeffrey Epstein child sex trafficking case.

Some in the populist movement are now calling for resignations, including Attorney General Pam Bondi, who earlier this year indicated there was an Epstein client list and invited right-wing influencers to the White House who were eager to get more information on the convicted sex offender.

Republican Chris Ager, of Amherst New Hampshire, said Trump's support among MAGA activists remains high in his part of the country, emphasizing the president has kept promises on border security and deporting undocumented immigrants.

But the 65-year-old former chairman of the Granite State GOP said there is notable irritation with Trump administration officials − Bondi specifically − over the handling of the Epstein case.

"The expectation was set that there was going to be some big reveal and like with anything in life, if you set a high expectation and you don't meet it, people are going to be disappointed," Ager told USA TODAY.

"It's mostly going to fall on AG Bondi, because she was the one that made the promise."

Democratic critics and other progressives are smirking eye-to-ear at the fallout given how much the focus on the Epstein case stemmed from misinformation and conspiracy theories. Trump supported the idea of releasing details about Epstein's associates during the 2024 presidential campaign.

But there is a wider discontent among the MAGA base that the president must contend with as well, according to experts, who point out how parts of the populist movement that ignited his initial candidacy in 2016 and catapulted him back to power last year are beginning to feel alienated.

Whether it’s Republicans in Congress breaking with the president over his strike against Iran or renewed arm shipments to Ukraine; conservative commentators airing worries about possible amnesty extensions to farm and hotel workers; or Elon Musk launching a third party after publicly trashing the "one, big beautiful bill" the Trump administration has plenty of fires to put out before the 2026 mid-term elections.

"Trump is so much more effective at campaigning than he is at governing because in his campaigns he's able to be many things to many parts of his coalition, and in 2024 in particular, he was able to expand his coalition," said Matthew Dallek, a historian and professor of political management at George Washington University.

The president's freewheeling style −that will hint at a change of course on big issues − angers parts of that coalition, and "some of his partners in the MAGA movement look at what he's doing, and say 'this isn't what I thought I was getting,'" he added.

White House scrambles to smother amnesty talk

Trump continues to receive his highest approval marks among conservatives for his controversial handling of undocumented immigrants.

While the administration's overall approach to immigration, for instance, was viewed more negatively than positively among all voters, with 42% approving and 47% disapproving, in a Pew Research Center survey in June, the partisan gulf is immense.

The Pew poll found 78% of Republicans and GOP-leaning independent voters give Trump a thumbs up with just 12% who give a thumbs down.

Trump alarmed many immigrantion hardliners last month, however, when he took to his online platform to share how the farm and hospitality industry have "very good workers" who aren't citizens. About 42% of farmworkers in the U.S. from 2020 to 2022, for instance, lacked legal status, according to the Department of Homeland Security. 

"I don't think we should have any of them in the country," Republican Jason Bracey, a 53-year-old locomotive engineer, said in an interview. "You're here illegally. How do we know you're not here to do us harm?"

Many national MAGA voices swarmed on the potential pivot and point the finger at Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, who said at a July 8 press conference there will be no amnesty and that mass deportations will continue, "but in a strategic way."

"We didn't vote for her, we voted for you Mr. Trump. We voted for you to deport these millions of people out of our country," conservative activist J.J. Carrell said during a July 8 appearance on Stinchfield Tonight, which airs on Real America's Voice, a right-wing streaming, cable and satellite television channel.

Asked if the president is making a mistake, Bracey, who lives in Calcutta, Ohio which is at the state's northeastern border with Pennsylvania, told USA TODAY that Trump's support is fueled by sticking up for working-class Americans.

The administration should hold farmers accountable and unauthorized migrants working on those lands shouldn't be giving a pass from ICE raids, he said.

"Agriculture is so used to paying under the table and getting cheap labor that there we're starting to realize Americans, we need more money to live," Bracey said. "We can't live on less than an average wage. If we're not paying a livable wage here in America, then (they) definitely shouldn't be here."

MAGA watches closely as Trump walks foreign war tightrope

Similar misgivings are in the Republican atmosphere thanks in part to Trump's contradictory moves overseas, such as sending Ukraine more defensive weapons after the Pentagon declared it would halt some shipments.

That earned the White House kudos from Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., a foreign policy hawk who has publicly objected to Trump's embrace of MAGA skepticism at assisting Ukraine in the past."I’m glad that President Trump wants to resume deliveries of lethal capabilities to Ukraine. America’s policy of providing lethal support to Ukraine began during his first term, and likely helped deter earlier Russian escalation," the former GOP Senate leader reminded in a July 8 statement.

"This time, the president will need to reject calls from the isolationists and restrainers within his administration to limit these deliveries to defensive weapons."

Republican strategist Liz Mair said a core MAGA value is the movement's "realist-isolationist" view of the world that is skeptical of foreign alliances and other entanglements. The tiny but vocal cabal online might be willing to share their disagreements with Trump's actions but that hasn't trickled down to grassroots voters fully, she said.

"I think about 8% of the MAGA base legitimately has a problem with the direction... that’s a small number within the broader electorate," Mair said. "I also think they have nowhere else to go, and ultimately, a lot of their worries turned out to be completely misplaced."

Then there is resistance from within the MAGA movement over helping Israel in its conflict in the Middle East that extended to Iran. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and conservative pundit Tucker Carlson spoke against those strikes in a June 28 interview.

Yet there remains a hesitance about criticizing Trump directly among voters who spoke with USA TODAY who maintain a loyalty to the president despite certain shortcomings or perceived contradictions being called out by more prominent movement figures.

"When it comes to war there always are going to be people that don't want to do anything, but I agree with what he did," Republican Madelyn Brown, a 65-year-old regulatory exam manager from Lakeport, California, said of the June 21 strike against Iran.

"That was a smart move to make," she added. "He reduced or stopped a lot of wars by doing it."

Brown said the criticisms being lobbed by Greene and other MAGA voices might reflect their own "political aspirations" given Trump could be approaching a lame duck status should Democrats grab a portion of Congress in the near future.

Musk third party threat could pose threats in 2026 midterms

The experts and strategists who spoke with USA TODAY said it is far too early to think of Trump as entering his final period given the major victories in Congress and favorable Supreme Court rulings.

There has been longstanding tension within the Republican ranks between the MAGA movement and more traditional conservatives, but observers say Trump's recent actions, such as supporting Ukraine, are crucial for his political future and the GOP's prospects in the 2026 midterms.

"Trump bridges those traditional views and the MAGA party, and probably at the frustration of both," Ryan Bernstein, a former chief of staff to Sen. John Hoeven, R-North Dakota, told USA TODAY.

"Both sides understand that they need Trump because he's the one driving the policy and legislative agenda in Washington, and the narrative across the country."

Bernstein said MAGA activists are working to move their agenda, but that it hasn't panned out well for them and that Trump remains in charge.

"Whether or not it will after the midterms might be a whole different deal on whether or not, because then he will truly be a lame duck," he said.

Enter Elon Musk, who joined the MAGA movement much later as a Trump ally who helped him devour entire federal agencies in the early months of the administration. Many of those cuts have been clawed back and layoffs have been scaled back at the president's request, for example.

The world's richest person now has a distaste for Republicans after Trump bulldozed his debt-exploding "big beautiful bill" through Congress. Musk has launched a quest to build a new national political party, which coupled with Democratic attacks could cause problems for Trump and GOP congressional candidates next year.

Musk will be aiming his millions at Republican incumbents who backed Trump's legislative agenda, saying on X this month the new group, dubbed the American Party, would have a "laser-focus" on two or three Senate races and up to 10 House races. 

Brown, the California Republican who supports Trump, said from her vantage point the president has the "best interests of the U.S. at heart." She said the galaxy of right-wing influencers, activists and piundits who joined the MAGA movement should give him a break.

"Well, they may be contradictions, but look at the reasoning behind it," Brown said. "Don't just look at it as black and white. Can they not see how that is beneficial to the United States?"