Trump muddles his populist message, worrying supporters

President Trump’s supporters are worried he is muddling his populist message as Republicans seek to keep the party base together going into the midterm election year. 

This week, Trump faced an uproar from his most faithful MAGA supporters when he defended the H-1B visas and inviting foreign students to come study in the U.S. Conservative critics including and perhaps most prominently, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) accused the president of contradicting his America First message. 

Meanwhile, the president has continued to tout expensive White House renovations, including his long anticipated ballroom addition in place of the East Wing, as he seeks to tackle the issue of affordability. 

Some worry that the moves will depress the president’s base, who have long viewed him as an economic populist fighting for the working class.  

The backlash was fiercest after Fox News host Laura Ingraham, a vocal Trump ally, pressed him over his stances on H-1B visas and his calls for 600,000 Chinese students to study at U.S. higher education institutions. The president argued H-1B visas are necessary because the U.S. needs “certain” talents to carry out specific jobs. On his calls for the 600,000 Chinese students studying in the U.S., Trump argued the move was needed to keep U.S. colleges in business. 

“Where is my president?” Trump supporter Kylie Kremer, who played a role in organizing the rally prior to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, posted on X with a clip of the interview. 

Conservative commentator Natalie Winters, who co-hosts Steven Bannon’s War Room podcast, also reposted a clip of the interview in which Trump defends his calls for Chinese students to study in the U.S., calling the remarks “insulting to MAGA’s intelligence.” 

“Zero upside to this. Only nation-ending downsides,” Winters said. “Being at hybrid/unrestricted war with the Chinese Communist Party applies to all domains – even the classroom.” 

Trump noted in his interview with Ingraham that MAGA was originally his idea and that he understands what the movement wants “more than anybody else.” 

Many conservatives agree. 

“President Trump built the MAGA movement with his own two hands and no one understands it better than him,” said Republican strategist Gregg Keller. “He’s the best President of my lifetime – and I lived through the Reagan glory years. I’m willing to give the President a ton of rope on this stuff and so is the majority of the MAGA movement.”

Other strategists note that this is Trump’s way of seeing how his supporters and others in the political universe respond to his ideas. 

“The president is obviously beta testing messages and he has an innate ability to reassess and go in a different direction if there’s pushback from his base,” said Marc Short, chair of the conservative group Advancing American Freedom and served as chief of staff to former Vice President Mike Pence.

Short recalled in the first Trump administration how Trump appeared to be receptive to the idea of an assault weapons ban during a meeting with senators at the White House following the Parkland school shooting in 2018. The move surprised lawmakers on both sides of the aisle along with the powerful gun lobby. Days later following a meeting with the National Rifle Association, Trump had seemingly moved away from his initial comments suggesting support for a ban. 

The following year, the president raised eyebrows when he proposed a three year extension for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program which protects immigrants who came to the U.S. illegally as children, in exchange for border wall funding. The effort was aimed at ending the partial government shutdown, but the backlash from conservatives was fierce. Conservative media personality Ann Coulter wrote online “We voted for Trump and got Jeb!” while former conservative Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) wrote “NO AMNESTY 4 a wall!”

“The notion that he’s somehow losing his base I think is misplaced,” Short said. “Sure, there maybe dissension about the Chinese student visas or H-1B visa but he’ll calibrate based on what that feedback is from his base.” 

Ingraham also questioned Trump over his idea of a 50 year mortgage, noting that it has “enraged” his “MAGA friends.” Strategists note that this is yet another example of test casing messages, particularly when it comes to the issue of affordability, which dogged Republicans in last week’s off year elections. 

On Thursday, Treasury Department official Joe Lavorgna downplayed the idea in an interview with NewsNation’s “The Hill,” noting that the feedback has suggested the idea is “probably not an optimal approach.” 

And as the issue of affordability will likely continue to be a top priority for the administration, critics note that Trump’s efforts to construct a $300 million ballroom, as well as his move to throw a “Great Gatsby themed Halloween party at Mar-a-Lago last month as the government shutdown continued on, could be seen as a “let them eat cake moments” for the president as Americans continue to voice concerns about high prices. 

It might be that the administration is starting to pay attention to that. On Friday, reports surfaced that some tariffs of everyday goods, including groceries, may be rolled back to help lower costs but the White House would not confirm that reporting.

Still, Trump will likely continue to trumpet what he sees as a strong economy.

“Costs are way down,” Trump told Ingraham earlier this week.