Trump's policy zig-zags are driving his base crazy

Though President Donald Trump enjoys strong support from most of his Republican base, he has increasingly frustrated a few stalwart supporters by floating departures from his campaign promises, prompting substantive online pressure to reverse course.

Despite a winning streak for Trump on various fronts, particularly in courts, trade, and diplomatic actions, it’s been a tough few weeks for MAGA diehards: The administration has repeatedly floated some sort of amnesty for illegal aliens in the agricultural and hospitality sectors; backed off from releasing significant information on the Jeffrey Epstein case; and renewed U.S. involvement in the Middle East and Ukraine War.

Promises made, promises kept?

All three of these developments have led major conservative voices outside the administration to warn it to reverse course or risk fracturing the MAGA coalition, with varying degrees of success. The Trump administration, for its part, was adamant that he maintains strong support in the base and vowed to follow through on key campaign pledges.

“President Trump is fulfilling his promise to the American people to carry out the largest mass deportation operation in history," White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told Just the News. "There will be no amnesty. Only deportations of the violent, criminal illegal aliens that Joe Biden welcomed into the country."

"The One, Big, Beautiful Bill that was just signed into law delivers on countless campaign promises the President made," she added. "As a result of the historic start of his second term, President Trump is more popular among the Republican base than any Republican was at this time in their administration. The President will never stop delivering for the American people."

Hinting at limited amnesty

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins on Tuesday stated unambiguously that the Trump administration would not pursue amnesty and would continue mass deportations, following a lengthy and public back-and-forth over possible accommodations for the agricultural and hospitality industries.

"There will be no amnesty, the mass deportations continue, but in a strategic way, and we move the workforce towards automation and 100% American participation," she told reporters at a press gathering.

Rollins’s statement followed reports over the weekend that the administration was facing pressure to drop its deportation efforts at farms and hotels to prevent labor shortages and also to grant some form of amnesty to illegals working in those industries.

Giving credence to those reports was the Department of Homeland Security’s brief pause on ICE raids on farms and hotels, which prompted outrage from Trump supporters that led to a swift reversal. Trump himself also issued multiple public statements suggesting he would change policy due to complaints from American farmers.

But with passage of the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act and its additional funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to hire more agents and expand detention capacity, many conservative figures highlighted the minimal need to make concessions on the issue.

“There is no other issue the conservative base feels more passionately about than immigration,” posted TurningPoint USA’s Charlie Kirk. “In just a few decades, everyday Americans have watched their country transform into a nation of strangers. We must deliver mass deportations, not amnesty.”

“There can’t be amnesty, everyone here illegally must go home,” asserted War Room’s Steve Bannon.

Some conservative figures appeared to take Rollins’s declaration as a concession to their outrage. The Blaze host Auron MacIntyre, for instance, shared footage of Rollins’s remarks with the caption “always chimp.” The term refers to “chimping out,” a traditionally pejorative phrase with racial connotations that, in online context, instead describes the act of expressing frustration through posting.

Jeffrey Epstein: Not the revelations people wanted

Trump famously asserted that he would release the Epstein client list if elected, though days became weeks and the release stalled. Documents from the Department of Justice that became public on Monday, however, asserted that the DOJ had found no evidence of a master client list or that Epstein had engaged in blackmail operations on a grand scale.

The apparent climb-down on the matter has many MAGA stalwarts, already disillusioned with Attorney General Pam Bondi, to call for her firing or resignation. Bondi previously made an attempt at releasing largely public data to a handful of influencers earlier in Trump’s term, though the episode became a PR disaster after those figures purportedly realized there was no materially new information in the binders they received.

Her penchant for regular TV appearances, moreover, has led many to express the belief that she is more concerned with her image than delivering results for the MAGA movement. Notably, the about-face on Epstein appears to have had a trickle-down effect in public trust towards other DOJ officials, including FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino.

On this issue, it’s not just online MAGA supporters, but some in the media traditionally favorable to Trump found the DOJ’s assertions may strain credulity. Fox News White House Correspondent Peter Doocy, for instance, pressed White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt to account for Bondi’s prior comments on his network, in which Bondi was asked if the “list of Epstein’s clients” could be released, and she said it was on her desk.

“This is nuts. How is it Pam Bondi still has a job? This is the worst roll-out of information I have ever seen,” posted The Blaze host and best-selling author Glenn Beck. “The Epstein case isn’t over. It’s the Rosetta Stone of public trust. And if we don’t get to the bottom of it, we’ll never restore what’s already been lost,” he added.

"If I'm President Trump, I would not tolerate this behavior anymore. She has become a LIABILITY to his administration,” conservative media figure Liz Wheeler said.

Thus far, however, the MAGA outrage has not been enough to claim Bondi’s job, nor to force the release of more documents from the Epstein case. But it nonetheless represents another instance of the administration getting considerable pushback from the MAGA movement by departing from its own promises.

Foreign wars

One of the most substantive ways in which Trump reshaped the Republican Party was through his rejection of foreign adventurism and wars where the goal was regime change. His first administration notably saw him work to wind down existing foreign conflicts and he proudly campaigned in 2020 and 2024 as the first president not to initiate a new conflict in decades.

While out of office, however, the world saw the outbreak of wars between Russia and Ukraine, and Israel and Hamas. Trump confidently asserted on the campaign trail that neither would have occurred had he been president and promised to put a stop to both. He specifically promised to end the Ukraine War in 24 hours, though that deadline has long since passed.

Trump has, in recent weeks, appeared to backpedal on his opposition to foreign conflicts, in particular, coordinating with Israel bombing strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities and promising to renew weapons shipments to Ukraine. Trump confirmed during a state dinner on Monday that he would send more weapons to the country, saying “they have to be able to defend themselves… defensive weapons primarily.”

Hardliners say: "I didn't vote for this"

“Trump is sending MORE weapons to Ukraine. What the actual f***? I didn’t vote for this,” posted writer Natalie Danelishen.

“The White House just announced they are going to send more weapons to Ukraine. They are also considering an amnesty plan for illegals. And it turns out the Epstein files were just an urban legend. I did not vote for this,” wrote radio host Todd Starnes.

“Trump has done a lot of good things as President, but we didn’t vote to keep funding the Ukraine war, and we won’t be silent about it,” wrote the Hodgetwins, who sell patriotic apparel appealing to the MAGA faithful.

On the Iran issue, moreover, the lead-up to the strikes saw high-profile conservatives repeatedly warn of the risks of a broader conflict and that the MAGA base would fracture over such a move. Ultimately, however, the strikes do not appear to have led to a longer conflict, despite MAGA concerns.

Summing up the MAGA confusion was a post from former Delaware GOP Senate candidate Lauren Witzke. “Ukraine Funding - Resumed! Epstein Files - Buried. War for Israel - You Betcha! Amnesty for Illegals: Yes! Just call it ‘Work Permits!’ Is this the Golden Age, folks?” she asked.

Just the News sought comment from the White House, but received no response by press time.