After ten months in office, US President Donald Trump is facing challenges from the very electoral base he built and is faced with a series of issues that could threaten his support in MAGA, with the potential to create problems for lawmakers who remain with him, according to a Newsweek analysis.
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Marked by farmer anger over his plan to import Argentine beef and, more recently, Democratic victories in local elections last week, Trump is facing friendly fire over a perceived change of course on immigration, the state of the economy and the latest episode in the Epstein saga, which his administration has been unable to shake.
Those tensions came to a head in an interview with Laura Ingraham that aired Monday, in which the Fox News host questioned the US president's decision to offer 600,000 visas to Chinese students and the unexpected praise of the H-1B visa program, characterizing the moves as anti-MAGA positions.
Trump's attempts to defend himself – by saying that China is no worse an adversary than France and that overseas workers are needed as an explanation for the US talent shortage – appear to have drawn as much backlash as the positions themselves, although the White House says Trump's fundamental commitments are unchanged.
“In record time, President Trump has done more than any other president in modern history to tighten immigration laws and put American workers first,” White House spokesman Taylor Rogers told Newsweek, referring to the $100,000 tax imposed on H-1B visas and the Labor Department's crackdown on abuse of the program.
The US president was quick to dismiss the idea of a rift brewing in the MAGA camp over any of these issues.
“Remember: MAGA was my idea. MAGA was nobody else's idea,” he said. “I know what MAGA wants better than anyone else, and MAGA wants to see our country prosper.”
A “presidency in trouble”
“I think the MAGA base is splitting,” said Peter Loge, a professor of media and public affairs at George Washington University. “Donald Trump will never lose his core support, but what it means to be a MAGA or a true Republican is suddenly up for debate.”
Loge, a former senior adviser to President Barack Obama, explained to Newsweek that a combination of issues facing the administration, rather than any specific issue, are indications that Trump may be losing his footing.
“We're connecting the pieces to create a big picture, and the recent dots include Epstein, the election, the Court's skepticism about Trump's tariff policies, the rise in economic insecurity, the dip in the polls. These pieces of information, these clippings, add up to a picture of a presidency in trouble.”
Todd Belt, professor of political management at George Washington University, explained for his part that among the signs of the division of the US president's electoral base are the public meetings in which Republican legislators were confronted about their support for the president. Another telling point is that lawmakers and media figures — the so-called MAGA “elite” — seem comfortable parting ways with Trump on key issues.
Belt cited other issues that have eroded MAGA's perception of unwavering support for the president, including growing discontent over US support for Israel and Trump's turn on Ukraine, which has angered MAGA's isolationist wing. He added, however, that “the most important aspect is Epstein.”
The Justice Department's reluctance to release all documents related to the late convicted sex offender, as well as new details about Trump's relationship with Epstein, have put the president in the position of being accused of becoming the very establishment he sought to overthrow.
“I think MAGA, the movement, is willing to forgive Donald Trump in many ways because they see him as the businessman who knows what he's doing when he vacillates on tariffs and engages in this disruptive behavior,” Belt said. “But this is a case where he violates the ideology of deep state cover-ups and outsider status — all those things he promised and has now flipped on.”
Although congressmen in the lower house obtained enough signatures to force a House vote on the release of the Epstein files, Belt believes the bill will not pass the Senate and avoid the explosive prospect of a Trump veto. Even so, he anticipates the issue will remain a thorn in the side of Trump's presidency.
The accessibility crisis
This latest spark in the Epstein saga adds to the problems the US president already faces on the economy — polls show his approval rating on key issues like inflation continues to slide even among Republicans.
Political scientist Sheri Berman says the Epstein blowback and the affordability issue — an issue many now say has had political ramifications for Republicans — have created an unprecedented threat to Trump's presidency, shaking both hardline supporters to whom the Epstein saga is central and the group of “potentially swing” voters who will consider rising costs when they vote in 2026 and beyond.
“Either of these things individually are manageable, but the combination of discontent with the far right and fears that these general affordability issues could drive Republican-to-Democratic swingers to vote Democratic,” she told Newsweek. “This is a somewhat different situation than Trump has faced in the past.”
In addition to criticizing his apparent defectors — telling reporters that his pick, Marjorie Taylor Greene, an ally, had “lost his way” — Trump's strategy has been to take the cue from his longtime political confidant, Roger Stone, and flatly deny that there is any problem to be solved.
For example, the US president has repeatedly claimed that food prices are “going down”, contradicting the daily hardships of most Americans and insisting that both affordability and the Epstein riots are hoaxes created by his rivals.
“You can't take economics out of the equation,” Belt said. “What people feel and what they see in their finances, you can never convey a message about that in terms of a prank.”
Democratic strategist Doug Gordon believes Trump's impasse is one he alone can break, with die-hard supporters he still has an “iron grip” on. On the other hand, her proximity to the president could backfire on Republicans who have until now been able to rely on her for political advancement.
“The problem with Republicans — which has come to the fore again in the recent election — is that MAGA is a personality cult,” he said. “And when Trump isn't on the ballot, the MAGA base either splits or stays home.”
Loge believes the 2026 midterm elections are “a proxy for Donald Trump and his policies,” one that will force Republicans to decide whether to upset the commander-in-chief or their constituents.
“Republicans will be put in the position of having to either continue to defend an unpopular president and unpopular policies and risk losing the general election,” he said, “or attack an unpopular president and unpopular policies and risk being attacked by that president during the election.”
MAGA remains Trump's creation, and its staunchest members will likely stick with him through this difficult chapter of his presidency, but members of the broader Republican Party may soon discover the costs of devotion as they head toward the voters' verdict in the midterm elections.
