Trump confronts rare MAGA purity tests on Iran and immigration
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Illustration: Allie Carl/Axios
Ten years after Donald Trump hijacked the GOP with a promise to burn down the establishment, his own movement is warning him not to go soft.
Why it matters: On two core articles of faith — no foreign wars and no protections for unauthorized immigrants — the Trump administration is facing a rare MAGA purity test.
Zoom in: No debate has proven more divisive for the "America First" movement than Israel's war against Iran, and whether the U.S. should intervene to fully eliminate Tehran's nuclear program.
- MAGA's most outspoken isolationists — Tucker Carlson, Steve Bannon, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) — have warned that joining the war would betray Trump's legacy and potentially destroy his presidency.
- Pro-Israel hardliners — Laura Loomer, Mark Levin, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) — argue that nothing would be more "America First" than striking a regime that chants "Death to America" and has plotted to assassinate Trump.
The intrigue: Amid mounting signs that the U.S. is considering joining the war, Trump says his fundamental position — that Iran cannot be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon — has never wavered.
- Trump even publicly smacked down Carlson over his criticism of U.S. involvement, telling The Atlantic: "Well, considering that I'm the one that developed 'America First' ... I think I'm the one that decides that."
- Vice President Vance, a fierce critic of foreign interventions, defended Trump's position in a lengthy X post in which he said the president "may decide he needs to take further action to end Iranian enrichment."
Back at home, prominent MAGA voices were stunned to read Trump's Truth Social post last week suggesting that unauthorized immigrants who work in agriculture or hospitality might be spared from deportation.
- MAGA purists such as Bannon and Charlie Kirk believe that every immigrant here illegally should be deported — with some claiming Trump's new guidance created unfair carve-outs for "big agriculture."
- Much of the backlash landed on Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, after Axios and others reported she had lobbied for the exemption, citing potential labor shortages. "She needs to be removed," activist Ned Ryun wrote Sunday.
- Rollins hit back at the criticism, urging MAGA to "ignore the noise from the fake news media and the grifters trying to divide us," and declaring she supports "deportations of EVERY illegal alien."
The latest: Amid the backlash, the Department of Homeland Security reversed Trump's guidance just a few days later, telling immigration agents to continue raids at farms, hotels and restaurants after all, the Washington Post first reported.
- Trump, sensitive to the outrage from his base and hardline immigration advisers, also on Sunday ordered expanded operations in Democrat-run cities and stressed that "all" undocumented immigrants must be deported.
The big picture: Some MAGA influencers see the Iran and immigration flashpoints as inextricably linked.
- Bannon warned on his "War Room" podcast that getting "sucked into" a prolonged war in the Middle East would distract from Trump's most important domestic priority: mass deportations.
- Other Trump supporters view the two issues — helping Israel attack Iran and deporting unauthorized immigrants — as part of the same fight to preserve "Western Civilization."
The bottom line: For all the infighting over ideological purity, MAGA remains a movement built around one man. That's why Trump is confident he can bend the base long before it breaks.
