Maga diehards turn on Trump over Ukraine, Epstein files

Anger grows over moves including easing up on deportations of illegal immigrants

- Bhagyashree Garekar

DALLAS - Six months after voting US President Donald Trump into office, his loyal support base is showing the first signs of disobedience and openly questioning some of his recent decisions.

A surge of resentment has greeted some of the White House's recent announcements.

These include the decision to resume arming Ukraine against Russia, closing the lid on a highly controversial sex trafficking case and quietly easing up on deportations of illegal immigrants that the American economy can ill afford to lose.

The July 14 announcement on Ukraine was viewed by Mr Trump's "Make America Great Again" (Maga) base as a betrayal of his "America First" campaign promises.

One of the first to speak out against it was Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, an avowed Trump loyalist, who signaled her disenchantment over what she saw as misplaced priorities.

"Sending weapons to a foreign country's wars and paying American's hard-earned tax dollars to foreign aid does NOT help my district afford housing, bills, insurance, run small businesses, attain the American dream or solve the impending doom of our US$37 trillion (S$47.4 trillion) debt," she wrote in a post on social media platform X, shortly after Mr Trump shared his plans on Ukraine.

"I remain America First!!!" she said.

During his 2024 election campaign, Mr Trump often assured supporters that he would end the US involvement in "forever" foreign wars and reduce military aid to Ukraine.

These stances were popular with Republican voters, who wanted him to focus on domestic priorities and tackle issues such as the cost of living and unsustainable national debt burden.

Mr Trump acknowledged those concerns when he stressed that the US would only manufacture arms, while European Nato members would pay for them.

"This is not Trump's war," he told reporters. "This is a Biden war, this is a Democrat war."