Trump takes heat from his MAGA base: From the Politics Desk

Welcome to the online version of From the political officea newsletter bringing you the latest reporting and analysis from the NBC News Politics team from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.

In today’s edition, Matt Dixon and Allan Smith explore how President Donald Trump is beginning to feel pressure from his base on two key issues. Plus, Jonathan Allen looks at a little-known provision in the government funding bill that’s drawing bipartisan backlash.

Sign up to receive this newsletter in your inbox every weekday here.

—Adam Wollner

Trump defends his MAGA bona fides despite backlash from his base

By Matt Dixon and Allan Smith

President Donald Trump’s once-unchallenged hold on his MAGA political base is showing signs of strain as some of his supporters have begun pushing back against White House policy proposals they see as contrary to his long-standing promises on immigration and the economy.

The right-wing backlash intensified this week after Trump’s interview this week with Fox News host Laura Ingraham. Trump dismissed concerns about affordability as a Democratic “scam,” and he said a controversial new proposal for 50-year mortgages was “not even a big deal.” He also discussed the fact that 600,000 Chinese students study at American universities and said the United States needs to attract more foreign workers through the H-1B visa program because native-born Americans lack “certain talents.”

The H-1B visa issue has divided two segments of the new GOP base. Right-wing MAGA supporters who have long supported Trump oppose the program because they believe it puts foreigners in jobs that could be filled by Americans, while the tech industry, a newly powerful political force on the right, has long supported the program as a way to recruit a highly skilled workforce.

Trump remains popular with Republicans, and he is still capable of making or breaking candidates in Republican primaries: 88% of registered Republican voters approved of Trump in the last NBC News poll, conducted in late October, before the last election. Among voters who consider themselves part of the MAGA movement, that figure is even higher — 96 percent, highlighting the loyalty it commands from its core supporters.

But among some Trump MAGA supporters, a belief spreading online is that the president is increasingly influenced by wealthy donors who have access to him at private events at the White House, his exclusive Mar-a-Lago club and the luxury boxes he sits in when he attends sporting events, including a Washington Commanders football game on Sunday.

“President Trump is instinctively America First, but things are seriously awry,” said Paul Dans, the architect of Project 2025 who is running against Trump-backed Sen. Lindsey Graham in South Carolina’s GOP primary. “America First is currently undergoing a hijacking. It is [Trump’s] receives bad advice and is kept in a bubble.

As Trump faces pressure from even the most loyal segments of his political base, he remains defiant.

“MAGA was my idea. MAGA wasn’t anyone else’s idea,” Trump told Ingraham. “I know what MAGA wants better than anyone, and MAGA wants to see our country prosper.”

Learn more about Matt and Allan →

Related: Our team spoke with 18 Trump voters who participated in the latest NBC News poll and said the president has failed to meet their expectations on the economy. Here’s what they had to say →

The Senate (again) blocks the House on a thorny issue

Analysis by Jonathan Allen

With its threshold of 60 votes, the Senate almost always manages to block the House on major bills. Over the years, this allowed the Senate to introduce parasitic provisions – new laws that could never survive the light of day – before sending the bill to the House for a final vote.

But, at least in modern times, senators have been reluctant to open the door to winning taxpayer dollars.

Until this week.

Under a new law, passed as part of the broader funding bill that reopened the federal government, senators would have the right to sue the government if their data is obtained by executive branch agencies without their knowledge. Eight Republican senators could now be in line to get millions of taxpayer dollars in restitution because their phone records were accessed as part of the probe that led to special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The Senate decision made those lawmakers eligible for up to $500,000 for each time their records were accessed — which provided information about who they called, for how long and at what time, but not the content of their conversations. The provision, which does not apply to House members, also limits the defenses available to the federal government.

The House could have removed the language from the funding bill and sent it back to the Senate, but that would have kept the government shut down indefinitely. House members, including Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., expressed outrage, but the majority voted for the broader measure to open the government, with the Senate provision included.

Johnson pledged to let the House express its displeasure with a separate vote to overturn the provision. At the very least, it will give Republicans political cover: They can respond to criticism at home by saying they voted to repeal it. But it’s hard to imagine the Senate making that decision unless public outrage forces its hand.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., one of eight senators directly involved, said he plans to sue and wants a big settlement. He attributed this to deterrence rather than personal benefit.

“If you think I’m going to settle this case for a million dollars, no,” he said. “I want it to be so painful that no one ever does this again.”

The House, after more than 200 years, still has no strategy for causing this kind of pain in the Senate.

That’s all that’s coming from the politburo for now. Today’s newsletter was compiled by Adam Wollner and Owen Auston-Babcock.

If you have any comments (like or dislike), please email us at politicsnewsletter@nbcuni.com

And if you’re a fan, share it with everyone. They can register here.