'Mask comes off': Trump branded an 'elitist' as base questions 'America First' focus

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks, while wearing a "Make America Great Again" cap, after disembarking Air Force One, as he returns from his Asia trip, at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, U.S., October 30, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

President Donald Trump’s “America First” agenda — or his ability to stick to it — is facing renewed scrutiny as the second-term president jets around the world, hosts a “Great Gatsby” party at Mar-a-Lago while wrongly claiming food prices are down, reportedly racks up at least hundreds of millions in cryptocurrency profits, oversees a $300-plus million White House ballroom project that demolished the iconic East Wing, dodges his vows to release the Epstein files, and greenlights a $20-plus billion bailout for Argentina.

He has also sued his own government for hundreds of millions and called for 600,000 Chinese nationals to receive student visas — all while his government was shut down, inflation continued to heat up, and millions of Americans lost food stamp benefits while bracing for health care premiums next year to double or, in some cases, even triple.

“For a president who returned to office promising to avoid foreign entanglements, make life more affordable and ensure that available jobs go to American citizens, it has been a significant departure from the expectations of his loyal base,” The New York Times reported on Friday. “And it is starting to open a rift with his supporters who were counting on a more aggressively populist agenda.”

The Times notes that the president’s handling of the Epstein files has left “a small but vocal group of Republicans angry over his about-face, and risking a further rupture in the movement heading into next year’s midterm elections.”

“... When they are blowing our budget, when they are starting their wars overseas, I’m sorry, I can’t go along with that,” U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) told CNN this week. “And back home, people agree with me. They understand. Even the most ardent Trump supporters understand.”

The president has given little indication that he plans to address the anger expressed by some of his supporters, nor has he signaled any major shift toward refocusing on what they believed was his “America First” agenda.

“Mr. Trump told aides recently that he might attend the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, a gathering of the political and business elite, according to two people familiar with the matter,” the Times added. “Some of his advisers, however, feel such a trip would send the wrong message at a moment when they are trying to recapture a political edge on the economy.”

While some of his advisers may be pushing back inside the White House, externally they are pushing back on reports challenging his focus.

“As the architect of the MAGA movement, President Trump will always put America First,” Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman, said in a statement. “Every single day he’s working hard to continue fulfilling the many promises he made and he will continue delivering.”

Trump echoed that sentiment in remarks to Fox News’ Laura Ingraham this week.

“Don’t forget MAGA was my idea,” he said. “MAGA was nobody else’s idea. I know what MAGA wants better than anybody else.”

The Times added that David Lapan, a recently former senior adviser at the Department of Veterans Affairs, “said he felt Mr. Trump had drifted away from important campaign pledges now that he was in office.”

“The messaging before was a means to an end to get elected, but once elected that can all fall by the wayside,” Lapan said.

“Now that he’s in office, the mask comes off and it’s all about taking care of himself and fellow billionaires and millionaires,” Lapan concluded. “He’s an elitist.”

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