'Talk more about the economy': MAGA insiders fear Trump is betraying 'America First' promises

When Donald Trump launched his 2016 presidential campaign, the America First ideology that he espoused — which was greatly influenced by paleoconservative 1992 presidential candidate Patrick Buchanan — was a radical departure from the hawkish conservatism of GOP Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush and the hawkish liberalism of Democratic Presidents Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry Trump and Lyndon B. Johnson. And that isolationist message resonated with the MAGA voters of not only 2016, but also, 2020 and 2024.

Yet during Trump's second presidency, ultra-MAGA Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) is questioning Trump's foreign policy and expressing concerns that he isn't being faithful to the America First ideology.

Axios' Marc Caputo, in an article published on October 17, takes a look at MAGA Republicans who believe that Trump is paying too much attention to other countries and not enough attention to the United States.

"There's a shutdown in D.C., clashes in Chicago, and economic worries bubbling up all over the country — but at the moment, President Trump seems more focused on Gaza, Ukraine and Venezuela," Caputo reports. "Why it matters: Trump's foreign policy focus — and the peace deals he has secured — is the stuff of presidential legacy building. But the globe-trotting risks blurring his 'America First' brand."

Greene, a major Trump supporter, fears that he is straying from his America First message.

The MAGA congresswoman told Axios, "It's a revolving door at the White House of foreign leaders when Americans are, you know, screaming from their lungs."

A GOP source, interviewed on condition of anonymity, told Axios, "No matter what he says, Trump is still thinking about a Nobel Prize. Being Time Magazine's Man of the Year still matters to him."

A Trump adviser, also quoted anonymously, told Axios, "Voters reward winners and Trump is a winner. But I'd be lying if I said none of us wish he would talk a little more about the economy and things back home."

Read Marc Caputo's full article for Axios at this link.