VIS-A-VIS VISAS

MAGA Backs Trump on Epstein but Is Raging at Him Over Something Else

Top MAGA names seem more concerned about who’s getting jobs.

As Trump allies downplay the latest Epstein document release, MAGA conservatives are instead erupting over something far less salacious.

H-1B visas and Chinese students have become the trending lightning rods for criticism, rather than the president’s name featuring in a batch of files related to the Jeffrey Epstein saga.

‘IS NUTS !!!’

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Tom Latchem

Conservative outrage over the president’s pro-visa stance has dominated MAGA social media since his Fox News interview with Laura Ingraham.

What was meant to be a friendly sit-down turned into a tense affair after Trump defended foreign student programs and spoke warmly about allowing more Chinese nationals to stay in the U.S. after graduation.

The reaction was swift. Fox News host Will Cain ripped H-1B visas to shreds on-air in a segment that went viral among conservative influencers. On Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast, the backlash took over. Bannon and his regulars sounded less like Trump loyalists and more like disillusioned revolutionaries.

“All he had to do was smash the oligarchy. He’s become the oligarchy,” fumed Rasmussen Reports pollster Mark Mitchell. “All Trump has done this week is shilled for the government and big business.”

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That sentiment was echoed across the movement. War Room correspondent Natalie Winters recalled a post from Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk calling for an end to H-1B visas—a stance once synonymous with Trumpism. “I thought that was what I voted for,” she said. “But it seems with every passing day we’re moving further and further away from that.”

“I was appalled,” said John Fredericks, a conservative talk show host and chair of Trump’s 2016 and 2020 campaigns in Virginia.

“I agree with the president and everything he’s done on just about every single issue, and he’s been the greatest president in history in my view for what he’s doing and what he’s done, but these are two issues where I adamantly oppose both,” he said.

Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has been publicly butting heads with the president of late, said in an X post she was “solidly” against U.S. workers “being replaced by foreign labor, like with H1Bs.”

The discontent spilled across right-wing media channels. Commentator Jack Posobiec admitted bluntly, “We’re seeing anger on the right.”

The issue has cracked open a familiar divide inside MAGA—populists and business conservatives. Trump’s latest comments—portraying H-1Bs as necessary for American competitiveness—don’t appear to align with the America First movement that carried him to power.

Meanwhile, the Epstein files that dropped Wednesday—usually the kind of story to set MAGA ablaze—barely made a ripple in the same circles, perhaps by design. “The president firmly believes this is nothing but a distraction tactic ginned up by Democrats who didn’t care about this one bit until a couple of months ago,” offered Scott Jennings on CNN, Wednesday, in an attempt to deflect.

“They didn’t care about it when Joe Biden was the president. Now they care about it, to try to tie up this presidency. He’s lived through these things before, these kinds of wild goose chases.”

Sean Hannity, over on Fox News, tried his best not to be dragged into a debate about the files when he was verbally set upon by progressive radio host Stephanie Miller.

“You know the funniest thing about this story is Trump’s all over the Epstein files, and I wonder if they’re going to release that after the big bombshell!” she said on Hannity after the host tried to bury Miller with a photo of her kissing a Democratic politician’s shoes. “I didn’t see anything about that on Fox News today.”

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