Donald Trump’s Base Turned on Him Due to Specific Policy: 'Stabbing Americans in the Back'

Contrary to his staunch anti-immigration stance, Donald Trump declared in June that he would provide green cards to international students studying in the United States upon graduation. Trump celebrated this proposed plan on Saturday morning by posting a link on Truth Social. The cited article is a June editorial from the Washington Examiner that read, "Trump is right: Foreign graduates should get green cards."

However, Trump's supporters were unhappy with the plan, and some even claimed he had lost their support over the same. One user posted, "This pisses me off about Trump! I totally DISAGREE with Trump about this. We need to STOP letting foreigners into the country and into our colleges. This is where Americans are losing jobs. There is where Americans are losing training. Take foreigners out of the equation TOTALLY for a while." The individual went on to argue that Trump is 'STABBING AMERICANS IN THE BACK with this policy.'

Another disappointed MAGA voter echoed, "With doubling down on stapling green cards to diplomas and the post yesterday regarding 'reproductive rights,' you have fully lost my vote. You are no longer the America-first candidate that you were in 2016 and 2020." The user, @punishedhumanbean, continued, "You no longer talk about 'Buy American, hire American'. You no longer emphasize America for Americans. Foreign-born workers currently take approx 1/5th of our jobs while there are millions of unemployed Americans and you want more foreigners? I hope to see changes but until then, I am now an uncommitted voter."

A good deal of commenters urged the former president to prioritize the welfare of American children. A netizen voiced, "I don’t think we should have foreigners in our schools to begin with. We need to focus on our own population and educating our own children to make America great. I don’t see how offering a green card to a foreign college graduate compels them to not share what they’ve obtained here, with their country of origin. The universities are corrupt and need to be cleaned out, and Americans need opportunities first."

Trump's recent take has been at odds with his fiercely anti-immigration agenda, which called for nationwide raids and deportations in the event of his election win in November. Although he began his political career by appealing to xenophobic sentiments, the former president has had contradictory views on this matter. He ran against H1-B visas in 2016 for president because they would destroy American workers. Then, as reported by the New York Post, Trump subsequently said that he had reconsidered his position, bringing attention to the need for migrant labor with advanced degrees in Silicon Valley. Thereafter, he increased the limitations on green cards and put a halt to new work visas in 2020 while he was president.