Trumpland

MAGA Melts Down After Republican Defies Trump With Shock Ad

‘TRAITOR’

The Republican defiance of the president came from a lawmaker he endorsed in his South Florida backyard.

Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar
Jair Coll/REUTERS

Top MAGA commentators are melting down after a Florida Republican dropped a shocking advertisement calling out the president’s ICE crackdown.

Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, a Miami-born former Telemundo host, disavowed President Donald Trump’s hardline immigration stance, accusing him of going “too far” and betraying voters in her heavily Hispanic district that he won by 15 points in 2024.

MAGA is now dumping her and labeling her a “traitor.”

MAGA is fully breaking with a Republican lawmaker whom the president endorsed in February.
MAGA is fully breaking with a Republican lawmaker whom the president endorsed in February. X

“Time to replace her with a REAL conservative,” the MAGA influencer Gunther Eagleman posted to his 1.7 million followers on X.

The right-wing account “End Wokeness” also chimed in, “This is a GOP Congresswoman, saying that the US is a ‘Promised Land’ for millions of illegals living here.”

Salazar, 64, did not actually say that.

Instead, her advertisement called out ICE’s often inhumane policies in MAGA 2.0. Her district is just 40 miles from the so-called Alligator Alcatraz, where migrants from the state were detained in abhorrent conditions in the middle of the Florida Everglades before it was shut down.

“I’m not talking about giving them amnesty,” she said of migrants. “I’m talking about giving them a dignified life in this promised land.”

Salazar pleaded directly with Trump to pull back on his and top White House adviser Stephen Miller’s crackdown in South Florida.

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller attends an event held by President Donald Trump to sign executive orders related to birthright citizenship and the polysilicon industry, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., on August 6, 2026.
Salazar did not call out Stephen Miller by name, but alluded to him giving the president poor guidance on the issue of immigration. Evelyn Hockstein/REUTERS

“Mr. President, some of your immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far,” Salazar’s ad begins. “In July, 50 percent of the 50,000 people that were detained had no criminal record. Be careful what your advisers are telling you about immigration policy.”

She continued, “The same Hispanics who helped you get to the White House in 2024 feel betrayed today. You can be for immigration what Lincoln was for slavery, and Reagan was for communism.”

President Donald Trump and Rep. Maria Salazar clasp hands during the signing ceremony for the Take It Down Act in April 2025.
President Donald Trump and Rep. Maria Salazar clasp hands during the signing ceremony for the Take It Down Act in April 2025. Kevin Lamarque/REUTERS

Salazar, who is the daughter of Cuban exiles, released a similar advertisement in Spanish. About three-quarters of her district is Latino, and more than half are foreign-born, reports Neilsberg.

Trump, 80, gave Salazar his “complete and total endorsement” in February, crediting her with helping “keep our Border SECURE” and stopping “Migrant Crime.” Now, the president’s allies are calling on him to revoke his support.

President Donald Trump gave Rep. María Elvira Salazar his “complete and total endorsement” in February.
President Donald Trump gave Rep. María Elvira Salazar his “complete and total endorsement” in February. Truth Social

“TOTAL BS. President Trump should REVOKE his endorsement of this traitor,” posted the right-wing influencer Nick Sortor. “Hispanic American citizens voted to REMOVE ILLEGALS who have invaded their communities. And that’s exactly what’s happening—albeit at a slower pace than I’d like to see.”

Trump is yet to address the video, and the White House did not respond to a request for comment.

Losing Trump’s endorsement may actually boost Salazar, given how unpopular Trump has become in her district. A poll released this week by the Miami-based Bendixen & Amandi International found that Trump is 10 points underwater in the district.

That same survey determined Salazar is tied with her Democratic challenger, Eliott Rodriguez, in her re-election bid. She has been in Congress since January 2021.

“A district Salazar carried by more than 20 points less than two years ago is now a pure toss-up,” Bendixen & Amandi principal Fernand Amandi wrote, according to Florida Politics.

The pollster added that the numbers show “an incumbent in real trouble.”