HARD SELL

MAGA Melts Down at Trump ‘Betrayal’ on ‘60 Minutes’

The president admitted that one of his signature policies helped doom the GOP in the midterms.

Donald Trump is facing backlash from his MAGA base after the president said he would “love” to work with Democrats to soften his hardline immigration policies in the wake of the GOP’s election disaster.

During Sunday’s 60 Minutes interview, Trump admitted that his plans to carry out the largest mass deportation program in U.S. history were “too tough” and hurt the GOP in the Nov. 3 elections, as “good people” with no criminal background were swept up in the crackdown.

“We also took people that had good jobs, that created one violation, were breaking a law, and that was that they came into the country illegally,” Trump told 60 Minutes correspondent Ross Douthat.

“Now there is a large part of the country that think that they should be put out, and there’s a large part of the country that think that they should be allowed to stay—if they’re good people working in a landscaping company or working in a hotel or doing something, right, and in some cases paying taxes—there’s a large group of people who think that they should be allowed to stay.”

Trump added that working with Democrats once they take control of Congress on a deal to provide legal status for nonviolent migrants who had worked in the country for years would be “something that’s actually doable” for his administration.

Several MAGA figures have lashed out at the president, accusing him of betraying them by appearing to turn against one of his signature 2024 campaign promises.

“I’m kind of confused because I voted for no endless wars and mass deportations but feels like I’m getting endless wars and amnesty… I hope I’m wrong,” MAGA political commentator Tomi Lahren posted on X.

Failed Republican Florida gubernatorial candidate James Fishback wrote: “Trump 6 months ago: ‘We must work to stop the Democrats on mass amnesty.’ Trump now: ‘We must work with the Democrats on mass amnesty.’ Betrayer in Chief.”

Cassandra MacDonald, a writer for the right-wing news site Gateway Pundit, wrote while sharing a clip of Trump’s remarks: “Unbelievable betrayal.”

Conservative influencer Nick Sorter added: “NO AMNESTY. Not now, not EVER. EVERY SINGLE ONE must GO.”

MORTAL COMBAT

Trump ‘60 Minutes’ Interview Goes Wild After Death Questions

Cameron Adams

Fellow MAGA influencer Joey Mannarino posted: “If Trump does this, I’m done. Amnesty is not an option.

“The conversation needs to be ‘how much legal immigration do we want?’ and not ‘do we deport illegals?’ because we already were clear in 2024… MASS DEPORTATIONS!”

The White House’s Rapid Response X account rejected the criticism of Trump’s remarks, noting: “The word ‘amnesty’ was never even said in this entire exchange.”

Elsewhere during his 60 Minutes interview, Trump said that there are people who are “pretty far right” who would want all migrants who entered the country illegally to be deported.

Douthat then pressed the president: “Do any of those people work in your administration?”

“Well, there are a lot of those people,” Trump replied. “Then there are also people that are more modified on that. In other words, get the killers out, get all the rough ones out, get the drug dealers out, but let the people that are here—and in some cases here for 10 and 15 years—work a deal for them.”

The interview was filmed before Trump announced he would replace Susie Wiles as his White House chief of staff with Stephen Miller, who is seen as the architect of the president’s hardline immigration policies in both terms.

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.

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