During Donald Trump’s first stint in the White House, he had a total of four international trips in his first year in office, with his initial journey not taking place until May.
So far in his second term, Trump has already undertaken eight international trips, with the first one happening in April, followed by a second state visit to England.
This international focus is not sitting well with everyone, but Trump is dismissing concerns, saying that anyone complaining about what he is doing is not really a true supporter of his agenda.
If you go back and look at Trump’s initial term, he made a total of 19 trips, but only four of them occurred in his first year, having done a Middle East, Europe, and Asian swing, as well as a trip to France in July 2017.
Trump made the majority of these international trips during his second and third years, only taking two trips in all of 2020, one to Switzerland and one to India. But that was also likely because Trump was dealing with the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic at the time. As noted above, Trump has already had eight trips so far this year, having spent more than three weeks in total abroad.
I monitor social media religiously to take the nation's temperature on Trump, and a lot of MAGA stalwarts have not been happy, wondering why Trump was going overseas so much when we had so many economic problems here at home. One of the first people to call him out over this was Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), with whom Trump has now had a falling out over her public pushback on his policies.
Greene has been critical of Trump for his policies abroad as well as his stances on cryptocurrency and the pharmaceutical industry.
The congresswoman, who supported all things Trump before she was snubbed for a Cabinet position, stated, "Those are the areas that are still getting everything they want, while the people, we're still out here saying, 'We want to see action on areas for the American people, not for the major industries and the big donors.'"
When she was asked whether she is still MAGA, Greene responded, "MAGA is President Trump's phrase. That's his, his political policies. I call myself America First.”
Greene is a prominent name in this new brand of resistance to Trump, but she is far from alone. There are other members of Congress starting to speak up, demanding that we cut back on foreign aid, and even online MAGA supporters are pushing back against certain policies, something we never saw during Trump’s first term in office.
I did this report because I believe this is a major flaw in how Trump is running his second term, namely that he is still playing to his loyalist supporters and not to the fringe voters who simply wanted Biden and Democrats out of the White House.
To that point, when Trump was asked about the growing pushback on his policies, specifically his foreign focus, he responded, “Well, then, you know, I can’t imagine they’re supporters because, uh, I made a fortune and spend very little time … all of my time is spent here. Most of my time is spent here. But when I do go outside, it’s only going outside for here.”
He continued, “For instance, settling and solving the problem with China, that has a huge effect in the United States. Making deals with Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, all of these countries, you’re talking about trillions and trillions of dollars. So I could … I guess I could say let’s not deal with anybody. We wouldn’t have much of a country.”
So, here’s the thing…. Trump is right, and he is wrong. I believe the trips he made were necessary, but he does not need to spit venom at those who are asking questions. He should just provide more communication on the trips, why they are being made, what he hopes to accomplish, as well as why it is important to the country as a whole.
Let me be blunt… Trump needs to stop being so standoffish any time he gets resistance because he is costing the GOP support at a time when we cannot afford to lose it. Trump is having a successful presidency from a conservative standpoint, but you would never know it based on the internal conflict we see right now among Republicans. And most of that conflict, I believe, is because of poor communication from the White House. Trump cannot keep telling people to just shut up and agree, or else leave. If he keeps doing that, there will be nobody left to pull the levers for Republicans in 2026 and 2028.
