Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) went from being an aggressive cheerleader for President Donald Trump to being an outspoken critic, arguing that his interventionist foreign policy is a betrayal of his "America First" platform of 2024. And she isn't the only person on the right who feels like way. Libertarian Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) also believes that Trump, with his intervention in Venezuela and Iran, has turned his back on the "America First" platform.
In an op-ed published by The Independent in the U.K. on March 12, Ameer Kotecha, a former diplomat, observes that in March 2026, Trump finds himself at odds with his MAGA agenda of the past — especially with the war in Iran.
"There is a good argument that Trump has already torpedoed his foreign policy legacy — and undermined his reputation as the president who would avoid dragging America into forever wars," Kotecha writes. "For there have always been tensions between Trump's America First isolationism and his willingness to intervene assertively abroad. The common thread has arguably been foreign policy as a means to secure commercial advantage and economic gain for Americans back home. For a president whose overseas deal-making and transactionalism have always been framed as serving MAGA's ends, this particular war presents particular risks. So far, the economic impact looks to be all disruption with little sign of upside."
Trump, according to Kotecha, now needs to "defend his actions to MAGA."
"If the U.S. does get pulled into a wider and more sustained campaign," Kotecha says, "it could torch not only the message that Trump ran on, but the story that he likes to tell about himself. There is perhaps a consolation for Trump in all this. If MAGA don't forgive him, Trump can claim to have put the national security of his country and the civilized world over electoral gain."


