‘MAGA Backlash’ on Fox: Laura Ingraham Presses Trump Harder than Usual

The original story by Brian Stelter for CNN.

Fox News interviews with President Donald Trump rarely feature tough pushback. Monday night was the exception. Laura Ingraham sat down with the president and, instead of serving up softballs, walked through a checklist of hot-button proposals that have unsettled parts of his own base — catching him off guard more than once.

She started with the economy. After Trump argued that “costs are way down,” Ingraham cut in:

“Are you saying voters are misperceiving how they feel?”

She pointed to last week’s election results and persistent anxiety about affordability, asking if this was really a perception problem or a policy problem for Republicans. Trump dismissed the premise — “I think polls are fake. We have the greatest economy we’ve ever had” — prompting Ingraham to note that he’d criticized Joe Biden for saying things were great when they weren’t.

The Fox host also challenged Trump on the ongoing government shutdown, his talk of demolishing the East Wing, and even his rhetoric on Christianity. When she raised air travel chaos, Trump tried to downplay it. Ingraham interjected:

“There are a lot of delays now, sir.”

The sharpest exchange came over a lightning-rod idea inside MAGA media circles: a 50-year mortgage, floated by FHFA director Bill Pulte. Ingraham called it out as a “significant MAGA backlash,” with critics branding it a giveaway to banks that would delay homeownership. Trump waved it off:

“It’s not even a big deal… you pay less per month, you pay it over a longer period of time.”

When he said “40 to 50 years,” Ingraham corrected him: it’s from “30 to 50.”

Throughout, Ingraham framed questions to reflect concerns she hears from pro-Trump voters, while nudging him toward positions she sees as more politically durable — very much in line with her nightly show’s tone. At one point, after she pressed him on issues dividing his own supporters, Trump asserted ownership of the movement:

“Don’t forget, MAGA was my idea… I know what MAGA wants better than anybody else.”

She also brought up conservative anger at higher education and the influx of foreign students, singling out Trump’s plan to grant visas for roughly 600,000 Chinese students — a proposal he has justified as a transactional benefit to the US.

“I know you and I disagree on this,” he told Ingraham. “We’re never gonna agree on it.”

Ingraham once considered joining Trump’s White House as press secretary, but her influence may be greater from the outside — prodding him on TV and, at times, in person. Monday’s interview showed that even on friendly air, the current president isn’t immune from questions his own base wants answered.