President Donald Trump says that the United States "needs" up to 600,000 students from China and his MAGA base is fuming, Newsweek reports.
During his August trade talks with Chinese President Xi, Trump said "I think it's very insulting to say students can't come here."
On Monday, Fox News host Laura Ingraham asked him about this in an interview, saying his demand was not a very "pro-MAGA position, expressing concerns that Chinese students would “spy on us” and “steal our intellectual property.”
“A lot of MAGA folks are not thrilled about this idea of hundreds of thousands of foreign students in the United States. ... You’ve said as many as 600,000 Chinese students could come to the United States. Why, sir, is that a pro-MAGA position when so many American kids want to go to school and there are places not for them, and these universities are getting rich off Chinese money?” Ingraham asked Trump.
Trump defended his position, saying "the influx of Chinese students was important for American colleges and universities to stay in business," Newsweek reports.
“We do have a lot of people coming in from China, and we always have — China and other countries. We also have a massive system of colleges and universities, and if we were to cut that in half, which perhaps makes some people happy, you would have half the colleges in the United States go out of business," Trump replied.
“They’re not the French. They’re the Chinese. They spy on us. They steal our intellectual property," Ingraham added.
“You think the French are better?” Trump replied, adding, "We’re taking trillions of dollars from students. You know, the students pay more than double when they come in from most foreign countries. I want to see our school system thrive.”
Newsweek argues that this position poses a big problem within Trump's MAGA base.
"Trump’s doubling down on the U.S.’s need for Chinese students may test the durability of his supporters and their core positions on China, national security and American employment," they write.
Among those vexed by his comments include Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, who wrote on X: “Sorry Mr. @POTUS if we didn’t allow 600K Chinese spies to steal even more intellectual property and other ideas about how to dominate are our way of life, it wouldn’t make a dent in U.S. colleges and universities. ..."
“We simply don’t need to help the Chinese anymore with their plans to be the sole superpower this century. Let’s not give the Chinese anymore leverage than they already have. They’ve been ripping us off for years. Because of that they have significant advantages over us now—and they have zero desire nor intent to make America great again," Flynn said.
Another MAGA X user agreed, saying, "Dear @POTUS, this is not at all what MAGA wants. We don’t want Chinese students (spies), most especially we don’t want them propping up a massively corrupt higher education that has done so much damage to our country.”
“I can only speak for myself. But as a loyal MAGA and a social scientist, I wouldn’t want a single Chinese student in America. No new students and remove those already here. Other MAGA people — agree or disagree?” wrote another self-described "loyal MAGA" on X.
