After years of preaching America First, Donald Trump’s own base is now accusing him of selling out the country.
The outrage came fast and loud on Friday after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Qatar’s defense minister, Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, at the Pentagon and announced that the U.S. will host a Qatari Emiri Air Force facility in Idaho. Specifically, the Mountain Home Air Force Base, will now accommodate Qatari pilots and F-15s.
“Location will be host to a contingent of Qatari F-15s and pilots to enhance our combined training, increase lethality, interoperability,” Hegseth said, standing next to Qatari Defense Minister Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al Thani at the Pentagon. “It’s just another example of our partnership.”
That “partnership” just lit a fuse under the MAGA movement.
The idea that a foreign, Islamic monarchy is being welcomed to build and operate a military facility on U.S. soil — in one of the reddest states in the country — was too much for many longtime Trump loyalists. They’re calling it everything from “treason” to “the ultimate betrayal.”
“We are in the middle of rolling out military across the entire USA and then bringing in a non-NATO country military into the USA is TREASON,” said prominent MAGA influencer The General on X. “U.S. and Qatar sign deal to open a Qatari ‘air force facility’ in the U.S., at Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho.”
Conservative activist Amy Mek, who leads a movement to restore Judeo-Christian governance in the U.S., was just as blunt — and furious.
“Twenty-four years after foreign nationals trained in our flight schools flew planes into our buildings, our leaders are inviting their financiers to train inside our bases,” she wrote.
“This is what happens when you gut national-security training, scrub every mention of Islam, jihad, and Sharia from the manuals… We’re being led by officials who no longer recognize or refuse to name the enemy they’re inviting into our own backyard.”
And then there’s Laura Loomer — a longtime Trump ally who’s spent years pushing for the Muslim Brotherhood to be declared a terrorist organization. She didn’t hold back.
“Well, I guess this isn’t going to happen since we just gave the Muslim Brotherhood an air base in Idaho,” she wrote.
“No foreign country should have a military base on U.S. soil. Especially Islamic countries. I have never felt more betrayed by the GOP than I do now watching Islamic jihadists get away with implementing Sharia law in the US and now they are getting their own airbase where they will train to kill Americans.”
Loomer went even further — saying this could endanger American lives.
“We are being set up for America to be attacked by Islamic savages from Qatar, the biggest funders of Islamic terror in the entire world. The betrayal stings. WE ARE LOSING OUR COUNTRY!”
The backlash stems not just from the base deal, but also from Trump’s recent executive order pledging U.S. protection of Qatar following an Israeli airstrike in Doha that killed six people, including a Qatari security official. The Oct. 1 order states:
“In the event of such an attack, the United States shall take all lawful and appropriate measures — including diplomatic, economic, and, if necessary, military — to defend the interests of the United States and of the State of Qatar.”
For many MAGA voters who’ve spent years railing against foreign wars, open borders, and entangling alliances, this wasn’t just hypocrisy — it was betrayal.
And then there’s the jet.
Trump also accepted a $400 million aircraft from the Qatari government earlier this year, which will be converted into a new Air Force One. That deal, already raising eyebrows among ethics watchdogs, is now seen by critics as part of a broader quid pro quo.
“Is this what ‘shared defense goals’ means now — or just the latest way our politicians get paid to sell out our country?” Mek asked.
Some tried to downplay the outrage. Dan Caldwell, a former senior advisor to Hegseth — and a figure tied to the infamous “Signalgate” scandal — said this sort of thing isn’t unusual.
“The freak out around this is of course totally unwarranted since this is actually a pretty common practice with countries that buy and operate a lot of U.S. military aircraft,” he said. “Singapore has a similar facility and detachment for its F-15 training unit at this very same airbase.”
But to Trump’s base, that argument doesn’t hold. Singapore isn’t Qatar. And “common practice” doesn’t excuse what they see as a fundamental betrayal of national security and American values.
Hegseth’s words were clear — and the Pentagon made it official.
“I’m also proud that today we’re signing a letter of acceptance to build a Qatari Emiri Air Force facility at the Mountain Home Airbase in Idaho,” Hegseth said.
This wasn’t a leak. It wasn’t rumor. It was a signed agreement. On U.S. soil. With cameras rolling.
And now, the MAGA movement — once unquestioningly loyal — is questioning everything.
As The General put it: “This isn’t America First. This is the end of it.”
