During then-candidate Donald Trump’s first presidential campaign, the outspoken and often controversial conservative columnist and commentator Ann Coulter emerged as one of his most fervent supporters. In 2015, she was among the first to predict his victory in the 2016 election.
According to the Daily Mail, Coulter’s 2015 book Adios, America was widely credited with shaping Trump’s immigration policy agenda.
However, the relationship between Coulter and Trump began to unravel in 2017, largely due to her mounting frustration over his failure to deliver on key immigration promises—most notably, the construction of the U.S.–Mexico border wall, a cornerstone of his campaign.
In a 2019 interview with C-SPAN, she recounted a heated “screaming match” with Trump in the Oval Office in early 2017. “The moment he got most upset,” she said, “was when I told him, ‘You’re no different from Jeb exclamation point.’ Then he just lost it.”
Her anger escalated in September 2017, after Trump announced a deal with then-House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to preserve protections for DACA recipients—without securing funding for the wall.
When Trump appeared to walk back his pledge to shut down the government over border wall funding, the rupture between them became complete. She wrote an article titled, “Gutless President in Wall-Less Country” in which she lambasted Trump over his retreat.
In a Daily Caller podcast, she said, “This utterly unlikely and, at least for president, in many ways, a not particularly attractive presidential candidate beat the most qualified woman ever to run for the office, basically on one promise: the promise to build a wall and never backing down on that.”
She warned that Trump’s presidency was in danger of becoming a “joke” that “scammed the American people” if he failed to deliver on building the border wall. Coulter added that she wouldn’t support him in the 2020 election if he didn’t follow through.
“Why would you?” she said. “To make sure Ivanka and Jared can make money? That seems to be the main point of the presidency at this point.”
At various times, she has called Trump a “complete blithering idiot” and even a “disloyal actual retard.”
In February 2024, she responded to a social media post asking what Trump “needs to do … to help us take America back.” She suggested, “Maybe he could die?”
But as Trump’s second term approaches its 100-day milestone, Coulter has done a complete 180. In a post on X last week, she declared, “Trump 2 is AWESOME!”
When asked during a Friday interview with C-SPAN how she would characterize Trump’s presidency so far, Coulter stunned viewers with her response: “The most wonderful 100 days in U.S. history. I can’t believe how great Trump is.”
Asked about her volte-face, she said she was “ecstatic the night he won. Then he hired Jared Kushner and Gary Cohn and turned the keys of the kingdom over to Wall Street. And it was basically, you know, Jeb Bush. So I gently encouraged him to go back to the great stuff he had campaigned on.”
Coulter then described her Oval Office showdown with Trump. “I wasn’t the first one to use the F-word, but, oh boy, did that fly. Because he wasn’t keeping his promises on trade, on anchor babies, and especially the wall, the wall, the wall.”
She noted that Republicans were actually lucky Trump lost in 2020, because the Left’s persecution of him “mad him mad.”
So term two, I’m getting everything I voted for. I mean even more. I can’t believe it. Every day, it’s things I didn’t even think of. Yes, the water pressure, the showers, the toilets, the going after the universities, the anchor baby executive order, which I understand as of yesterday will be going before the Supreme Court. I’m very happy about that.Congress should pass a law to make it permanent, but hopefully the Supreme Court will rule the right way because I believe the law as I described in Adios America is absolutely clear on that, which I’m happy to elaborate on.
I’m glad to see Coulter back on the Trump train. I used to be a big fan—she’s clever, insightful, and undeniably witty. However, during his first term, I felt she was overly critical, particularly on issues that were largely outside of his control.
Trump made substantial efforts to secure funding for the border wall, which had been his signature issue. He proposed multiple budget deals, invoked national security concerns, and even initiated a partial government shutdown in late 2018 to force the issue. Yet, despite his persistence, meaningful progress was consistently obstructed. Legal challenges, partisan gridlock, and resistance from Congress all worked to derail the project, ultimately preventing the wall from being completed as originally promised.
Democrats in Congress argued publicly that the wall was both ineffective and emblematic of a divisive approach to immigration. But in reality, many saw mass illegal immigration as politically advantageous—each undocumented migrant representing, in their eyes, a potential future Democratic voter.
Complicating matters further, Trump faced opposition from within his own party. Then-House Speaker Paul Ryan, whose support for Trump was lukewarm at best and nonexistent at worst, repeatedly failed to advance the president’s border agenda. Ryan’s disdain for Trump would later become unmistakably clear, casting doubt on just how committed GOP leadership truly was to the president’s priorities.
After spending years denigrating Trump at every opportunity, it may take time for Coulter to regain the trust of many within his base.
That said, if given the choice, I’d far prefer to see her on Trump’s side than opposing him.
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on LinkedIn or X.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY