The factions and players are at each other’s throats more and more these days….
They may ‘say’ they support ‘ole’ Donald….
(Who acquired the Grand ole Party in a ‘hostle takeover’..)
But some , as expected, HAVE begun to back away from a lame duck President , that seems to have lost his way and is reverting back to just ‘getting his own’….
No ‘Good Thing’ lasts forever, eh?
Democrats (and some Republicans ) have been waiting for this…..
Remember ?
2028 is only 3 year’s away, and Trump ain’t popular, the economy sucks, and a LOT of people gonna regret working and supporting the 79+ year old convicted sex offender, get rich ex-President ….
What is JD Vance gonna do?
No part of the new media ecosystem was more ascendant, more powerful and more influential in shaping public debate than MAGA was six short months ago.
- It helped elect President Trump to a second term, defend Trump, pressure and punish any Republican who didn’t back Trump. MAGA was Trump, and Trump was full MAGA.
Why it matters: MAGA is now mired in conflict over Israel, white nationalism, purity tests and disputes among its biggest personalities.
- It’s still overwhelmingly pro-Trump — but less relevant in shaping the president’s agenda, and less capable of uniting to shape perception and dominate conversation on the right. These days, MAGA can spend more time eating its own than feasting on liberals or establishment Republicans.
The big picture: Many Americans are unaware of the fracturing because they don’t watch Tucker Carlson videos, or listen to Ben Shapiro podcasts, or debate America First on Rumble or X. They see flickers of MAGA fires when the mainstream media picks up on feuds, notably Carlson vs. Shapiro over Israel and hate.
- But as Axios has shown in earlier deep dives, MAGA wholly dominates Republican media, much like Fox News and the National Review did at their apex.
- “MAGA was my idea — MAGA was nobody else’s idea,” Trump toldFox News’ Laura Ingraham this past week. “I know what MAGA wants better than anybody else. And MAGA wants to see our country thrive.”
With power and clout come turmoil, conflict and rivalry. In this case, it’s unfolding over what it means to be truly America First when Trump, MAGA’s titular and spiritual leader, focuses attention on Israel or Venezuela as working-class voters are hurting in America. Fights over this are spilling out, well, everywhere….
…
- “America First America Only!!” Greene posted on X Saturday. “AFAO!!!” She told NBC News this past week: “I’m America First, America Only. Hardcore.”
Carlson and others are increasingly critical of Trump for supporting Israel so lavishly. They argue this is a massive distraction and total violation of America First principles.
- Steve Bannon and other MAGA personalities see working-class voters — the foot soldiers of their movement — getting slammed by the rich and powerful who spend a lot of time with Trump.
- Bannon told us Trump “knows his movement’s base better than anyone — but a lot of his base feel [he’s spending] too much time on Palestine and not enough on East Palestine,” Ohio. Bannon pointed to a Charlie Kirk post from a month before his assassination, calling for “urgency” on six issues — all domestic and appealing to Gen Z.
There’s a sense that MAGA’s most powerful topic — free speech — seems a little fraudulent or fake now that its leader has power in Washington.
- “The most dispiriting fact of the last nine months is that huge proportions of the institutional Republican Party all kind of hate free speech every bit as much as the left does,” Tucker Carlson told the N.Y. Times. “They are every bit as censorious as some blue-haired, menopausal Black Lives Matter activist. And I just didn’t know that. And I’m disgusted. I feel betrayed. I take it personally.”
- And there are accusations that people around Trump use the MAGA banner for personal profit. “During [a] recent visit in DC, the talk of everyone was how overt the corruption was,” Mike Cernovich, a longtime online MAGA voice, posted on X. “It’s at levels you read about in history books. In nearly every department. Lots of, ‘Do people just think Democrats will never win and they’ll all get away with this?’ “
…
The MAGA mess isn’t a huge problem yet for Trump because he commands extraordinary loyalty from its biggest personalities with the largest followings. He sits out the messiest fights and ignores the anti-Israel backlash.
- In some ways, it’s a bigger problem for Vice President Vance, as he positions himself as the heir apparent. Vance, unlike Trump, is more chronically online and fluent in true MAGA. Fuentes, who criticized Trump in 2024, and Vance have gone at each other. And no successor can count on the fervency Trump engenders.
My post vanished into moderation…
Let’s try that post again:
The classic analysis or Received Wisdom on the Right at the end of the last century was that the Republican Party’s success stood on a “three-leggèd stool”
(1) Economics (and small government, deregulation, lower taxes, etc.)
(2) Social conservatism or reaction (the Moral Majority, abortion, gay rights, pornography, anti-secularism, immigration, etc.), and
(3) National Security (split between neo-con interventionists, traditional hawks and neo-isolationists)
But that stool seems rather wobbly now.
There’s always been a split (which some canny largely-southern Democrats like Clinton and Carter could exploit) between the economic and cultural views or interests of large sections of America, such as working-class social conservatives and the rural Christian vote.
And only clever Republicans like Nixon and Reagan (or their staffs) and Newt Gingrich were able to hold this coalition or alliance together.
Now we see its cracks.
In fact National political parties DO HAVE to encompass Different groups in ‘BIG Tents’….
Yup….
Trump has been able to bulldozer them to gather TWICE….
But it seems like with this time he HAS gotten SO WILD that his coalition IS coming apart something I’ve said would happen here pointing to the sftening around the edges that said to be doubtful here sebveral time’s….
‘Clever Republican?’
I’ve ALWAUYS said …..
Ole Donald is NEITHER….