MAGA Infighting

I was planning to write today about the fight that has erupted between Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump. However, while researching the topic, I realized that this is simply a battle in a larger war. Since beginning his second term, Trump has deviated sharply from MAGA orthodoxy and, in the process, provoked ruptures within the MAGA movement. We may be at a critical juncture in which MAGA adherents will reveal whether MAGA is nothing more than a cult of personality loyal to Trump or an authentic political movement based on principles. What we have seen over the past few days is that MAGA personalities are, for the most part, not yet willing to completely abandon Trump. However, Trump appears to have come to the realization that the MAGA movement does not entirely consist of blind followers of his lead and, therefore, he cannot completely abandon fundamental MAGA doctrine. The result is a movement embroiled in conflict.

Fundamentally, it is important to understand that Trump does not care about anything as squishy as principles. He is driven by self-interest. What matters to him are not philosophical debates, but rather power and money. He will steer whatever path leads to his personal accumulation of either. Adding to this is Trump's obvious cognitive decline. He simply does not currently have the mental capacity for the job. Perhaps related is Trump's state of health. Trump recently made a mysterious trip to Walter Reed for an "annual" physical despite having had one just six months ago. During that visit, Trump apparently underwent an unexplained MRI. The result is that much of government is currently being run nearly independently by various administration officials while Trump concentrates on building a ballroom and renovating a bathroom at the White House. When it comes to policy, Trump is either indecisive or reactive. His weak leadership has not gone unnoticed by other ambitious Republicans and we are likely seeing the beginning of a battle of succession.

MAGA was based on the fundamental principle of "America First." This was interpreted to mean opposition to immigration, avoidance of foreign wars, and improving the livelihood of Americans. While Trump, thanks primarily to world-class hater Stephen Miller, has mostly fulfilled expectations for immigration, his deportation policies actually go too far for some MAGAs, a few of whom have seen their own spouses deported. From the MAGA perspective, Trump has been disappointing when it comes to foreign involvement. He began his term by suggesting territorial ambitions for both Canada and Greenland. He then attacked Yemen and joined Israel's war with Iran. Now Trump is threatening wars with Venezuela and Nigeria. This is not the agenda for which most MAGAs voted. They would like him to spend less time on foreign affairs and more time attending to the domestic economic situation which his tariffs have disrupted and made more expensive. Instead of lower prices, consumers are seeing higher grocery prices and much more expensive electricity.

Trump brought this conflict to a head when he supported a $20 billion bailout of Argentina at a time when American soybean farmers were facing bankruptcy due to a lack of sales to China which was caused by Trump's tariffs. The bailout allowed Argentina to begin soybean sales to China while American farmers continued to suffer. Trump then turned around and committed to increased imports of beef from Argentina, a plan that infuriated U.S. cattle ranchers. Now Trump has announced a reduction of tariffs on imported beef which will put even more price pressure on U.S. beef suppliers. At every turn, Trump appears to be putting foreign interests ahead of U.S. farmers.

Two issues above everything else, however, have divided the MAGA movement. The first is Israel, and the second is Jeffrey Epstein. A pillar of the MAGA belief system is that the country is controlled by powerful elites to the disadvantage of the average American. Both of these issues have their roots in that conviction. Many MAGAs believe that Israel has too much influence over America. In some cases, this tendency is antisemitic, and Jews are blamed for controlling America's leaders. As the QAnon movement was subsumed into the greater MAGA coalition, the belief that a group of elites engaged in pedophilia holds immense power in America also took hold among MAGAs. Epstein, convicted of child sex trafficking and clearly associated with many of the wealthy and powerful, has become the symbol of elite pedophiles.

The topic of Israel and Jews has become controversial among MAGAs following the murder of Charlie Kirk. Right-wing influencer Candace Owens has charged that just prior to being shot, Kirk had clashed with Jewish funders of his Turning Point USA organization. The reason for the conflict was Kirk's inclusion of Tucker Carlson in TPUSA events. Carlson has been a vocal critic of Israel. Some have interpreted Owen's remarks as suggesting that Israel was behind Kirk's murder, a claim that Owen has avoided clearly making, though she has certainly hinted at it. Regardless, allegations regarding Kirk's relationship with wealthy Jews have unleashed a torrent of recrimination regarding both Israel and Jews within the MAGA movement.

In response to those such as Owens and Carlson, and even more so Nick Fuentes, there have been other voices in the MAGA movement. Perhaps most prominent has been all-around crazy person Laura Loomer. Loomer spent almost two weeks devoting nearly every one of her tweets to attacking Islam and Muslims. Then, with no apparent sense of irony, complained that every time she logs onto X, "it’s like Jew Jew Jew Jew Jew Jew." All of this gained prominence when Carlson hosted Fuentes on his podcast and was generally non-confrontational as Fuentes engaged in blatant racism and antisemitism. This provoked many within the MAGA movement to call for distancing the movement from the likes of Owens, Carlson, and Fuentes. Others insisted that free expression demanded that such speech be tolerated. This conflict has divided MAGAs for weeks. Just yesterday, Trump weighed in saying that "You can’t tell him who to interview," referring to Carlson's interview of Fuentes and that "People have to decide. Ultimately people have to decide." This caused Fuentes to respond by saying, "Thank you Mr. President!"

I have discussed MAGA and the Epstein files many times previously. But to rehash, the release of the Epstein files, particularly the so-called clients list, was a central MAGA demand during the campaign. Two proponents of the conspiracy theory that the Epstein client list would reveal many prominent pedophiles, Kash Patel and Dan Bongino, were appointed as Director and Assistant Director of the FBI, respectively. Attorney General Pam Bondi staged a photo op in which she claimed to release the Epstein files to a group of right-wing influencers. However, rather than releasing the files, the Department of Justice and the FBI released a memo saying that the files did not contain information that would lead to further convictions and that there was no client list. This caused a tremendous amount of anger among MAGAs, many of whom believed that Patel, Bongino, and Bondi had been compromised or bought off.

Trump took the contradictory position that nothing in the files affected him but that they could not be released because they would be used to damage him. Meanwhile, a small number of House Republicans and all House Democrats signed a discharge petition to force a vote to release the files. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson delayed the confirmation of Adelita Grijalva, who had won a special election, for seven weeks because she had promised to be the last signature needed to validate the discharge petition. Once she was finally sworn in and signed the petition, a vote was assured. Several Republicans who had not signed the petition said that they would vote in favor of releasing the files. Trump, faced with a clear loss, changed his position and urged Republicans to vote in favor of the resolution. However, a vote is not needed to release the files. Trump could simply order the DOJ to release them. Therefore, his new position is seen as more of a public relations maneuver than a real change of attitude. Many MAGAs remain very suspicious of what Trump is trying to hide by keeping the files hidden.

Recently, the two divisive topics, Israel and Epstein, have merged due to revelations that Epstein worked closely with the Israeli government, playing a role in Israeli security sales to other countries. Marjorie Taylor Greene has implied that Israel may be pressuring Trump to prevent the release of the Epstein files. This is increasing the friction between the various MAGA factions. 

As I wrote in the introduction, I originally planned to write about the conflict between Greene and Trump. However, I felt that this background on the wider intra-MAGA war was necessary. So, I will post "Part 2" of this post tomorrow, in which I will go more in depth into the roles being played by Greene, Trump, and others.