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Battle for control of the far right and inheritor of MAGA Movement is spreading out of the influencer class into the political class …
The battle for post-Trump conservatism is under way. And Trump is clearly disengaged from everything except personal legacy—building.
Is The Gaurdian the only news outlet still doing real reporting? Damn they are like a blast from the past. So refreshing in this day and age.![]()
Reform UK, the Russian spy and rolls of Kremlin cash: the inside story of Nathan Gill
How did a former Mormon bishop end up pleading guilty to taking bribes to make statements in favour of Russia in the European parliament?www.theguardian.com
Battle for control of the far right and inheritor of MAGA Movement is spreading out of the influencer class into the political class …
The battle for post-Trump conservatism is under way. And Trump is clearly disengaged from everything except personal legacy—building.
Battle for control of the far right and inheritor of MAGA Movement is spreading out of the influencer class into the political class …
The battle for post-Trump conservatism is under way. And Trump is clearly disengaged from everything except personal legacy—building.

Oh yeah, it is also spilling into the religious rightThis fight is in significant part about MAGA frustration with pro-Israel policies — the label for purported “Israel first” Republicans is MIGA; a seemingly random response of “$7000” to a pro-Israel (or anti-Nazi) post Is right wing slang for an influencer being paid per post by Israel (which is hilarious considering a number of right wing influencers turned out to be paid by Russia).
The imbroglio about Tucker Carlson interviewing Nick Fuentes without pushing back on Fuentes’ antisemitism and neo-Nazi rhetoric is also about whether MAGA should embrace the far, far right (as Matt Walsh and Carlson seem to propose) or shun them.
But this battle really does seem to have broken out into the open due to the murder of Charlie Kirk. The battle to inherit/take over Kirk’s TPUSA base is fierce and the rhetoric has been tainted by conspiracy theories blaming Israel for the killing (including several that allege that Erika Kirk was/is an accomplice of the Israeli plot). That stayed mostly inside the overlapping MAGA/Groyper insider bubbles, but the Carlson/Fuentes interview has dragged in the Heritage Foundation, other MAGA annd GOP institutions and GOP politicians as pro-Israel MAGA, anti-Israel MAGA and Groypers demand everyone on the right pick a side — can anti-Israel MAGA and antisemitic MAGA be part of the MAGA movement going forward (i.e. post-Trump)?
The cult of personality is having to grope with the increasingly obvious fact that their cult leader is passing into his lame-duck phase, and Trump may have expedited the transition by a year by becoming so clearly focused on his own legacy burnishing that he is increasingly detached from what animates MAGA. The childish focus on the Nobel Peace Prize, the expanded support of Israel and the increasing focus on international travel and international policy is not what anti-engagement America First types signed up for. The focus on ballrooms and renovations and golf trips also ignores the populist economic message that many MAGA supporters embraced — the social conservative but liberal populist economics set.
Don’t get me wrong, MAGA will never abandon Trump, but to date the MAGA coalition is held together as a cult of personality. As Trump is consumed by his own narcissism, the cracks in the MAGA coalition are widening and folks held together by a shared love of Trump are looking around questioning if they want to move forward arm and arm with some of their fellow cult members once Trump is gone. And on the far, far right, they are more openly trying to take advantage of the radical rightward shift of the Overton Window to more openly frame the future of MAGA in Christian Nationalist and White Nationalist terms.
My concern with this breaking out into the open while Trump still leads the party is if Trump comes to believe that it will hurt him personally. Trump knows that only one thing truly unites MAGA and that is cruelty to those whom they hate. If Trump comes to be concerned that this divide will impact him, my fear is that he will create new and greater ways to harm minorities and liberals in order to try to get everyone back in the same fascist tent.This fight is in significant part about MAGA frustration with pro-Israel policies — the label for purported “Israel first” Republicans is MIGA; a seemingly random response of “$7000” to a pro-Israel (or anti-Nazi) post Is right wing slang for an influencer being paid per post by Israel (which is hilarious considering a number of right wing influencers turned out to be paid by Russia).
The imbroglio about Tucker Carlson interviewing Nick Fuentes without pushing back on Fuentes’ antisemitism and neo-Nazi rhetoric is also about whether MAGA should embrace the far, far right (as Matt Walsh and Carlson seem to propose) or shun them.
But this battle really does seem to have broken out into the open due to the murder of Charlie Kirk. The battle to inherit/take over Kirk’s TPUSA base is fierce and the rhetoric has been tainted by conspiracy theories blaming Israel for the killing (including several that allege that Erika Kirk was/is an accomplice of the Israeli plot). That stayed mostly inside the overlapping MAGA/Groyper insider bubbles, but the Carlson/Fuentes interview has dragged in the Heritage Foundation, other MAGA annd GOP institutions and GOP politicians as pro-Israel MAGA, anti-Israel MAGA and Groypers demand everyone on the right pick a side — can anti-Israel MAGA and antisemitic MAGA be part of the MAGA movement going forward (i.e. post-Trump)?
The cult of personality is having to grope with the increasingly obvious fact that their cult leader is passing into his lame-duck phase, and Trump may have expedited the transition by a year by becoming so clearly focused on his own legacy burnishing that he is increasingly detached from what animates MAGA. The childish focus on the Nobel Peace Prize, the expanded support of Israel and the increasing focus on international travel and international policy is not what anti-engagement America First types signed up for. The focus on ballrooms and renovations and golf trips also ignores the populist economic message that many MAGA supporters embraced — the social conservative but liberal populist economics set.
Don’t get me wrong, MAGA will never abandon Trump, but to date the MAGA coalition is held together as a cult of personality. As Trump is consumed by his own narcissism, the cracks in the MAGA coalition are widening and folks held together by a shared love of Trump are looking around questioning if they want to move forward arm and arm with some of their fellow cult members once Trump is gone. And on the far, far right, they are more openly trying to take advantage of the radical rightward shift of the Overton Window to more openly frame the future of MAGA in Christian Nationalist and White Nationalist terms.