The New Yorker:
The movement has survived all sorts of political stress tests, but there’s one schism that could actually pose a problem.
By Jon Allsop
Since Donald Trump returned to office, in January, a number of controversies have appeared to expose tensions within his maga movement, or to alienate key members of it: visas for skilled workers (actually, that dispute flared before Trump returned to office); the decision to bomb Yemen; the fact that officials in his Administration added the editor of The Atlantic to a group chatabout bombing Yemen, then tried to dodge the blame; tariffs; spending; the deportation of a gay makeup artist to a Salvadoran mega-prison; Trump’s acceptance of a luxury jet as a gift from Qatar; the conspiracy theory that Jeffrey Epstein wasn’t actually murdered; the conspiracy theory that files relating to Epstein’s crimes haven’t been released because Trump appears in them.
Recently, media talk of a “maga civil war” reached its apex over the question of whether the U.S. should bomb Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. The former Fox host Tucker Carlson, who opposed such an operation, sparred with two boosters: the current Fox host Mark Levin, and the Republican senator Ted Cruz, whom Carlson revealed to be ignorant of basic facts about Iran in a clipthat went viral. Last week, as Israel attacked the Islamic Republic and Trump increasingly seemed keen to join in, magapersonalities like Charlie Kirk expressed fear that doing so could profoundly fracture Trump’s movement; Kirk polled his X followers on whether the U.S. should get involved, and, of the nearly five hundred thousand respondents, ninety per cent said “No.” Candace Owens, a far-right commentator, accused Trump of betraying his promise not to enter foreign wars. In response, Laura Loomer, another far-right commentator, who earlier this year persuaded Trump to fire various national-security officials, said that she was “screenshotting everyone’s posts” and “going to deliver them in a package to President Trump so he sees who is truly with him and who isn’t.” She added, “I am the loyalty enforcer.”
Some observers found the “civil war” narrative to be overhyped, however. Vice-President J. D. Vance—in the past, a vocal critic of U.S. interventionism—laid down a template for any Trump adherents looking to thread the needle, writing on X that, although “people are right to be worried about foreign entanglement after the last 25 years of idiotic foreign policy,” Trump had “earned some trust” to act responsibly. Later, Vance would say, on “Meet the Press,” that the difference between this campaign and wars past is that, “back then, we had dumb Presidents.” Trump had bombed Iran the night before Vance’s appearance on the show, and by this point headlines were suggesting that maga had mostly fallen in line. “Opinions are like assholes,” Loomer wrote, taking a victory lap. “Everyone has one. Some are cleaner than others, but if you get too close to the hole, you’re going to end up with shit all over your face.” Kirk creditedTrump with a “historic masterclass.” After Iran indicated that it wouldn’t escalate, Carlson posted “Thank God,” then went back to dunking on Levin.
Go to link
Comments