Across the coalition, some supporters who once viewed Trump as MAGA’s greatest asset are beginning to question whether he’s become its biggest liability.
The midterm losses amounted to more than a repudiation of Trump. They were a referendum on the political and cultural movement he built. A defining force in American politics that began as a campaign slogan during Trump’s 2016 presidential run now faces a potentially existential reckoning after voters disillusioned with soaring fuel prices, the Iran war and Washington corruption delivered Democrats decisive congressional majorities.
The people who voted for Trump in 2024 are still around. The fact that enough of them got hurt badly enough in the wallet to turn against him this time around doesn’t change the fact that they’re capable of looking at Trump’s first term and thinking “yeah, I’d like another helping of that”. Even if the “MAGA” movement in particular guess by the wayside, something else will come along, just as MAGA replaced the tea party folk. We need to stay vigilant.
This is the point we have to remember, always. It wasn’t the corruption, or the incompetence, or the cruelty, or the damage to so many lives, or the straight up murder that turned them against him. It was simply the fact that none of it was benefiting them personally.