Donald Trump’s “anti-MAGA” positions are starting to turn even some of his closest allies against him, Joe Scarborough warned the president on Monday.
Once the most united political force in the country, Trump’s MAGA coalition has started to unravel as the president faces growing dissent over the Epstein files, foreign military intervention, and the cost-of-living crisis.
In an interview with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham, Trump attempted to reassert his control over the movement he started, telling the host: “Don’t forget, MAGA was my idea. MAGA was nobody else’s idea. I know what MAGA wants better than anybody else, and MAGA wants to see our country thrive.”
But for the first time since his ascendancy to politics, Trump’s grip on the MAGA agenda appears to be slipping, as high-profile defections by Tucker Carlson and Marjorie Taylor Greene show the president increasingly at odds with the more radical wing of his base.
Discussing the rift on MS NOW’s Morning Joe, Axios founder Jim VandeHei explained how infighting and internal power struggles had “split the MAGA movement in half.”
“Six months ago, if you thought about MAGA, it was far and away the most powerful part of the media ecosystem,” said VandeHei. “And it really is a metastasizing, hot mess right now.”
“Almost all the leading figures that have big followings on YouTube, podcasts, online—they’re at war over things like antisemitism, nativism, misogyny, racism. They’re trying to play out their rivalries in public. They’re trying to bury their enemies within MAGA. And you’re starting to see real substantive splits with Donald Trump.”
Contrasting the president’s growing number of “anti-MAGA” positions against those of former Trump adviser Steve Bannon and Greene, Morning Joe co-host Jonathan Lemire said a battle is underway for the future of the movement. The lack of blowback for dissenting figures, such as Rep. Thomas Massie, shows Republicans are becoming more comfortable with defying Trump, Lemire said.
“This is the first moment where it feels like Republicans, particularly those in the MAGA movement, are starting to look past Donald Trump,” he said. “They’re trying to say, OK, what comes next? What comes next? Who is going to be the heir to this obviously extraordinarily powerful political base? We’re seeing some jockeying about what MAGA really means.”
Pointing out the growing number of factions uniting against the president, Lemire cited Bannon and Greene, along with Vice President JD Vance, who is “trying to quietly make some moves as well.”
After moving in lockstep with the president through the first eight months of his term, Republicans now feel they have “a little room to disagree,” Lemire added, and said those who have rebeled against the president so far “haven’t really paid a price.”
Scarborough interjected: “Well, you look at Thomas Massie, he hasn’t paid a price. We’ll see what happens with Marjorie Taylor Greene, although I doubt she’ll pay a price. There’s always the argument if you go after Republican presidents from the right, you’re safe here.”
He added, “These people that are going after Donald Trump are going after him from the more MAGA-ish base, right? It’s not like they’re saying, ‘Hey, you should actually pay attention to what Jesus says on immigration.’ No, they’re not doing that. They’re saying, ‘Release the Epstein files and stop talking about going to war in Venezuela or Nigeria.’”
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