The core source of power that enables Trump and MAGA wealth and power politics is rank and file voters. Enough of them voted to give power to both Trump and MAGA politicians. Without those votes, Trump and MAGA elites would not be reaping the vast reward of their power to gain more wealth and power, mostly at our expense and the expense of the public interest.
Obviously, not mean every Trump or MAGA politician voter endorses every action they take Polling indicates that majorities oppose a lot of what Trump, MAGA officeholders, donors, and business allies have done or are getting as rewards for being MAGA supporters, funders and enablers. Without a sufficiently large voting coalition, Trump would not hold presidential authority and many MAGA-aligned politicians would be far less powerful and damaging to democracy and the rule of law.
Regarding the rule of law, Trump and MAGA elites have inflicted ghastly damage on it. Damage arises from various lines of attack. The attacks include (1) punishing lawyers for representing MAGA opponents, and (2) removing independent federal agency watchdogs who used to investigate government waste and abuse in defense of the public interest. Now the watchdogs look out to protect elites with their special interests in their quests for more wealth and power at our expense. When a president and allied political elites treat courts, lawyers, and fiscal oversight as enemies to be crushed, not limits to be obeyed, Americans lose protection from arbitrary authoritarian and kleptocratic power.
So what are they thinking?
Apparently most rank and file voters continue to support Trump and MAGA politicians primarily due to various combinations of (1) partisan identity and tribe loyalty, (2) distrust of allegedly opposing elitist institutions, (3) alleged threats to freedoms from the Democratic Party, liberalism, socialism and communism, and (4) some policy matters, e.g., immigration control. A significant portion of supporters see threats to democracy or white privilege as something they fear and want Trump and MAGA politics to defend.
In those minds, threats to democracy, the rule of law, and civil liberties come from America’s political left and center, and from the Democratic Party, not from politics or politicians they support. Many Trump supporters identify election administration, alleged widespread election fraud, a hostile federal bureaucracy (a tyrannical socialist deep state), biased censorship of truth by platforms, illegal immigration with crime, snotty elite institutions, or Democratic control of government as core threats.
A small but maybe significantly growing group of voters who voted for Trump now claim to no longer support him as much, with some maybe not voting from him if he runs for office again in 2028. The reasons they give are largely materialistic, centering on the cost of living and Trump’s failure to deliver lower costs. Some turned from Trump because they see him as either (1) too weak on immigration, or (2) too aggressive on immigration. They tend to not see any significant to democracy, the rule of law or civil liberties from Trump or elite MAGA politics. A few defected from Trump over what they see as his dishonesty, cruelty, vindictiveness, self-dealing, erratic behavior, or his fixation on personal grievances and vengeance instead of worrying about governing. Also in the mix of defector reasons is Trump’s Iran war.
But in general, continuing support for Trump and the recent loss of some support are not mostly grounded in concerns about radical right American authoritarianism, kleptocracy or the three main flavors of pro-corruption tyranny now vying for power in the MAGA world, namely dictatorship, billionaire and corporate oligarchy, and deeply bigoted, cruel, aggressive Christian nationalist theocracy.
What’s the point here?
The main point is simple. Once Trump is gone, the aggrieved, angry mindsets, and crackpot conspiracies that enabled the existence of Trump and MAGA politics and power will still be there. If threats to democracy, the rule of law or civil liberties are perceived, they are believed to come from opposition to Trump, MAGA politicians and politics, and a belief that there really was a hostile deep state government that needed to be reigned in or completely obliterated.
Even if the Dems take control of the House and Senate in the 2026 elections, they will be unlikely to get anything significant done in service to the public interest. The MAGA party leadership is not going to become bipartisan, democratic, or public interest oriented. It will remain as elitist, corrupt and uncompromising as it possibly can with whatever power it has left. Essentially all of the old pro-public interest component of the GOP was RINO hunted out of power years ago. Now, the MAGA party is in power and those people will not give up their power in the public interest unless forced to do so.
Trump did not merely inherit a lot of false beliefs. He organized and politically intensified them to the point that MAGA arose from fragmented discontent, distrust, anger, fear, and latent bigotry and racism. He crystallized and weaponized that all of unhappiness with its attendant corruption, bigotry and nastiness into what MAGA is today.
Q: Who in the MAGA party, if anyone, has Trump’s level of charm and dark arts talent that can replace Trump and hold MAGA together after he is gone, e.g., Rubio, Vance, Don Jr., Melania, or anyone else, or will MAGA disintegrate into fragmented blocks of elitist authoritarian power?
Info sources:
Ahead of midterms, Republicans confront cooling support from young men over Trump policies
As Trump presidency enters second year, his voters share hopes – and concerns
Iran crisis tests Trump standing with young men who helped power 2024 win
Authoritarianism Among Trump Voters
How Americans view the “Deep State”
Approval of Trump on economy falls in new AP-NORC poll, as Iran war drives up prices
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