"Cacophony of grifters": MAGA infighting erodes real-world power
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Candace Owens hosting her now-cancelled Daily Wire show in 2022. Photo: Jason Davis via Getty Images
MAGA's civil war is draining the movement of its political muscle, leaving it defenseless as the Trump administration revisits policies previously opposed by the base.
Why it matters: MAGA's grassroots strength lies in its ability to rally influencers, politicians and activists behind a hard-charging conservative agenda. That superpower is faltering amid a cascade of bitter personal feuds.
- "There's no focus on anything philosophical or even ideological right now," The National Pulse's Raheem Kassam told Axios.
- "It's all just a cacophony of grifters tussling over audience and ego. So, corporate America gets to wield power with the admin virtually unencumbered by scrutiny from the base," he added.
Driving the news: Washington advanced a series of policies over the past week that would have triggered significant MAGA backlash at earlier points in the administration.
- This time, the reaction was mostly crickets — drowned out by online convulsions over Candace Owens, Turning Point USA, a MAGA podcaster's sexuality, and antisemitism.
Artificial intelligence: President Trump signed an executive order on Thursday that aims to gut state laws that regulate AI — a major initiative pushed by the GOP's tech allies.
- Backlash from MAGA thought leaders like Steve Bannon and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) helped kill a similar provision in Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" earlier this year. But this time, conservative efforts to influence the sweeping executive order were unsuccessful.
Marijuana: Trump is expected to soon reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug under federal law, easing regulations and obstacles for medical research, as Axios reported Thursday.
- It was only a few months ago that MAGA influencers were railing against "pothead culture" as corrosive to American society. But the news that Trump was moving forward with an executive order barely made a ripple on right-wing social media.
Venezuela: The MAGA base is largely supportive of military strikes on drug-running boats in the Caribbean, but wary of steps that could entangle the U.S. in an another foreign war.
- Yet the U.S. military's seizure of a tanker carrying Venezuelan oil — and Trump's refusal to rule out troops on the ground to topple the Maduro regime — barely pinged on MAGA's radar.
Redistricting: MAGA activists have threatened primary challenges against state lawmakers who don't support Trump's redistricting crusade.
- But a surprisingly large defeat in the Indiana Senate suggested GOP legislators aren't cowering — and may be newly willing to assert independence.
The other side: Trump did offer the base some symbolic red meat by announcing a pardon for Tina Peters — a MAGA hero imprisoned in Colorado for 2020 election crimes. But she's serving state time, outside Trump's pardon power, giving the move only rhetorical value.
What they're saying: "In recent weeks, the political discourse in this country has been indistinguishable from an episode of Real Housewives of Atlanta," MAGA influencer CJ Pearson told Axios.
- "I think the movement is wholly consumed right now on personality clashes. That is a recipe for electoral doom, and it's unfortunate to see the unity that we saw after Charlie [Kirk]'s death dissipate so quickly," Pearson said.
- "I couldn't tell you any bills that are making their way through Congress right now without going to the website and looking because the infighting is too loud, and I think that's detrimental," added Josie Glabach, another influencer who goes by "The Redheaded Libertarian."
