Glenn Greenwald with an excellent analysis of Trump/MAGA:
The main problem is utter doctrinal confusion about what "MAGA" even means. So many who claim this label agree on almost nothing beyond hating the media and the excesses of woke culture. Valid causes, but only a fraction of what matters.
There's so little clarity on MAGA policy because Trump's winning 2016 campaign rhetoric often bore little resemblance to what his Administration did. It was filled with old-school GOPs of the type he denounced, who flattered him and thus got their way: The Mike Pompeo Syndrome.
One pivotal moment for this was when Jared Kushner won his power struggle over Steve Bannon. Kushner is pure Chamber of Commerce on domestic policy and neocon on foreign policy. So many like him cynically grabbed the "MAGA" label while continuing Bush/Cheney orthodoxy.
Just go look at what Trump said in 2016 about social spending, tax cuts, foreign policy, benefits for the working class. Little of it happened because he surrounded himself with Reagan/Bush Republicans. They'll use MAGA as a pose, a vibe, but they're Pompeo/Kushner on policy.
The excitement over DeSantis encapsulates this perfectly. It's easy to see why conservatives love him: he's smart, disciplined, shrewd, young, was right on COVID, defies media pressure.
But on policy, he's standard GOP. I'm sure many Republicans want that, but that's not "MAGA."
Trump's 2016 campaign was based on denunciations of Reagan/Bush/GOP orthodoxy on domestic policy and Bush/Cheney/neocon orthodoxy on foreign policy. That's why neocons and the GOP establishment hated him. That's what "MAGA" is. Many who claim that label believe the opposite.
Look at US involvement in the war in Ukraine. The vast majority of the GOP establishment is 100% united with Biden/Dems/neocons: they want full-scale US role. Opposition only comes from the MAGA wing of the GOP (MTG/Tucker) and the anti-imperialist left unrepresented in Congress.
Tom |
