MAGA – Make America Great Again! (And no – the title is not an error).
It’s a slogan; it’s a political movement; it’s a self-identifier for a percentage of the US electorate.
And it’s basically just another scam.
Make America Great Again became Donald Trump’s rallying cry in his first election campaign in 2016.
While Trump claims credit for the expression and the political movement it spawned, it was first used by Ronald Reagan in 1980 (“Let’s make America great again.”); and then by Bill Clinton in a number of campaign speeches in 1992.
But Trump showed his genius by capitalizing it!!!
It resonated with many – both for Trump’s bombastic style that seemed to be an attack on the ruling class, and his promise to make America (and by implication, American citizens) great again.
Trump was going to reduce foreign influence; he would deport ‘criminal’ illegal immigrants; he would end U.S. involvement in the wars of the empire project; he would rebuild U.S. as a manufacturing powerhouse; and he would return society to “Traditional American Values’.
Many who saw hope in him had suffered through deindustrialization in their communities and had seen those communities ravaged by Fentanyl, homelessness, and suicides; or who had sent their sons off to fight in die in the wars of empire; or had their savings and home lost in the financial crisis of 2008. Or felt the values they had grown up with had been discarded.
MAGA can be criticized and ridiculed for its worst elements – but the messaging spoke to a large number of American citizens who felt they were left behind or forgotten in the decade before 2016.
It didn’t help the Democratic candidate in 2016 was the vile Hillary Clinton – who thought the presidency was her right, with the election to be more of a coronation than a vote of the people. That the DNC rigged the nomination for her and pushed aside Bernie Sanders, who was providing the same critique as Trump, resulted in Trump being elected.
His first term need not be detailed here. His own bumbling in the face of the partisan attack by the Democrats, and a poorly chosen self-serving Cabinet, resulted in little progress on the MAGA agenda. He was, however, able to send arms to Ukraine (something that has disappeared down a memory hole) that set the stage for what came in 2022.
After four years of floundering – made worse by “Russia, Russia, Russia”, came the election of 2020 and the election of the bumbling, senile Joe Biden. Another Presidential term that looked like a late stage of the Roman empire.
The election of 2024 then became the inevitable repeat of Biden versus Trump – until Biden was forced aside (based on a single Ambien tablet – per son, Hunter). And then the Democrats went forward with the even more hapless Kamala Harris.
(As an aside, in an earlier post I speculated the Democrats would not realistically assess why they lost in 2024 – reporting coming out now on their ‘autopsy’ indicates that will be the case).
Trump came in this time with a more loyal team of buccaneers, billionaires, nativists, and Zionists (all of them). He promised to end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours; would bring peace to Gaza; and deport all the criminal illegal immigration. And he would restore U.S. manufacturing.
Well….
He won’t be getting his sought-after Nobel Peace Prize anytime soon.
His administration has followed the Biden administration in supporting genocide and mass starvation in Gaza – claiming it’s Netanyahu that is the problem.
Perhaps, but two points. First, even without Netanyahu, Israel would be doing much the same. The current policies of Israel are supported by a super majority of their population. Second, if the U.S. just stopped funding Israel – the whole Greater Israel project would stop.
As an aside, the MAGA movement has been abetted by many social influencers – using X, YouTube, Rumble, Tik Tok and other channels to push the agenda of their hero. Many became quite well known and affluent from their association with the MAGA movement.
Now comes a report that a large number of the ‘under 30’ MAGA influencers have gone to Israel to help them have a more favorable view of Israel. I think it’s safe to say that upon their return, their spreading the ‘truth’ (from the Israel perspective) will ensure a steady stream of income – particularly if it turns MAGA to MIGA (Make Israel Great Again) for their followers.
Gaza wasn’t enough for Israel, and Trump has spread the war into Iran with U.S. support of the Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear sites; launched his own symbolic attack on Iran by B2 bombers; and then provided air defense through the Iranian counter attacks.
While he appears to be distancing himself and his administration from Ukraine, the flow of arms approved by the Biden administration continues. And he appears to be pushing the delusional European ‘leaders’ into talking about their war with Russia. I fear Oreshnik hypersonic missiles will be striking in European cities if this continues.
And his domestic policies have not gone well either – at least for the majority; but the billionaires all seem to be doing well.
The administration under the ICE queen, Kristi Noem, have conducted mass sweeps for ‘illegals’ – many of whom have been here for years, paying taxes; working in modest jobs such as day labor; cooks and waitresses; or custodians in high schools.
The raids have frightened away many of the people who did the hard brutal work of harvesting crops; leading to farmers complaining to the administration. Even with that, there are mixed signal from the government how the issue will be addressed.
Parenthetically, this situation could have been addressed with quiet ‘guest worker programs’; grandfathering in some long-term residents with provisions for a path to citizenship; and focus specifically on proven criminal behavior for deportation.
But that wouldn’t have given the Administration a public relations victory for its base.
Tariffs have been a disaster in the making. On; off; on again; higher; lower; against countries with which the U.S. has a trade surplus; against countries with which there already trade agreements (e.g., NAFTA).
Investments in new plants or facilities are impossible as no one knows what plan, if any, the administration is following – or when Trump will change his mind again.
About the only certainty is much higher prices for most of the things needed by American consumers.
DOGE cuts have resulted in mass layoffs of Federal employees, without any consideration of the service cuts that would result.
The deaths from the recent flooding in Texas due to cuts at the National Weather Service may be a harbinger of what’s to come in things like air traffic control, food safety, and disaster recovery.
The price of the election of Donald Trump is now becoming clear.
NOTE: After publishing, I realized two posts would make for easier scrolling and reading- click here for Part II)
