Tucker Carlson told his latest guest, the Breaking Points co-host Saagar Enjeti, in an interview released Tuesday, “If you get up and you say ‘we’re going to restore greatness to this country, we’re going to do it by putting our own interests first.’ That’s what every country does. That’s kind of natural. It’s organic.”
Carlson was weighing MAGA’s signature “America First” philosophy against those on the right who seem to prefer to put Israel first instead.
“And then you put the interest of a country of 9 million people above your own in a way that’s just insulting, people can’t deal with that,” Carlson said. “Their brains start to explode.”
“I think this is blowing up the coalition,” Carlson lamented. “I hope I’m wrong. I support the coalition… I’m worried about that. I feel like that’s happening.”
Enjeti agreed, “I think you should be worried about it.”
In the early days of President Donald Trump’s second term, the MAGA faithful were optimistic, excited, and fairly united. It was broadly understood that Trump was never going to be able to please everyone in his coalition, but most seemed willing to give him grace on some things so long as MAGA was headed the right way on most things, or even enough things.
In those first few months, Trump began to fulfill his promises of border security and deportations. His special envoy Steve Witkoff forced a ceasefire in Gaza, and better diplomacy between Russia, Ukraine, and the U.S. seemed possible. The new administration established DOGE with Elon Musk at its head, which set out to find $2 trillion in cuts. President Trump was bashing the neocons and their failed nation-building during a speech in Saudi. Vice President J.D. Vance was attacking Germany’s anti–free speech laws to their faces in a speech in Berlin.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said that the sure-to-be-damning client list for the late child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein was sitting on her desk, and she was on the cusp of releasing it to the public.
That was then.
Now, on Tuesday, Trump’s DOJ said there was no Epstein client list, something considered a bald-faced lie by so many throughout the MAGA coalition. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is visiting the White House for the third time in less than six months of Trump’s second term. Trump struck Iran militarily, a top wish list item for Israel and every American neoconservative for decades. The ceasefire in Gaza has long been broken, and Israel’s military has slaughtered Palestinians for months on America’s dime. The same day, the president announced that the U.S. would be sending more weapons and dollars to Ukraine. Musk has left, and DOGE seems like a distant memory, along with all the big talk of big cuts to government. The administration is fully behind anti–free speech efforts that target those in the U.S. who dare criticize Israel’s government. Trump and most of his Republican party now seem most proud of passing the “Big, Beautiful Spending” bill recently, opposed by GOP fiscal hawks like Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Warren Davidson (R-OH), and also Elon Musk.
And yes, as Tucker Carlson was saying, this president and his party now put Israel first regularly.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is very happy with this version of “MAGA.” So is Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). The neoconservative radio host Mark Levin believes Trump’s Iran strike is the embodiment of MAGA. Neoconservatives who once derided MAGA as a cult now dismiss rightwingers who don’t sufficiently trust Trump. Many congressional Republicans and voters, and perhaps even a majority, consider MAGA to be whatever Trump decides to do on any given day and at any whim—no matter how contradictory it might be to what he did a minute before or to the president’s longstanding, overall message.
That’s where MAGA is at the moment, for those willing to still call it that.
Then there’s Ultra-MAGA.
These are the supporters, many of whom have been with Trump from the beginning, who believe in the principles and policies that have defined MAGA throughout its history. They want border security. They want to stop fighting endless wars. They want drastic government spending cuts. They want to attack the Deep State.
They want to put America First for real.
Ultra-MAGA is Steve Bannon, Musk, Carlson, Massie, Davidson and Paul. The band of podcasters, including Joe Rogan, who helped elect Trump are also part of this group. Musk and Bannon famously don’t like each other, but both are Ultra-MAGA despite their disagreements. Musk’s proposed “America Party” is part of this faction within the Trump coalition.
No one is more Ultra-MAGA than every longtime MAGA devotee who is absolutely outraged that this president and his team—their president and his team—now say there is no evidence to suggest Epstein did anything.
The current Epstein controversy seems like a line. Ultra-MAGA is diverse, it is broad and could very well outlast Donald Trump himself, in terms of shaping American politics, the Republican party, or even other parties.
Current MAGA’s main mission seems to be to bow to Washington consensus, especially on foreign policy, and to anger and disappoint its true believers—which could ultimately strengthen Ultra-MAGA’s resolve, no matter what else this president does.
Carlson told Enjeti, “One of the many tragic byproducts is, I think it’s destroying the right. And I say that as someone who’s been on the right my whole life. My whole life, I’ve been on the right.”
“I really sort of believe in the basic ideas, and I’m not a liberal,” Carlson said. “That’s for sure. In fact, I’m way more conservative than Mark Levin. That’s for sure.”
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“But it’s like, the problem is, the promise of MAGA is ‘America First’ and the contradiction is just too obvious…” Tucker added.
Too obvious, for some. For many.
How many, time will tell.
