The Rise, Flourish, and Demise of MAGA
How an unlikely movement with a unique leader rose, thrived, and collapsed, from an escalator ride to insurrection at the heart of democracy.
On June 16th, 2015, real estate mogul and reality TV star Donald Trump came down an escalator at his Trump Tower with his wife Melania. He got in front of a crowd, where he proclaimed “Ladies and Gentlemen, I am officially running for President of the United States and we are going to Make America Great Again!”. The rest is history. From that moment, Mr. Trump launched himself into the national political spotlight, and began one of the largest political movements in modern American history. He set out to transform the “country-club” Bush-Romney GOP into a nationalist, populist “America First” party. And it worked. After being initially dismissed as a joke, Mr. Trump’s brash, politically incorrect rhetoric launched him to the top of the Republican party ticket, shocking the national political infrastructure. But he wasn’t done. He was dismissed by that same media and political establishment again. No one expected a Trump win — in fact, The New York Times gave him a fifteen percent chance of winning. But he did win, and he shocked that establishment once again. That escalator moment, described by Politico as “The Escalator Ride That Changed America” indeed did change America. Not only did that escalator ride change America, it also created a new faction of the Republican party, a faction of individuals whose sole purpose was to protect, defend, and support Mr. Trump.
Let us fast forward to March 2020. At this point, Mr. Trump was doing quite well. While he had his controversies, he had gotten past the biggest ones, most notably “Russiagate” and the failed impeachment attempt. Yes, he continued to have insane tweets fairly frequently, stirring up a new fight every day, and the Democrats still hated him. However, he was loved by Republicans across the party, from the libertarians to the traditional conservatives to the populists, and for good reason. He implemented policies that created the greatest economy in the history of the world. The stock market was hitting records every day, wages were up for every income level, and unemployment hit a record low. Mr. Trump also accomplished things Republicans often promised but seldom ever did. When he promised he was going to do something, he did it. He promised he would move the American embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a promise made by most Presidential candidates in recent years, including Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama. Unlike them, he got it done (and he was adamant about the cost — fiscal conservative!). He promised he would leave the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (Iran Nuclear Deal) and the Paris Climate Accords; both moves that conservatives had been pushing for years. He was immediately met with swift opposition by Democrats and some weary Republicans who didn’t like the bold action. He got it done anyway. He fixed NAFTA, forced NATO allies to pay their fair share, took troops out of foreign countries, and became the first president in forty years not to start another war. While many will reject the idea that Trump is a conservative, he adamantly stood up for conservative values time and time again. Even more importantly, he gave the movement a spine and taught them how to fight back, a fundamental skill they lacked that cost them 2012 and could have cost them even more.
In November of 2020, the world’s eyes were on America. Following months of fighting, lockdown, the President getting coronavirus, BLM protests and riots, a disastrous and embarrassing debate, and so much more, it was finally election time. November 3rd came and went, but there was still no winner declared. As election day passed, a concerning rise began the day directly after the election. Mr. Trump and his allies came out in full force with allegations of voter irregularity and fraud, making poor arguments and filing a ludicrous amount of frivolous and weak lawsuits. At the center of this circus were two lawyers named Lin Wood and Sidney Powell, both of whom made bombastic and unsubstantiated allegations. Ms. Powell claimed that Dominion Voting Systems, a Canadian company (headquartered in Toronto, ON and Denver, CO) that makes voting equipment had implemented an algorithm in its machines that would transfer millions of votes from Trump to Biden. Ms. Powell also claimed that Dominion had ties to the Clinton family and various other Democrats, and were actually really owned by a Venezuelan company that had ties to Hugo Chavez. Dominion subsequently sued Ms. Powell, seeking $1.3 billion in damages. At the center of all of this was Mr. Trump himself, repeating their claims and using his many platforms to broadcast them. Far right, pro-Trump outlets like Newsmax and One America News also amplified them.
Donald Trump is much different from most politicians. This should be obvious to anyone following American politics. Consequently, Mr. Trump is very loved among his most ardent supporters, having garnered an incredible following, and the incredible persuasive power that comes along with a following of that magnitude. When the entire pro-Trump media infrastructure, his allies, and he himself claim that the election was stolen from them and amplify the same baseless conspiracy theories, it has a profound impact on people. They were told over and over again to wait for the magical date of January 6th, 2021, where the election would supposedly be overturned in Congress. This leads to the obvious impact of people really believing that the election was stolen, and subsequently wanting to do everything in their power to stop it. They hold rallies, harass so-called ‘RINOs’, and intimidate any Republican who dares object to their conspiracy theories. When there’s a large gallows with a noose attached to it, and individuals chant “Hang Mike Pence”, that is no longer the work of a political movement. This irrational belief that anyone who dares disagree with you inherently evil and an enemy is not the belief of a political movement — it’s the belief of a cult.
All of this reached a tipping point on January 6th, 2021. Thousands flocked to DC for a massive rally “Save America”, at which their beloved President would speak. In front of the crowd, Mr. Trump delivered a passionate address, calling on his supporters to “fight like hell” to “take our country back”. After Vice President Pence refused to violate the Constitution and reverse a free and fair election, the mob made him another one of their enemies. After the Capitol was stormed, rather than immediately condemning the insurrectionists, the President released a video where he called them “great patriots”, told them he loved them, and told them to “go home in peace”. Mr. Trump’s actions make one thing crystal clear — if anyone is to blame for the events that took place on January 6th, 2020, it’s him.
With the thousands of supporters that came to our nation’s capital for the ironically named “Save America March”, there were many on the far and alt-right, without question. Among this mob of radicals were neo-Nazis, racists, neo-Confederates, followers of the Q-Anon movement and other militants. Make no mistake — these people are not in any way conservatives or patriots. They forcefully broke into the US Capitol building, showing a total and complete disregard for American history, institutions, and values. They showed up in full force to demand that the Vice President and Congress overturn a fair election conducted by the states, violating the conservative principles of small government, de-centralization, and federalism. They desecrated and disrespected the value of our constitution, and the integrity of our democratic republic. They were so fueled by their radical agenda and an irrational love of the President that they believed it perfectly acceptable to lead an insurrection on the Capitol building of the world’s oldest and most powerful democracy.
Peaceful protest is great — it’s protected by the constitution and is responsible for bringing about great change in American society historically. It was okay during the Black Lives Matter protests over the summer and it is okay now. The individuals that came to DC for the rally were not all violent, just like the BLM protesters were not all violent. Subsequently, violent protest is profoundly evil, no matter the ideology. But when the leaders of a supposedly peaceful movement use inflammatory rhetoric that does not overtly condemn violence, and there is violence, damage, pain, and death, the violence can become the unfortunate legacy of the movement.
With the rise of Donald J. Trump came historic political change to the United States, many of which was welcome and much needed. Mr. Trump was a good policy president. He oversaw the development of the greatest economy in world history, implemented the most successful foreign policy in decades, among many other successes. However, the same brash rhetoric that made him enemies at the start ultimately resulted in his demise. With Mr. Trump came the creation, rise, flourish, and fall of the MAGA movement, and only history will be the ultimate decider of his and his movement’s legacy.