As the midterm elections near, we are hearing a lot about a “split” within the Make America Great Again (MAGA) coalition, which got Donald Trump elected United States president in 2024.
asserted
Trump → near → 2024
I understand the tragedy of MAGA a little differently: not as a split, but as a refusal by the best members of that coalition to abandon the solidarity we’ve formed between us.
asserted
we → understand → us
I had the privilege of helping bring this coalition together in 2024.
asserted
I → have → 2024
It was a collection of groupings traditionally pitted against each other: social conservatives, pro-lifers, devout Christians, devout Muslims, devout Quakers, disaffected leftists, young first-time voters – all coming together behind a Republican candidacy.
asserted
all → pit → candidacy
Together, we made history and delivered a moral mandate based on a humane concern for the human cost of unregulated borders, thoughtless warmongering overseas and the ruling-class politicking that had allowed a Jeffrey Epstein syndicate to go unpunished while the basic dignity of the “least of our brethren” went untended.
asserted
dignity → make → brethren
In the campaign’s final stretch, I visited Syrian Christian churches in Pennsylvania and met Americans whose families had personally suffered the worst of what Washington’s foreign policy can do.
asserted
policy → visit → what
In those communities, we talked about Gaza, peace and Trump’s promises.
asserted
we → talk → Gaza
This miraculous, ragtag, all-American patchwork of people who supported Trump in 2024 truly became a people when they discovered their shared belief in the mission of electing a president who would break with the Washington establishment’s inhumane policies.
asserted
who → support → policies
What is instead happening is that there is a concerted effort to redefine what MAGA is.
asserted
MAGA → happen → ?
In the weeks following the launch of the disastrous US-Israeli war on Iran, Trump announced “I am MAGA” and insisted on including in the brand the ideology of infamous neo-cons like Mark Levin.
asserted
I → follow → Levin
As a result, MAGA has now become a blunt instrument of the same war-hungry elites the original coalition aimed to depose.
asserted
coalition → become → elites
The brand is now on course to be destroyed this November.
asserted
brand → destroy → course
That, however, says nothing about the goodness and power of the movement that stood behind Trump in 2024.
asserted
that → say → 2024
Perhaps one of the central factors that is driving this process of MAGA destruction is the decision to support, fund and protect Israel at any cost as it carries out a genocide in Gaza and various other atrocities in the Middle East.
asserted
it → drive → East
And Election Day 2026 will represent the first time the public’s moral indignation fully makes itself felt.
asserted
itself → represent → time
But, bafflingly, that’s also the one matter that our most powerful politicians have made a point of doubling down on ahead of the midterms.
asserted
politicians → ’ → midterms
Just a few days ago, The New York Times reported that David Milstein, senior adviser to US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and stepson of Levin, repeatedly suppressed or rewrote embassy reporting on Israeli violence against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
asserted
Milstein → report → Gaza
Milstein allegedly even blocked reporting about the killings of Palestinian Americans by Israeli settlers and security forces.
uncertain
Milstein → block → settlers
Nevertheless, he still retains his position.
asserted
he → retain → position
I write this as an American conservative and a Catholic.
asserted
I → write → conservative
But at a time when Washington is spending America’s moral authority to shield Israel’s government from accountability while treating Palestinian lives as negotiable, both my deepest-held convictions and my patriotism require that I stand against some of the loudest self-proclaimed “patriots” and “conservative Christians”.
asserted
I → spend → patriots
Not because I now reject what they claim to represent, but because I still embrace it
uncertain
I → reject → it
An April survey by Pew Research found that 57 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents aged 18 to 49 viewed Israel unfavourably.
asserted
percent → find → Israel
Young conservatives have watched the same harrowing footage of the Gaza genocide as everyone else.
asserted
conservatives → watch → everyone
Today’s new self-proclaimed leaders of MAGA – a movement that taught the youth to distrust official narratives – cannot reasonably expect them to stop asking questions.
asserted
them → proclaim → questions
Especially not when there are still plenty of prominent figures who have retained their integrity and still carry the original coalition’s banner.
asserted
who → be → banner
Trump’s former counterterrorism chief Joe Kent courageously resigned over the Iran war and publicly described the Israeli and lobbying pressure that helped bring it about.
asserted
that → resign → it
Former Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard bravely put on record that Iran was not building a nuclear weapon and had not rebuilt its enrichment capability since the 12-day war of 2025, undercutting the “imminent nuclear threat” claim used to justify the war this year.
uncertain
Iran → put → war
Former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and Congressman Thomas Massie stood against the Gaza genocide and the Epstein cover-up.
asserted
Greene → stand → genocide
Trump and the donor-class backers of his newly adopted neo-con agenda pummelled them: Greene resigned, and Massie lost his primary after a multimillion-dollar campaign to unseat him.
asserted
Massie → adopt → him
Conservative activist Carrie Prejean Boller defended Christian opposition to Israel’s violence in Gaza and the bigoted ideology of Zionism.
asserted
Boller → defend → Zionism
She paid a price, losing her seat on Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission, but proved herself a true leader in our movement.
asserted
herself → pay → movement
Conservative commentators Tucker Carlson and Alex Jones similarly used their influential platforms to stand up to Trump over the Iran war and against US backing of Israeli abuses of Palestinians.
asserted
commentators → use → Palestinians
Trump’s son Barron was credited with the brilliant idea of bringing his father’s campaign to their audiences in 2024.
asserted
son → credit → 2024
They graciously opened their platforms: Rogan endorsed Trump, Von interviewed him and Dillon hosted JD Vance after he became the vice presidential nominee.
Now these same voices are condemning the bloodshed and broken promises.
asserted
voices → open → bloodshed
From Gaza, Lebanon and the West Bank to Iran, Trump has squandered their goodwill.
asserted
Trump → squander → goodwill
These political and cultural leaders represent a preview of the future this coalition still has ahead of it.
asserted
coalition → represent → it
The candidates they eventually support – or themselves, if they run – will be easily recognisable to voters.
asserted
they → support → voters
Browbeating the voters whose support the Trump administration betrayed will have exactly the consequences you would expect.
asserted
you → browbeat → consequences
The original MAGA coalition will destroy a Republican Party that embraces the policies the movement aimed to destroy all along.
asserted
movement → destroy → policies
…and 5 more, not listed.
The Aporia
