Is MAGA fracturing?
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What are the current tensions within the MAGA coalition?
This week on Up First, with the president threatening to target Iran's civilian infrastructure, such as power plants and bridges, even as gas prices in the U.S. continue to climb, what are the chances of an end to the war in Iran? Listen for updates every morning on the latest overnight news on Up First. Find us on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
Hey there, it's the NPR Politics Podcast. I'm Tamara Keith. I cover politics. I'm Elena Moore. I also cover politics.
And I'm Domenico Montanaro, senior political editor and correspondent.
And a happy Friday to you and yours. On today's show, we want to look at political divisions, specifically how the broad coalition that President Trump assembled to win reelection is starting to fray. It comes to as the president is seeing his approval rating continue to fall. Elena, this week you've been reporting on some pretty strong pushback from people who used to be some of the loudest, most vocal supporters of President Trump. Media figures like Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly are mad about the president's handling of the war in Iran.
So what are you seeing there? Yeah, these are people, obviously, that you might have first seen on Fox News or network television of some sort. And they've gone from TV stars to podcast stars in recent years and just, you know, very overtly partisan figures. They campaigned with President Trump in 2024. Tucker Carlson spoke at the RNC, the Republican National Convention. And they've started to break with Trump over the war over the last few weeks and criticize the actual act of going to war. There's been a lot of discourse about U.S.-Israel relations. But the difference right now in this week was the direct attention that they put on President Trump. There was no beating around the bush. They were mad and frustrated at him.
And a lot of this stems from a couple of really stunning social media posts. One on Easter Sunday said, that said open the expletive straight. And then there was another one where he threatened to completely wipe out Iranian civilization.
Right. He said, quote, whole civilization will die tonight, end quote. And so, yeah, Megyn Kelly in her podcast after that tweet, before the ceasefire was announced on Tuesday, said this on her show.
This is completely irresponsible and disgusting. I wish he would stop doing this. Like he can't negotiate without doing this. What does that say about him?
And, you know, Tucker Carlson a day earlier on his show really picked apart Trump's comments about the threat to bomb civilian infrastructure if there wasn't a deal that Easter Sunday Truth Social post. And he called the words vile. So, yeah, some really, really strong language coming from people that really were his high profile MAGA celebrity cheerleaders.
And I think there's also something of a vibe shift, which you kind of mentioned, which is that the criticism is not just towards the thing. It is also now towards the person going after Donald Trump himself and not just, oh, he's getting bad advice or whatever they would have said before.
Oh, there's no denying that it's like these people are mad at him. Which is really different. I mean, and some people even took it farther. People, again, that you would long associate with the MAGA movement, people like Candace Owens, another podcaster, Turning Point USA alum, or Marjorie Taylor Greene, the former congresswoman from Georgia. These are people who posted online after Trump's tweet about threatening to destroy Iran. They called for the cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment, which would remove the president from office. Again, these are people who were some of his biggest supporters. And so, yeah, it's just a handful of folks. But this isn't just some tepid subtext.
How are media figures reacting to Trump's handling of the Iran war?
I'm not sure. This is overtly people disagreeing with him. And we should say Tuesday, obviously, we found out there was going to be a two-week ceasefire. We have since heard some of these figures tamp down their criticism again directly of the president and go back to that just like criticism of the war.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What are the current tensions within the MAGA coalition?
0:01–4:04
2
How are media figures reacting to Trump's handling of the Iran war?
4:04–8:30
3
What criticisms are emerging from Trump's former supporters?
8:30–12:48
4
What is the MAHA movement and how does it relate to MAGA?
12:48–16:12
5
What are the main concerns of the MAHA movement?
16:12–20:22
6
How is Casey Means' nomination affecting the MAHA movement?
20:22–25:33
7
What challenges does Trump face with his coalition ahead of the midterms?
25:33–29:29
8
What are the implications of Trump's low approval ratings for the Republican Party?
29:29–33:20