OPINION: Can ‘America First’ survive multiple fractures in the movement?
There’s no denying that there’s been some infighting within the rank-and-file of the MAGA movement, much of it spearheaded by President Donald Trump himself, the architect of the once unbreakable coalition. What could this mean for the 2026 midterms and beyond?
Opinion-editorial by Summer Lane | May 18, 2026
On Saturday, President Trump unleashed his wrath on Truth Social, this time with his sights set on Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), a historically tight MAGA ally.
The president’s anger was directed at her decision to support her friend and fellow lawmaker, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), amid his primary bid in the Fourth District of Kentucky.
President Trump has endorsed a primary challenger against Massie, a retired Navy SEAL, Ed Gallrein.
“Is anyone interested in running against Weak Minded Lauren Boebert in Colorado’s Fourth Congressional District?” President Trump wrote pointedly. “You remember Lauren moved to the District when it became obvious that she couldn’t win in her original Congressional District (The Third!) — A Carpetbagger, indeed!”
He also attacked Congressman Rand Paul (R-Ky.) for supporting Massie, labeling him, along with Boebert, as “fools” for their decision.
The attacks were searing and visceral, marking yet another fracture in a once-ironclad MAGA coalition.
While nobody can really run against Rep. Boebert (the candidate filing deadline in her primary has come and gone), the president’s break with the Colorado representative, who campaigned for him in 2024 and has been a very reliable conservative vote in the House, is jarring.
It comes just months after President Trump intensely attacked former Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), nicknaming her “Marjorie Traitor Brown,” and decrying her, along with other critics of the Iran War, as having “Low IQs.”
The president has also aggressively broken with former allies like Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, and Candace Owens. Whatever their faults or controversies in the media, it cannot be denied that each person President Trump has broken with over the past few months had a heavy hand in helping him win reelection, whether by disseminating his campaign message on their platforms or, like Tucker Carlson, actively campaigning and rallying for Trump.
The coalition forged in 2024 was irrevocably powerful, fusing the MAHA coalition, Charlie Kirk’s nationwide bloc of Gen Z voters and young men, Independent voters, and podcast bros. Now, just a year and a half into his second term, President Donald Trump is at war with many of these individuals and the entities they represent.
The lingering question that hangs heavy over the MAGA movement is simple: Can it survive these fractures?
America First moving forward
A singular truth appears to have risen from the multiple dust-ups President Trump has had with former friends and allies. There seems to be an emerging bifurcation between the “MAGA” coalition and those who see themselves as “America First.”
Speaking about those who criticize him, President Trump in March seemed to allude to this shift when he noted, “THEY ARE NOT MAGA, I AM…”
What does this mean for the “MAGA” movement in terms of political turnout? As the 2026 midterm elections rapidly approach – and as Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio hedge their bets over getting a Republican presidential nomination in 2028 – the power of the coalition has waned.
Amid war with Iran, rising gas prices, and multiple schisms in the MAGA movement, it seems impossible that the momentum, energy, and excitement of 2024 could ever be replicated.
That’s certainly not to say that the Trump administration hasn’t done – and isn’t continuing to do – very good things for America. Indeed, America should be grateful that the nation isn’t suffering under the cackling incompetence of a Kamala Harris presidency right now.
But reality is stark: MAGA has changed, political alliances have shifted, and the younger generation – soon to be the most powerful voting bloc in the nation as the Baby Boomer generation ages – is disillusioned with American politics.
For example, 68 percent of voters ages 18-22 disapprove of President Trump’s job performance at the moment, along with 72 percent of voters ages 23-29, according to the latest Spring Yale Youth Poll.
This is not good news for Republicans hoping to capture votes this fall, and it’s certainly not a great way to start a presidential primary season, which will be here faster than you can blink.
What does this mean for MAGA? As voters increasingly search for candidates who are decentralized and independent, it means that there is a marked distinction between President Trump’s shifting definitions of “MAGA” and the baseline demands of “America First” voters who put him back in office.
Those voters have remained unchanged: they are focused on affordability, safety, security, healthcare, and housing.
President Trump should go after obstructionists, not allies
Like her or not, Rep. Boebert has largely been a dependable conservative vote on the House floor. So was Marjorie Taylor Greene. The list of former friends President Trump has attacked is long, and it begs the question: Why not go on the political warpath against obstructionists like Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who refuses to move forward on the SAVE America Act, which would codify national voter ID?
Why not eviscerate Rep. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.), a shameless warmonger, raucously unpopular with mainstream Americans (he has historically been booed every time he gets onstage at a Trump rally), who cheerleads death and killing around the world, particularly in Iran?
Why not take this same aggressive energy and aim it at China – stop them from buying American farmland, stealing intellectual property, and sending hundreds of thousands of Chinese students to the American university systems?
There is so much work to be done and restoration to be had. Pointing the finger at the very few so-called “MAGA” members within the Republican Party or integral supporters outside the party only stirs the pot and breeds distrust and disunity.
“2024 is our final battle,” President Trump declared while campaigning for reelection. “With you at my side, we will demolish the Deep State, we will expel the warmongers from our government, we will drive out the globalists, we will cast out the communists, Marxists, and fascists, and we will throw off the sick political class that hates our country.”
And in his Inaugural address in 2025, President Trump declared, “My proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker and unifier.”
That energy and those words were the battle cry of millions of Americans seeking true change within a decrepit and disgusting political cesspool.
The President Trump of 2024 is the president that Americans need today – a man who could be a unifier, a peacemaker, and a coalition-builder. The infighting, the fractures, and the constant personal attacks must stop. There is only one way out of this mess, and that’s through it.
MAGA may be changing, but America First is here to stay – and that’s good news for the future of this great nation, as voters continue to seek to make their voices heard.
Photo: Adobe Stock
