The MAGA movement is synonymous with Donald Trump, but experts say it’s become so “battle-hardened” it’s likely to endure long after the US President leaves office.
Thu 5 Feb 2026 01.00
The White House/Flickr
The Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement is synonymous with Donald Trump but experts say it’s become so “battle-hardened” it’s likely to endure long after the US President leaves office.
Author and former speechwriter Don Watson says the one-time campaign slogan has transformed into an entrenched political force, arguing “even if Trump falls down dead tomorrow” MAGA and its supporters will live on.
“Every day it is becoming more solidified and less likely to go away,” he said on the Australia Institute’s After America podcast.
“They’re, in a sense, becoming battle-hardened, not just on the streets of Minneapolis but I think in their minds.
“War has been declared, in a way.”
The author of The Shortest History of the United States said the movement has evolved beyond Donald Trump to reflect a broader political identity and cultural worldview.
“This is a sort of misappropriation of what America really is and the terrible path they’ve taken: that sort of rugged individualist notion that God meant America to be the place where the individual found his fullest expression of his freedom.
“It becomes a sort of holy war against liberalism.”
Except that “holy war” now has little – if anything – to do with religion.
“I think that’s what you now see, somehow transmogrified into MEGA. Into people who have none of the theology of this movement but have all of the passion.”
“And the violence,” added Dr Emma Shortis, director of the Australia Institute’s International & Security Affairs program.
“The MAGA movement is literally and symbolically destroying the promise of a post-civil rights America.”
However, the Democrats have struggled to unite against the Trump administration, plagued by in-fighting and a lack of leadership and vision.
“The Trump people have a way of breaking things up in classic fascist tradition,” he noted, “… in the end your opposition becomes fragmented”.
While the party has been “greatly heartened” by the protests and marches against Trump’s war on immigration, Mr Watson believes it’s also “hardened the battle lines for the other side”.
Dr Shortis said that was evident “particularly in the reaction to the killings” of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, both US citizens who were shot dead by ICE officers in Minneapolis.
She described them as “almost perfect candidates for the liberals the MAGA movement hates”.
“Including a woman and a f*** b**** as she died,” added Mr Watson, who thinks it’s “extraordinary how many liberal or even conservative analysts are talking about civil war”.
“The moment of glory that Trump is hoping for is to be able to invoke the Insurrection Act,” he said.
“So, the more the people resist on the streets, the closer we get to that. Then we have a real free-for-all.”
While President Trump has made moves to “de-escalate” the tension and violence on the streets of Minneapolis, experts warn it’s foolish to think he’s abandoning his administration’s agenda.
“Trump is a master of recalibrating but not actually changing what he’s doing and sort of disconcerting or dispersing opposition in the process,” pointed out Dr Shortis.
It’s a strategy Mr Watson says the Trump administration has “become very good at” and they’ve “got another three years to get even better”.
“So that’s, in a way the problem. If the Democrats do win the midterms, it’s hard to see where the leadership is going to come from in Congress or nationally because the Democrats are woefully ideologically split.”
On the international stage, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is leading the push back against President Trump, recently declaring there’s a “rupture” in the established global order.
Australia, however, has remained quiet with Treasurer Jim Chalmers only going as far as to call it a “stunning speech”.
“And then was completely silent after that, along with the rest of the government,” pointed out Mr Watson. “Great speech, nothing to do with us.”
“If even the Canadian Prime Minister can say these things, then surely Australia can,” said Dr Shortis.
“The alliance and our whole defense posture, our foreign policy is increasingly, it seems to me, quarantined from the people – that we’re left out it entirely,” said Mr Watson.
Despite the United States experiencing a shift towards authoritarian practises, the Australian Government is continuing to stand by the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal, that largely benefits the US.
“AUKUS has not been debated in this country. It’s not been even vaguely put to any kind of popular analysis or judgment,” said Mr Watson.
“There is no one in either party in the actual parliament questioning it.
“You just never hear a boo from anybody. Even as America becomes an entirely problematic place with a problematic leader.”
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