What the “MAGA Civil War” is Really About

Different factions are fighting for supremacy on the Right. What will post-Trump MAGA look like – and how dangerous is Trumpism without Trump?

By Thomas Zimmer, December 19, 2025

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A cabinet meeting in early December seemed to go as so many have since Donald Trump returned to the White House. The president was holding court – an opportunity for secretary after secretary to publicly worship the “greatest president ever” (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) and declare how eternally grateful (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) they were to serve under this American hero. Trump, however, was struggling to stay awake throughout. And just when it was time for Marco Rubio, seated right next to him, to praise Dear Leader as the man who would bring peace to earth, the president was totally dozing off (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

It was a bizarre scene – and it captured the moment. On the one hand, it was a manifestation of how fully Trumpified the American Right is. Not only does the MAGA base revere Trump as a messianic figure. Political leaders are also practicing a grotesque cult of personality. Trump has installed a type of personalist regime within the Republican Party where influence and status are determined by the personal relationship with the autocratic leader.

On the other hand, Trump is evidently struggling, beleaguered and ailing in more than one sense. Not only is he often physically exhausted and seems to be struggling with his health (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). Reports also indicate that he has largely retreated from the job (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) of actually governing. Rarely does he hold rallies anymore, even as his advisers are urging him (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) to go out and meet the base. And since the fall, he has been encountering open resistance from within his own movement. Marjorie Taylor Greene, of all people, has emerged as the public face of MAGA discontent – she who rose to political stardom because of her unflinching loyalty to Trump (and fueled by a steady stream of nutty conspiracy theories). When Greene surprisingly declared (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) she was leaving Congress in early January, she derided MAGA’s leaders for betraying the movement’s true ideals: Instead of toppling the elites, Greene complained, MAGA was becoming part of “the Political Industrial Complex of both Political Parties.” Greene has since reveled in being a constant thorn in Trump’s side. After Trump’s utterly deranged social media post on the murders of Rob and Michele Reiner, in which he insinuated that they were killed – and perhaps deservedly so! – for being mean to him, Greene attacked (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) the president as “classless” and called his behavior unbecoming of the office.

It’s another sign that Trump’s hold over his movement is weakening. Suddenly, we are into the twilight of the Trump era – the end of his reign as the Right’s leader is looming on the horizon. Prominent MAGA figures see opportunity in signaling distance from him. The fight over who will get to succeed him is on, the conflict between different factions seeking to lead MAGA is threatening to disintegrate the movement. But what comes after Trump? What happens to a Republican Party that has been fully Trumpified? What happens to a movement that has been defined by an authoritarian leader cult? Trumpism without Trump – is that even a thing?

The “counter-revolution” is stuck

At the end of this term, Donald Trump will be 82 years old. In a vacuum, it is not surprising that the political leaders of the Right are bringing themselves into position for a post-Trump era. What is remarkable, however, is that MAGA doesn’t have a plan or anything like a coherent strategic vision for what that imminent future is supposed to look like.

MAGA rose to power with a short-term strategy aimed at quickly overwhelming the system. It manifested, for instance, in the so-called “180-Day playbook,” (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) the sole part of Project 2025 that was never made publicly available. The “playbook” consisted mainly of dozens, perhaps hundreds of presidential executive orders, drafted in advance, ready to be deployed from Day 1 back in the White House. Within just a few months, the Trumpists sought to neutralize all meaningful political and societal resistance, forcing a comprehensive regime change. 

But eleven months later, that strategy has failed, as societal resistance has been hardening since the summer. The regime’s attempts to carry out mass deportations and terrorize the local population into submission via aggressive raids into urban centers have been met with unrelenting defiance. In the fall, America experienced a significant mass mobilization culminating in the largest protests in its recent history. In early November, the president’s party was soundly defeated in elections across the country – Trump himself is unprecedentedly unpopular.

The conflict has entered a different phase, and the Trumpist Right is ill-prepared for the prolonged struggle that is next. MAGA’s leaders, whose perception and understanding of the world is now almost entirely shaped by a hermetically sealed rightwing media and information environment, had really bought into the idea of their supposedly irresistible strength. They believed, at least until recently, their own propaganda: Their approach was built on the notion that the rotten liberal system was ready to fall, that the broad majority of “real Americans” couldn’t wait to shake off the joke of “globalist” elites.  

As the MAGA revolution slows down, frustration spreads. Most importantly, as the mood in MAGA land sours, it becomes impossible for the Trumpist Right to ignore the considerable tensions between its different factions. As much as they may have agreed on the initial strategy to quickly overwhelm the liberal enemy, they are pursuing competing – and sometimes incompatible – long-term visions for America.

Who gets to represent MAGA?

As Donald Trump tends to monopolize all the attention, the mainstream discussion often ignores the fact that MAGA exists as an alliance of several separate factions.