False Prophets of Populism: Media Personalities Attempting to Hijack the MAGA Movement

Changing Stripes?

Media pundits like Steve Bannon and Tucker Carlson, staunch defenders of Trump’s anti-war stance, are sounding the alarm over President Trump’s increasing involvement in Israel’s war with Iran and its proxies. They are portraying support for one of this nation’s most valued allies, Israel, as a neo-conservative hijacking of Trump’s foreign policy promises, accusing elements within the administration and GOP of dragging the former president into the type of entanglement he campaigned against.

The MAGA Movement

Over the past decade, the MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement has grown from a campaign slogan into a cultural juggernaut. Originally centered around Donald Trump’s presidency, MAGA has transformed into a broader, often chaotic, coalition of nationalist, populist, and anti-establishment forces. However, as Trump’s grip on the movement evolves, a new class of media personalities is attempting to position themselves as its intellectual and spiritual leaders.

At first, these figures appeared to be merely MAGA-aligned. Carlson hosted sympathetic segments on Fox News, and Bannon served as Trump’s chief strategist. However, as Trump’s movement shifted from electoral campaigning to pragmatic governance, these media personalities began portraying themselves not as commentators but as visionaries.

Steve Bannon now openly refers to the MAGA movement as a “revolution,” with himself as a general in the ideological war. Tucker Carlson has taken his show global, painting himself as a truth-teller in exile. Each claiming pieces of the MAGA identity, often more aggressively than President Trump himself.

They aren’t just backing the movement, they’re branding it in their image, which creates a dangerous dissonance: a movement that believes it is fighting the establishment, while increasingly being led by polished insiders and professional provocateurs.

Bottom Line

What we are seeing:

1. President Trump’s pragmatic transactional approach to foreign policy challenges is not a betrayal of his original campaign promises of a non-interventionist foreign policy, endless wars, and a pledge of “America First” diplomacy.

2. Media pundits are attempting to capitalize on the artificially inflated tension within the populist right on how to reconcile Trump’s original America First rhetoric with the geopolitical realities and pressures of leading a superpower during volatile global conflict.

3. At its core, this attempt at MAGA leadership is about power and profit. By setting themselves up as MAGA’s mouthpieces, these personalities rake in donations, subscribers, influence, and cultural capital. They host conferences, launch podcasts, and position themselves as prophets of a populist awakening.

4. However, unlike the grassroots supporters who initially fueled Trump’s rise, the ordinary individuals animated by economic anxiety, distrust of elites, or nationalistic pride, these media pundits operate from safe distances. They don’t risk elections, legal jeopardy, or real-world backlash. Their loyalty to MAGA is often conditional: valuable when it’s lucrative, abandoned when it’s not.

5. The MAGA movement, for better or worse, was built on a promise to disrupt politics as usual. But as it becomes increasingly defined by media personalities with personal brands to build and audiences to monetize, its future looks less like a revolution and more like a podcast network.

6. These media personalities often lack the one thing President Trump has in abundance: charisma that bridges class divides and commands loyalty in real time. While Bannon and Carlson have niche intellectual followings, they lack Trump’s mass appeal. They can lecture, grift, and radicalize but can’t rally broad support. They can fuel anger, but not always action.

7. Not being threatened with nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles from a nation whose leadership shouts "Death to America" is about as "America First" as you can get--regardless of who says what. The issue is not whether we are helping Israel; it's a matter of protecting ourselves.

When political movements like MAGA arise, some people open their hearts. Others open their wallets. And the “pundit kings of pop culture” open their mouths.

We are so screwed.

-- Steve

P.S. Tucker Qatarlson is not MAGA ("Make America Great Again"), he is a MAGGOT ("Militantly Anti-Government Grievance-Obsessed Tribalist)".