Trump turns on MAGA fans as their 'license to indulge' in bad behavior expires: analysis

Faithful Donald Trump voters are finding themselves at odds with the president following a recent string of policy changes.

Trump has seemingly turned his back on the MAGA contingent of the Republican Party, using the same strategic rule breaks that had affected the Democrats and other left-wing groups on his formerly faithful voter base. Chauncey DeVega, writing in Salon, suggested the president had changed tack in recent weeks and is willing to let the MAGA group feel swept up by overarching changes.

She wrote, "Many of the president’s voters supported him because he promised to break the rules and punish groups they dislike and even hate — Democrats, liberals, Black and brown people, immigrants, the LGBTQ community, feminists and others. Now the same policies they supported have boomeranged on them.

"But after all they have endured — and are continuing to face — are Trump’s voters actually abandoning him? Are they now ashamed or embarrassed for supporting him and the MAGA movement?

"In the end, the answer to these questions may be no, and Democrats, liberals, progressives and other pro-democracy Americans have been projecting onto Trump’s supporters what they desperately wanted to believe is true for their own self-comfort."

What this means for the future of the MAGA movement is currently unclear, but DeVega suggested that the move from Trump may not dissolve the support he has.

She added, "Trump is a very skilled propagandist and charismatic leader, making it far from guaranteed that his most loyal voters will ever leave him. Even more troubling, the president gave his voters a license to indulge and engage in their own worst behavior — and that permission structure is greatly overriding their material and other rational self-interest.

"Pro-democracy Americans must be careful not to confuse mockery with tangible results and power. Dismissing Trump’s voters who are being hurt by his policies may feel good, but such behavior is no substitute for the hard work, organizing and alliance-building that will be necessary to save America’s democracy and renew its broken civic culture.

"If we don’t put in the effort, Trump and his MAGA coalition will cement their control over the country — and we will end up being the sad clowns."