In the absence of Trump’s post trap or Twitter megaphone to expose his grievances and bring his supporters together, MAGA moved to different goals: President Joe Biden’s agenda, the $ 1.9 trillion relief bill from Covid, China, the GameStop controversy and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) Among them.
In addition, there are new victims of the culture of cancellation to defend. In addition to Greene, there is the cause of Congresswoman Lauren Boebert (R-Col.), Who, like the Georgia congresswoman, is facing harsh criticism for her adoption of conspiracy theories. Then there’s Mike Lindell, the CEO of MyPillow who may be the only Trump World celebrity still openly promoting electoral fraud conspiracies. After several large retailers abandoned their product following his call to invoke the Insurrection Act, he was frequently invited to right-wing television to talk about the cancellation.
“The most important thing in the MAGA media now is not Trump, it is a self-created war against the amorphous triplet bogeyman called ‘Cancel Culture’, ‘Big Tech’ and ‘The Media’,” said Amanda Carpenter, a former spokeswoman voice for Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign and currently political columnist for The Bulwark, a conservative anti-Trump website. “They are the substitutes until they find the right Democrat to isolate and become the villain.
There is an obvious factor in easing MAGA’s anger over what the former president’s supporters regard as the latest Democratic-driven witch hunt: this time, Trump is not in danger of being removed from office because Trump is no longer inside office.
This reality served to restrict the pro-Trump movement from burning too much energy for what, in his opinion, is a silly party exercise. Senate Republicans validated that belief last week, when everyone but five voted to dismiss the impeachment charge as unconstitutional, virtually guaranteeing that the Senate will not reach the 67-vote limit required to condemn Trump.
“Remember,” tweeted MAGA influencer Rogan O’Handley on Friday, “their hatred for Trump was really just hatred for the proud Americans who support him.”
In fact, the biggest impeachment story in Breitbart’s tabloid on Monday wasn’t even about Trump: it was, instead, about Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) Calling for the impeachment of majority leader Chuck Schumer (DN .Y.).
Against this backdrop – unlike Trump’s initial impeachment trial – MAGA supporters are treating the Senate’s second trial as a kind of secondary spectacle, which deviates from their ultimate goals.
Trump supporters, for example, have moved away from electoral fraud and instead, they are focusing on what they claim to be Biden’s countless hypocrisies.
The farther and darker reaches of the Trump coalition are also involved elsewhere. Militia and conspiracy groups are more focused on their opposition to Biden, while white supremacist groups have disappeared into the white noise of the internet, trying to find ways to reform themselves. The Proud Boys returned their energy to protect their accused brothers in the January 6 deadly riot on Capitol Hill – the event that led to Trump’s second impeachment.
As a private Telegram channel for Boogaloo Bois, a militia group that claimed to be present in the January 6 riot, urged his followers: “Fight in every way. Civil disobedience is the key … Don’t wear a mask and make fun of those who do it as slaves. Give non-whites a deadly look and be prepared to drop them if they attack you. ”There was practically no mention of impeachment on the channel.
Radio presenter Joe Walsh, a former Tea Party congressman and Trump critic, suggests that this relatively calm period is simply a lull caused by Trump’s recent low profile, and that if Trump fully engages after the impeachment trial ends , MAGA would immediately return to its normal state of reverence.
“He’s going to be acquitted,” he told POLITICO. “And then he’ll be in a position again to hit his chest a few weeks later: ‘They went after me again and failed.’ And I know that politically I think he was advised to keep his mouth shut. But I have no doubt if or when he returns, his movement is still there. ”
Mark Scott contributed to this report.