Misunderstanding The MAGA Base

The Online Right’s opinions aren’t the same as that of the grassroots

My “Critical Pedo Theory” article last week was bound to upset people–and it lived up to expectations. Some hated it because they felt it defended Donald Trump, others because it apparently criticized Trump. Others wrongly felt it excused Jeffrey Epstein and even minimized right-wing concerns with Critical Race Theory. None of these interpretations are accurate. The article simply analyzed a crucial element of the MAGA base and why it makes Trump supporters so concerned with Epstein.

Critics disagreed with why Trump supporters are interested in Epstein. They argued that the base’s concern is due to the foreign meddling aspect, not the pedophile aspect. This may be true for the critics themselves, but not for the public or for the MAGA base. They’re angry because they believe Epstein was an important part of the pedo cabal that controls America and they feel the administration is covering it up. The foreign influence angle isn’t as well known among them.

The public knows Epstein was a wealthy pedophile who died under suspicious circumstances. They’re aware he had connections to powerful people in government and finance. The Israeli intelligence angle isn’t as well-reported or as well-known. People who consume online content would be familiar with it, but the person who still gets his information from traditional media, including conservative media, would not. The base is probably more likely to believe the Democrats killed Epstein than Mossad.

If the MAGA base was greatly concerned with foreign influence over American affairs, they would’ve turned on Trump over the Iran strikes. Here was a clear and obvious case of the U.S. acting on Israel’s behalf. It was the number one news story in America. The Israeli angle was certainly no conspiracy theory confined to the fringes. It was obvious to everyone. However, Trump’s base overwhelmingly approved of the strikes, with 84 percent of “MAGA Republicans” supporting them. They supported the strikes more than ordinary Republicans. Just seven percent of MAGA Republicans opposed them.

If the base was motivated primarily by hostility towards foreign influence, you’d expect different numbers here.

QAnon and Pizzagate had wide appeal to the MAGA base. Neither one was concerned with foreign influence. They were all about powerful pedophile cabals. Epstein appeared to confirm these suspicions.

Americans certainly don’t like foreign influence and spying, but they’re far more horrified by pedophilia. The interest in Epstein is driven by this repulsion, along with his mysterious death and his powerful connections. If Epstein were not a sexual deviant, there would not be as much intense interest in the story. There are plenty of stories about foreign influence and surveillance. None of them have come close to the attention Epstein received. For MAGA, this interest is driven by the thought he ran a pedo cabal for Democrats. This is not to say there is ZERO interest in the foreign meddling angle with Epstein. It’s just not the primary inspiration for anger among ordinary MAGA types.

While the MAGA base is interested in the Epstein case, these folks aren’t ready to turn on Trump over it. Polls show Republicans sticking with Trump, even if they’re not happy with how the Epstein case was handled. It’s not rated as a critically important issue to the majority of Republicans. Many influencers argued Epstein would DESTROY MAGA and ensured Republicans would lose the midterms and the next presidential election. Polls don’t bear out that view.

It is common for the Online Right to attribute their own interests and motivations to the “base.” While ordinary Trump voters want mass deportations, wokeness destroyed, and anti-white racism eliminated, they’re often not as BASED and informed as the Dissident Right may believe. The Twittersphere will often wrongly assume their views are the same as that of the ordinary Trump voters.

That’s usually not the case. Take the Iran strikes and views of MLK. When Trump bombed Iran, the onlinesphere declared the action would turn away his core voters. But, as previously mentioned, the strongest level support for the strikes came from MAGA Republicans. The base isn’t composed of rabid neocons, but they also don’t share the Online Right’s committed non-interventionism. If Trump wants to attack an alleged enemy of America, MAGA can be persuaded into supporting it.

The Online Right is (rightfully) critical of Martin Luther King Jr. But that view isn’t shared among the base. Polls show that, along with Abraham Lincoln, MLK is the American historical figure our country most wants to honor with statues. He gets even more support than George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Seventy-three percent of Republicans say it’s important to honor MLK Day. The base loves memes and talking points that, if MLK were alive today, he’d be a proud Trump supporter.

There are even more wrong-headed examples of RW figures reading their views onto ordinary Trump supporters.

Sohrab Ahmari and other self-styled economic populists have long argued that “economic anxiety” is the primary motivator of Trumpism. Ahmari even blamed January 6 on random economic issues, such as the failure to unionize DoorDash drivers. In reality, the J6ers were motivated by the idea that Democrats stole the election. Besides that, most of their concerns were identity-based rather than economy-based. Studies found that the chief thread among J6 supporters was a belief in the Great Replacement.

It’s tempting to declare your views are shared by the MAGA masses. American politics requires one to claim popular support for your beliefs. MAGA is open to a lot of right-wing ideas, such as immigration restriction and completely eliminating DEI. But they often have different views and predilections than anonymous X accounts. Critical Pedo Theory is clearly a major force among the right-wing grassroots. It’s why Angel Studios makes so many films aimed at conservatives about child trafficking.

There are many reasons to be interested in the Epstein case. For MAGA, CPT is why it’s so concerned with it. Ordinary Trump supporters see the deceased financier as a powerful pedophile who was a key link in the cabal–and they want the names of the other Democrats involved. It’s that simple.