MAGA and the populist right

What is MAGA?

MAGA, short for "Make America Great Again," is the dominant strain of the contemporary populist right: an eclectic, nationalist movement organized around the belief that America has declined at the hands of globalization, mass immigration, cultural liberalism, and a corrupt elite, and that an "America First" politics can reverse it. Scholars classify it as right-wing populism.

Its backbone is the academic definition of populism. The political scientist Cas Mudde describes populism as a "thin" ideology that splits society into "two homogeneous and antagonistic groups, the pure people versus the corrupt elite," and demands that politics express the people’s will. Because it is "thin," populism attaches to a host ideology; on the right that host is nationalism and, in Mudde’s account, nativism. The core is moral, the pure people against a corrupt establishment, more than economic.

This is not traditional conservatism. It combines economic protectionism (tariffs, reshoring, skepticism of free trade), cultural conservatism (opposition to "wokeness," DEI, and progressive social change), anti-establishment distrust (of the media, federal agencies, the "deep state," and academia), and a nationalist foreign policy. Unlike conservatives, it is comfortable with big government for nationalist ends; unlike libertarians, it embraces tariffs and immigration restriction. The movement is a coalition: Christian nationalists, the tech right, paleoconservatives, and working-class voters.

Core beliefs

• The people vs the elite. A moral divide between ordinary Americans and a corrupt ruling class in media, government, academia, and finance.
• Nationalism and "America First". The nation’s interests come first, in trade, immigration, and foreign policy.
• Economic protectionism. Tariffs, reshoring, and skepticism of free trade and globalization, to rebuild American industry.
• Immigration restriction. Tight borders and reduced immigration, framed in cultural as much as economic terms, what Mudde calls nativism.
• Anti-establishment populism. Deep distrust of the mainstream media, federal agencies, the "deep state," and expert elites.
• Cultural conservatism. Opposition to progressive social change, "wokeness," and DEI.
• A strong executive. Comfort with concentrated executive power and an activist state for national ends, which separates it from both libertarians and old-line conservatives.

Where it comes from

"Populism" as a label goes back to the 1890s US People’s Party and Russia’s narodniki. The modern academic understanding comes from Cas Mudde’s "The Populist Zeitgeist" (2004), which framed it as a thin ideology of "the people versus the elite."

A right-populist wave grew in Europe from the 1970s and accelerated after 9/11. In the US, MAGA dates to Donald Trump’s campaign launch in 2015 and his 2016 victory. Roger Eatwell and Matthew Goodwin’s National Populism (2018) read Trump and Brexit as one phenomenon driven by distrust, the destruction of old loyalties, deprivation, and de-alignment.

An intellectual wing organized around national conservatism (Yoram Hazony’s Edmund Burke Foundation) and "post-liberal" thinkers. Figures like Steve Bannon recast the program as "economic nationalism," explicitly rejecting the old conservative label. In Pew’s June 2026 political typology, the closest group is the hardline "No Apologies Right."

Key thinkers

• Cas Mudde. The "thin ideology" definition of populism.
• Roger Eatwell and Matthew Goodwin. National Populism (2018); the "four Ds."
• Yoram Hazony. The Virtue of Nationalism (2018); the case for nationalism.
• Patrick Deneen. Why Liberalism Failed (2018); the post-liberal critique.
• Steve Bannon. Popularized "economic nationalism" as a program.
• Michael Anton. "The Flight 93 Election" (2016); a movement-defining essay.

The main varieties

• Economic nationalists. Tariffs, reshoring, and an industrial policy for American workers, the trade-hawk wing.
• National conservatives and post-liberals. Hazony, Deneen, and others who want the state to enforce a substantive common good.
• The nativist / restrictionist wing. Immigration treated as the central axis of politics.
• The tech right. A newer, heterodox, anti-establishment, anti-"woke" current from parts of Silicon Valley.

Common misconceptions

• “MAGA is just traditional conservatism.” It is not. Scholars file it as right-wing populism, and it breaks with limited-government conservatism by embracing tariffs, immigration restriction, and a strong state for nationalist ends.
• “Populism is a full left-or-right ideology.” In Mudde’s account populism is "thin": it has no fixed economic program and must attach to a host ideology, nationalism on the right, socialism on the left.
• “The "people vs elite" fight is mainly about money.” The core is moral and cultural, the "pure" people against a "corrupt," cosmopolitan elite, more than a billionaires-versus-workers story.
• “Right-wing populism is just patriotism.” Mudde argues its core is nativism, a form of nationalism that treats the nation as properly belonging to the native-born, which is narrower than patriotism.

How it differs from neighboring worldviews

• vs Social Conservative. Both are culturally conservative. The split is institutions and temperament: social conservatism reveres inherited institutions and constitutional prudence, while MAGA is anti-establishment and treats those institutions, media, agencies, academia, as the corrupt elite to fight.
• vs Libertarian. They overlap only in distrust of Washington. Otherwise they are near-opposites: libertarians want a minimal state, free trade, and open markets, while MAGA embraces tariffs, immigration restriction, and an activist state for national ends.

How Today’s Bias reads the MAGA / Populist Right lens

In the brief, the MAGA lens reads immigration as invasion, the mainstream media as lies, and elites in government, academia, and media as corrupt and anti-American. Trade deals and foreign aid are betrayals of American workers; cultural fights are a war on common sense. Law enforcement is generally valorized.

We analyze outlets like Breitbart, The Federalist, and the Daily Wire for it, plus populist commentators. Watch where it breaks with old-line conservatism: it will back tariffs and spending that the libertarian and fusionist right reject.

See it in practice in the daily briefs, or step back to all ten worldviews side by side.

Frequently asked

References and further reading

• An Overview of Populism · University of Notre Dame (O’Brien-Smith Center)
• Mudde: Populism Is Based on Morals · International Centre for Defence and Security
• Beyond Red vs. Blue: The 2026 Political Typology · Pew Research Center

External sources are provided for verification. Today’s Bias is independent and not affiliated with them.