MAGA Will Not Be Ignored

Large numbers of American voters identifying as MAGA either stayed home or voted blue on November 3. Exit data shows their numbers fell to 19 percent of the vote in the 2026 midterms from 36 percent in 2024. They had to know what that would mean for their own long-term interests, but in the short-term they needed to vent their rage against a Republican party that was ignoring them.The disappointment was real. For years both parties courted racial identity groups, deferred to credentialed elites, enabled corruption, enriched themselves and chased globalist priorities while middle- and working-class Americans were left behind.President Trump rose to power by listening to people who had grown used to being ignored. His administration promised prosperity and delivered real results: Reinvestment in manufacturing, deregulation, energy production, tax cuts, youth investment accounts, prosecution of waste, fraud and abuse, low unemployment and a booming stock market.Yet there were also tariffs and a war. They impacted voters at the grocery store and the pump and the administration did not sufficiently acknowledge the immediate strain or offer clear timelines for relief.There was also disappointment in the realization that Mr. Trump wasn’t the American messiah — just a man. Even when he was fighting for the country, he was thwarted by courts, the bureaucracy, the press, and opponents in both parties. If Mr. Trump, who had beaten every odd and every bullet, couldn’t beat Washington, then no one could. What was left but to blow it all up?It was Mr. Trump, too — he often stepped on his own message. Tragically, one of history’s greatest messengers in American politics lacked one crucial skill: Message discipline.Congressional Republicans were much worse. They didn’t even pretend to listen. Voters begged for the Save America Act and never got it. They wanted more immigration enforcement, and they got Republican officials backing down in the face of PR pressure. No “conservative” fiscal restraint was attempted. The filibuster remained untouched and the Senate majority leader, John Thune, wouldn’t even fire a parliamentarian. Calls for accountability surrounding Jeffrey Epstein and the handling of the pandemic under Dr. Anthony Fauci produced little of consequence. Congressional Republicans could not even pass restrictions on members of Congress trading stocks.Beyond the budget reconciliation package, most of the administration’s successes belong to the president, achieved via executive orders that a subsequent administration can reverse. Voters hired a fully Republican government and got little out of it.That left a hole. Into it stepped Democrats who said they saw the people’s economic pain. Their problem was that their own recent record under President Biden had been worse on everything from inflation to gas prices. Islamists and Marxists had a solution: deflect by blaming rising domestic prices and other social problems on Israel and the Jews. Large parts of the Democratic Party either joined the chorus or refused to fight it.Whenever there is a grievance in society, the political tool of antisemitism — and its modern form, anti-Zionist rhetoric — rushes in to answer it. That is one of the lessons of history. It’s not that everyone hates the Jews, but that everyone uses the Jews when they hate themselves and their circumstances.Political commentator Cenk Uyger’s ad claiming that cutting aid to Israel would lower the price of bananas was never an economic argument. If it were, he would have recommended cutting aid to Egypt and Ukraine as well. It was a channel for frustration that allowed its left- and right-wing defenders to offer a false solution to a problem they know they have neither the skill nor the will to solve. Just wait until aid to Israel ends and people realize they still can’t afford to buy a home.Americans who voted for Mr. Trump in 2024 and for people like James Talarico and Abdul El-Sayed in 2026 were desperate to be heard, yet as we all remind our children, lashing out when you feel ignored may be understandable, but it usually isn’t productive. It often makes things worse. Congressman Ro Khanna of California is already excited to return to DEI mandates. Representative Robert Garcia is busy calendaring his impeachment extravaganza. There will be more taxpayer dollars spent on illegal aliens, and a war on data centers. A man who struggles with his “whiteness” and Christianity is a senator from Texas and the socialists have the momentum. No word yet on how Democrats won’t raise inflation. This probably isn’t the kind of attention aggrieved MAGA voters were really looking for. Imagine what might have been had Republicans just paid attention.

MAGA Will Not Be Ignored

MAGA Will Not Be Ignored

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