The media keeps saying the MAGA movement is finished, blaming Donald Trump and pointing to poll numbers and Republican defections to support their story. But despite all these claims, reports about the movement’s demise are greatly exaggerated and overlook Trump’s ongoing influence and resilience. Make no mistake: MAGA is alive and well, and Trump’s influence over the party remains strong.
Scott Jennings put the "MAGA is dead" narrative to rest on CNN NewsNight by pointing straight to the numbers and the fundamental dynamics on the ground. While some critics and even insiders claim cracks in Trump’s grip on the Republican Party, Jennings showed that the facts tell a very different story—one of strength, not decline.
The mainstream media narrative often leans on anecdotes and quotes from disgruntled insiders to claim MAGA is fracturing. CNN NewsNight’s Abby Phillip referenced a senior House Republican who said the White House team “has treated all members like garbage,” adding that “the arrogance of this White House team is off-putting to members who are run roughshod and threatened.” Meanwhile, Syracuse University’s Nayyera Haq cast Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s resignation as a symbol of the movement’s troubles.
“Well, Marjorie Taylor Greene, who was so leaning in hard on the MAGA movement, everything from Epstein files, to the disconnect between working class and elites and every conspiracy theory you could possibly find, and she was leaning in hard to lose her is a suggestion that you're losing many other people who were part of that movement,” she said. “When you have people who work in the FBI threatening to resign because they feel that this core MAGA issue was mishandled, that's a challenge in your coalition. Now, what we don't hear is President Trump saying, like Tucker Carlson saying, that he wants to either take over the entire Republican Party, reshape it in his image. So what is the message forum this president that now brings this coalition back together now that it's fracturing?”
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But Scott Jennings dismantled this shaky criticism with a straightforward breakdown of what’s really going on. He pointed out that even CNN’s own data analyst, Harry Enten, found that Trump is on solid ground.
“So, can we just go to the data—CNN's own data from our own Data Analyst, Harry Enten. President Trump has an 87% approval rating among Republicans, which is higher than Barack Obama's approval rating among Democrats at this point in his term, higher than where George W. Bush was in his term," he said. "He is the strongest for his own party, strongest president at this point in his second term in the modern era.”
Then he brought up Marjorie Taylor Greene, noting that she appears to have fallen out with Trump over her own political ambitions: “He showed her a poll that said she couldn't win statewide in Georgia. She got mad. She got mad. And, by the way, she stands with a group of isolationists who just happened to disagree with the president over, say, taking away Iran's nuclear weapons and some other issues. That's fine. He's the president, she's not.”
And then he went in with the final punch: “And if you want to talk about whether the president has a hold on his party or whether he is a lame duck, I'll just submit that when he withdrew his endorsement of Greene, she lasted a week and then had to resign from Congress. But that's not weakness. That is strength.”
"MAGA is dead" has become the new refrain from the left. There's just one problem with this slogan: DATA.
— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) November 29, 2025
Allow me present CNN's own polling on where President Trump stands with his base 💣💥 pic.twitter.com/bp1ZgGGpkl
In short, the “MAGA is dead” script is a wishful media fantasy, not a reality. Trump’s grip on the GOP remains stronger than ever, his approval ratings support this, and his ability to influence party dynamics—yes, including removing challengers like Greene who step out of line—shows he’s far from fading away.
