Eventually, all movements end — and when they do, it’s usually with a sad little whimper, not a big, glorious bang. They just sort of fizzle out (either because they achieved their goal and have nothing left to fight for, or they’ve had their [tushies] kicked and thrown in the towel).
This phenomenon was discussed in the best-ever Steven Seagal movie (damning praise, I know), “Under Siege”:
William Strannix: I missed the '60s. And I truly believe that if I could've been there to make my contribution, everything would've worked out fine.
Tom Breaker: Look, Bill, if this is about reliving the '60s, you can forget about it, buddy. The movement is dead.
William Strannix: Yes, of course! Hence the name: movement. It moves a certain distance, then it stops, you see? A revolution gets its name by always coming back around in your face. You tried to kill me you son of a b****... so welcome to the revolution. [emphasis added]
A few karate chops later (and the appropriation of the “Die Hard” plotline), all the bad guys are defeated. Turns out, the William Strannix character, played by the great Tommy Lee Jones (who, weirdly enough, was college roommates with Al Gore), was lying about his affinity for the “movement.”
It was a cover for his real motive: money.
Tommy Lee Jones was a grifter — a mercenary — who was exploiting a movement’s language to mask his true agenda. Because, at the heart of every movement, is the inevitable friction between the missionaries and mercenaries.
The missionaries are your true believers. These are the folks who’ll have your back through thick and thin. It’s not a calculated move, a cynical ploy, realpolitik, or 4-D chess; these are the people who not only support you — but they’re also prepared to sacrifice for you.
That’s because, for missionaries, the movement itself is what’s most important.
Mercenaries, however, aren’t motivated by the movement per se; they’re motivated by what the movement can do for them. The political cause they’re currently championing is simply a means to an end, not an end unto itself. These are the folks who are in it for the money — and the moment the money dries up, they’ll pack their bags and move on to their next scheme.
(Hey, grifters gotta grift.)
In fact, there’s an eerily similar debate going on today in the world of artificial intelligence. Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook/Meta has been poaching talent from OpenAI, leading to this rebuke from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman:
“Meta has gotten a few great people for sure, but on the whole, it is hard to overstate how much they didn't get their top people and had to go quite far down their list; they have been trying to recruit people for a super long time, and I've lost track of how many people from here they've tried to get to be their Chief Scientist,” he wrote. “I am proud of how mission-oriented our industry is as a whole; of course there will always be some mercenaries.”
[Sam Altman] added that “Missionaries will beat mercenaries” and noted that OpenAI is assessing compensation for the entire research organization. “I believe there is much, much more upside to OpenAl stock than Meta stock,” he wrote. “But I think it's important that huge upside comes after huge success; what Meta is doing will, in my opinion, lead to very deep cultural problems. We will have more to share about this soon but it's very important to me we do it fairly and not just for people who Meta happened to target.” [emphasis added]
But Altman is spectacularly wrong.
First of all, just like Meta, OpenAI is a for-profit company; it’s how Altman became a billionaire. Describing “your” employees as high-minded missionaries — and everyone else’s employees as greedy mercenaries — is more than a little self-serving. (Besides, a billionaire criticizing the “greed” of his much-poorer employees comes across as tone-deaf.)
And second, the opposite is far more likely to be true: Mercenaries usually beat the crap out of missionaries! When you go to church and stare at all the martyrs immortalized on the stain-glass windows (as opposed to, y’know, actually paying attention to what’s being preached), the enormity of their sacrifice is impossible to ignore: Countless “missionaries” were slaughtered, fed to lions, and crucified upside-down by greedy, money-hungry “mercenaries.”
The Kingdom to Come is earned; the Kingdom of Earth, alas, is seized.
More often than not, the stronger, better-armed mercenary will prevail over a weaker, unarmed missionary. It's been that way for a very long time.
To deny this is to deny reality.
This brings us back to the MAGA movement. Right now, under the leadership of President Donald Trump, it’s the most dominant political movement in America: The border crisis has FINALLY been solved. American deterrence has FINALLY been restored. The Iranian nuclear program has FINALLY been eliminated. Racist DEI policies have FINALLY been dismantled. The GOP is FINALLY in charge of the White House, Senate, House of Representatives, the Supreme Court, and most governorships. The economy is FINALLY rebounding. New trade deals are being brokered each day. Crime rates are FINALLY plummeting.
By every objective standard, MAGA has been a history-making success.
When a movement succeeds, it suddenly attracts lots of friends. “Success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan.” Before you know it, you’re surrounded by thousands of new faces, all demanding to be in charge. When your movement was in its infancy, you were all alone; now that you’ve hit pay dirt, you’re flooded with “friends.”
Unfortunately, these “friends” tend to be fair-weather friends. They’re in it for what our movement can do for them — not out of any loyalty to our movement.
They shouldn’t be trusted.
Today, the four people working the hardest to destroy MAGA from the inside out are Elon Musk, Steve Bannon, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Tucker Carlson.
When Musk began his political journey in 2004, he was a left-wing environmentalist: the EV-friendly Tesla king. But about five years ago, he began branching out: He grew concerned about the “Woke mind virus.” He blamed it for “killing” his child. He became a Free Speech warrior, culminating with his blockbuster purchase of Twitter. And in the run-up to Election Day 2024, few men worked harder — or spent more — to help Donald Trump return to D.C.
Yet just 100 days later, Elon Musk and Donald Trump had a very public split. Musk didn’t like the “Big Beautiful Bill” and is now threatening to launch his own political party. (After accusing Trump of being complicit in the Epstein mess, of course.)
If that’s all it took to completely shatter the Musk-Trump alliance… was it ever as strong as we thought?
(Probably not.)
Steve Bannon considers himself a master strategist. His “War Room” podcast gets great ratings, and in fairness to Bannon, he’s certainly a smart, cagey, outside-the-box thinker. Were he to assume the role of a MAGA mouthpiece, he’d probably be an outstanding missionary for the cause.
But he’s not interested in merely being a missionary. (‘Tis beneath him.)
Steve Bannon wants to be the savior.
Which is why he’ll rain vitriol and personal attacks against anyone who stands in his way. In Steve Bannon’s version of MAGA, it’s not about the movement. No sir!
It’s about Steve Bannon.
I’ve already written about the “Liver King” of American conservatism, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. Two days ago, she linked her “interview” with Tucker Carlson on an X post, in a desperate plea to MAGA for more money:
For years Republicans in Washington have been making promises about what would happen when we regained control of the White House and Congress. Now that we have total control we haven’t been able to do anything.
— Marjorie Taylor Greene 🇺🇸 (@mtgreenee) July 1, 2025
The Uniparty thinks they can wait us out and go back to business… pic.twitter.com/gRk210Yu69
Most mercenaries do a better job at masking their money-grab. Not MTG: “MAGA needs a resurgence and I need your help before my FEC Deadline,” she posted on June 30.
(Sure. What better way to fund a MAGA “resurgence” than by sending money to an ineffective Georgia congresswoman who bitterly opposes Donald Trump’s most important foreign policy decisions?)
And finally, we’ll end with our old friend, Tucker Carlson. Until he was fired from Fox News in 2023, he was, arguably, the most important media voice in the MAGA movement. Aside from Trump himself, nobody was more important in publicizing the MAGA cause.
His Fox News success was a byproduct of his forceful, unapologetic support for MAGA. Before FNC, Carlson was a multi-time TV failure: He resigned from his CNN show in 2004. He lost his “Tucker Carlson: Unfiltered” show on PBS in 2005. He lost his “Tucker” show on MSNBC in 2008. Back then, he was still the same ol’ Tucker Carlson — a smart, introspective communicator. Yet he couldn’t find his footing.
Until he wisely hitched his wagon to the MAGA comet, he was a media also-ran.
After getting his pink slip from Fox News, Tucker Carlson had to reinvent himself yet again. So now he’s Michael Moore — the GOP version of the left-wing anti-war propagandist. Doesn’t matter if Trump disagrees with him. Doesn’t matter if MAGA disagrees with him. Doesn’t even matter if the facts disagree with him! You see, Tucker Carlson still feels guilty about cheerleading the Iraq War 20 years ago, so he’ll attack every single Republican who supports Donald Trump today.
He'll accuse ‘em of being a warmonger. Or being secretly “gay.” Or craving World War III. Or getting thousands of Americans killed. Or being “disloyal” to America. (Especially those Jews.)
It was one personal attack after another.
And then, when Trump ignored him, transformed Iran’s nuclear sites into large craters, and absolutely NONE of the things Carlson ranted about came to pass, he STILL refused to acknowledge his error!
Instead, he actually claimed credit for Trump’s victory: After all, it was his brave stance that prevented the evil, warmongering, anti-American Neocons from launching a land invasion of Iran… that absolutely NOBODY IN AMERICA was pushing for. (Thanks, Tucker!)
At the heart of the MAGA movement is a central conceit: We’re “America First.” We’re unapologetically motivated by advancing American interests wherever we can, however we can.
But to accomplish this, we need to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time. This means that the MAGA leadership must have the humility to recognize that this isn’t about them. Nor is it about any one issue.
MAGA is about the entire United States of America. And the United States of America is a REALLY big place!
Anyone who’d imperil the MAGA movement out of personal animosity or a single-issue policy dispute lacks the maturity, character, and wisdom to be trusted in a leadership role. Sadly, that now includes people like Tucker Carlson, Steve Bannon, MTG, and Elon Musk.
They’re not missionaries. They’re mercenaries.
And, as history shows, mercenaries are a helluva lot more dangerous than missionaries.
Especially if you care about the mission.
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