You see, no matter how great a fighter is, he always has flaws. And Muhammad’s problem was that left hook. He always had a problem evading it.
—Angelo Dundee, legendary boxing trainer
For Muhammad Ali, it was the left hook. For Joe Frazier, it was starting slow. Mike Tyson couldn’t fight going backwards. George Foreman struggled with movement. Joe Louis had a pair of sledgehammers for fists, but his chin got him in trouble.
All were remarkable, Hall of Fame-caliber heavyweight champions. The best of the best — “the greatest(s) of all-time.”
And they all had fatal flaws.
So do political movements. MAGA is no exception.
Dundee trained Ali for nearly 20 years (and, later, Foreman and Sugar Ray Leonard). If you don’t think he focused intently on not just maximizing his fighters’ strengths but also minimizing their flaws, you don’t know boxing. Dundee had to.
Their opponent, after all, was coming to exploit those weaknesses. That’s his job!
If you’re not prepared, you’ll be flat on your back, staring at the lights.
Companies also study their strengths and weaknesses. It’s commonly referred to as SWOT: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. (In PR-speak, it’s “reputational risks.”) That’s because the best way to avoid disaster is to recognize the early warning signs — the structural flaws in your armor that enemies will target.
What, then, are MAGA’s weaknesses?
First and foremost is the vagueness of “America First.” To some, it’s a synonym for neo-isolationism. To others, it’s the exact opposite: It’s aggressively engaging with the world, but doing so on our own terms, prioritizing our national interests.
(Or, perhaps, it’s whatever Donald Trump says it is, because he’s the leader, founder, and public face of the movement.)
From The Atlantic, “Trump Says He Decides What ‘America First’ Means”:
When I caught Donald Trump by phone this morning, the president wanted to make one thing clear: “America First” means whatever he says it does. “Well, considering that I’m the one that developed ‘America First,’ and considering that the term wasn’t used until I came along, I think I’m the one that decides that,” Trump told me. “For those people who say they want peace — you can’t have peace if Iran has a nuclear weapon. So for all of those wonderful people who don’t want to do anything about Iran having a nuclear weapon — that’s not peace.”
Either way, it’s a long-overdue debate, because it’s become our movement’s #1 vulnerability.
In fact, I’ll go one step further: If someone wanted to hijack the MAGA movement, the easiest way would be to exploit the vagueness of what “America First” means.
Let’s pretend we’re in the neo-isolationist camp. Very clearly, you and I are on the outside looking in: Trump isn’t an isolationist. We might’ve wished, assumed, and/or hoped he was, but President Trump believes in aggressively leveraging U.S. power. From Iran to Venezuela to Mexico and Colombia, not only hasn’t Trump limited his focus to America’s borders, he’s even toyed with expanding our borders by swallowing Canada and claiming Greenland.
If you’re an isolationist, the Trump administration has been an unmitigated disaster.
But we can’t challenge Trump directly. He’s still too popular with our base.
So, to wrest the MAGA movement out of his hands, we need a villain — someone we can blame for tricking Donald Trump. That way, we’re not anti-Trump; we’re simply against the evildoers who hoodwinked and manipulated Trump.
Which leads us straight to Israel, Christian Zionism, and those pesky, meddlesome, disloyal Jews.
Instead of arguing that Donald Trump betrayed MAGA with interventionist policies, it’s safer to argue that Trump was tricked by the dastardly Bibi Netanyahu, who’s forcing America to do Israel’s bidding.
From Mediaite: “‘It’s Humiliating!’ Tucker Carlson Rages Over Netanyahu ‘Controlling’ US and Trump.”
Bibi’s running around — this is a fact, I’m not guessing about this because I talked to people he said it to — is running around the Middle East, his region in his own country and telling people point blank, just stating it, “I control the United States. I control Donald Trump.” He’s saying that — and again I’m not guessing at all, that’s a fact. I dare them to say that’s not true because it is true. They know it’s true. I’m an American.
—Tucker Carlson
Hey, maybe it’s more than trickery: Maybe it’s some kind of blackmail.
Maybe Israel is blackmailing the president!
That’s a really good line of attack. ‘Cause then, we could also tie it to the Epstein conspiracy.
That’s what Marjorie Taylor Greene is doing:
This and the Epstein files is why I’m being attacked by President Trump.
— Marjorie Taylor Greene 🇺🇸 (@mtgreenee) November 15, 2025
It really makes you wonder what is in those files and who and what country is putting so much pressure on him?
I forgive him and I will pray for him to return to his original MAGA promises. https://t.co/YltouujS83 pic.twitter.com/X1zFACSnEo
The great thing about blackmail is that, by definition, it involves at least one secret. And that’s perfect for our conspiracy theory, because it gives us an easy explanation for the total lack of evidence: “Of course I don’t have proof. The Zionists are too sneaky to leave a smoking gun. But c’mon, trust me, bro. Isn’t it obvious?”
But to make this conspiracy sing, we’ll need one more element: revisionist history.
Most Republicans aren’t anti-Israel. According to the latest Gallup poll, Republican support for Israel has actually increased by five points over the past year:
In contrast [to Democrats and independents], 71% of Republicans say they approve of Israel’s action in Gaza, up from 66% in September. [emphasis added]
So we need a new, alternative history — one where Israel and the Jews are the villains.
Maybe you’d promote podcasts that reframe World War II, so Hitler was the good guy and Winston Churchill the REAL enemy. Or play footsies with a neo-Nazi. Or declare that you despise “Christian Zionists more than anyone on earth.”
And you’d definitely blame Israel and/or Zionists for the 2003 Iraq War. That’s critical, because pretty much everyone in America now recognizes the Iraq War as an unforced error and a horrible mistake.
Alas, the primary architects of the Iraq War weren’t actually the Jews or the Israelis. They were, curses and drat, U.S. Christians: George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Colin Powell, Karl Rove, Donald Rumsfeld, Tommy Franks, etc.
No matter. Just use the word “neocon” as shorthand for Zionists. That’s what Nick Fuentes and Tucker Carlson did during their recent lovefest:
Fuentes: The more that I read, the more that I dug into the subject, the more I found out there’s a lot of these neocon Jewish-types behind the Iraq War. There’s the foreign aid complex, which is really unique. There’s AIPAC…
[…]
Fuentes: As far as the Jews are concerned, I think that, like I said, you cannot actually divorce Israel and the neocons and all those things that you talk about from Jewishness: ethnicity, religious identity… I see Jewishness as the common denominator.
We’ll compare EVERYTHING to the Iraq War. It’ll be the only frame of reference we use in discussing public policy.
Bombing Iran’s nuclear sites? For the love of God, don’t! Thousands of Americans will die! It’ll be just like the disaster in Iraq!
It’s worth pointing out that a strike on the Iranian nuclear sites will almost certainly result in thousands of American deaths at bases throughout the Middle East, and cost the United States tens of billions of dollars. The cost of future acts of terrorIsm on American soil may…
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) March 17, 2025
Just as importantly, Donald Trump, very famously, opposed the Iraq War. He called it “stupid” and pledged to end “forever wars.”
So that’s what we’ll focus on: By not being a neo-isolationist, Donald Trump broke his word.
Which means, we’re not the “America First” apostates — he is!
And that’s the game Marjorie Taylor Greene is playing.
From NPR: “Marjorie Taylor Greene says Trump policies are ‘not America first’ in fight over MAGA.”
"Those are not America first positions," Greene said on Sunday before voicing displeasure at [Trump’s] frequent foreign trips. "And continuing to really travel all over the world doesn't help Americans back at home. I really — and I said this to him and I will say it out loud — I would love to see Air Force One be parked and stay home."
Then, in the same breath, she’ll add a false choice, pitting the non-existent MIGA (Make Israel Great Again) movement against good ol’ patriotic MAGA:
I am unapologetically America First and always will be!!
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) November 11, 2025
As an American, I have the right to criticize ANY foreign nation and its influence on our government.
It’s time Congress gets back to work:
✅ End foreign aid.
✅ Stop endless wars.
✅ Lower the cost of living.
✅ Fix… pic.twitter.com/cbiwIWK5lN
These are the issues she’s emoting on CNN.
(Or at least, attempting to emote: One of the disadvantages of too much Botox is that it’s really tough to convey facial emotions.) Of course, I don’t know for a fact that she’s botoxed to the gills: I’m “just asking questions.”
Related: The Great MAGA Breakup: Will Elon Musk Recruit Reps. Massie & Greene Into His NEW Political Party?
Regardless, the same woman who casually accused Israel of “genocide” had her undies in a knot when Trump called her a “traitor,” claiming it put her life in danger. (When we’re not talking about Jews, we ought to be more careful.)
But alas, MTG didn’t look particularly scared, because her expression didn’t change.
Not ever a little bit.
Nor has the agenda of those plotting to hijack the MAGA movement. We’re still in the early stages of their takeover attempt, but make no mistake: The plot is now underway. The neo-isolationists are making their move.
They know our weaknesses — and they’re using them against us.
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