Why the MAGA movement can’t cut loose toxic liabilities like Tucker Carlson and Laura Loomer
What it takes to get kicked out of the MAGA movement
Published
MAGA stalwarts Tucker Carlson, Laura Loomer, and Benny Johnson spent the last week demonstrating that as long as you pledge fealty to Donald Trump, there’s virtually nothing you can do that will get you kicked out of his movement.
The trio of pro-Trump personalities drew significant shows of support from the top echelons of the GOP after dabbling in Holocaust denial and Nazi apologia (Carlson); describing Vice President Kamala Harris as “a brain-dead bimbo who sucked so much c**k in order to get to the political position that she's in today” and saying her “White House will smell like curry” (Loomer); and unwittingly receiving vast sums of laundered money that originated with the Kremlin (Johnson).
Right-wing media figures with bizarre fixations and extreme views became an increasingly potent power center within the Republican Party in recent years. The rising influence of these conspiracy-minded propagandists led GOP politicians to seek their favor by mimicking their affects and obsessions, which are toxic to normal people, thus weakening the GOP’s electoral prospects.
Trump’s Tuesday debate performance encapsulated this trend, as he ranted about Haitian immigrants stealing and eating pets and spread other lies familiar only to those steeped in the deep lore of Fox News prime-time hosts and right-wing online subcultures.
But Trump shows no signs of breaking out of that right-wing bubble. And his willingness to embrace anyone willing to give him their loyalty — no matter how extreme their views — has helped make it impossible for the GOP to separate itself from even the most depraved and corrupt MAGA figures.
By way of contrast, there is one thing that will get you purged from the modern right: forcefully arguing that Trump’s 2020 election subversion effort renders him unfit for the presidency.