What MAGA means to Americans
By: Jesse Rhodes, Adam Eichen, Douglas Rice, Gregory Wall, Tatishe Nteta (The Conversation)
MAGA, according to conventional analysis, is little more than a rehash of grievances. Current political discussion often characterizes MAGA as merely a rehash of grievances taken from the civil rights era of politics ushered in by Lyndon Johnson signing the 1964 Civil Rights Act. But what if this analysis is wrong?
The single most distinctive feature of MAGA is the concept of "our country". MAGA unapologetically asserts a vision of America as distinctly belonging to its citizens. The post-WWII liberal order, in its ambitious attempt to 'Americanize' the world by merging American ideals into other cultures and societies inadvertently created a contradiction. The result of Americanization was mixing foreign traditions with American idealism that allowed anyone, anywhere to define what it meant to be an American. The people of the United States lost possession of their American identity. America wasn't America any longer.
The 1964 Civil Rights Act is an apt example to understand MAGA. A key principle of civil rights was that only Black people could define what it means to be Black; an affirmation of the right of self determination. Through that lens, what MAGA means to Americans is that the people of the United States reclaim their right of self determination to define what it means to be American. No other ally or adversary can lecture Americans on what it means to be American.
What if the conventional political analyses are wrong? What it MAGA is really about Americans reclaiming their American identity?
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
A decade ago, Donald Trump descended the golden escalator at Trump Tower in New York City and ignited a political movement that has reshaped American politics. In a memorable turn of phrase, Trump promised supporters of his 2016 presidential campaign that "we are going to make our country great again."
Since then, the Make America Great Again movement has dominated the U.S. political conversation, reshaped the Republican Party and become a lucrative brand adorning hats, T-shirts and bumper stickers.
When asked what MAGA means to him, Trump, in a 2017 interview with The Washington Post said, "To me, it meant jobs. It meant industry, and meant military strength. It meant taking care of our veterans. It meant so much."
But Democratic leaders have a different interpretation of the slogan.
Former President Bill Clinton in 2016 said of MAGA: "That message where 'I'll give you America great again' is if you're a white Southerner, you know exactly what it means, don't you? What it means is 'I'll give you an economy you had 50 years ago, and I'll move you back up on the social totem pole and other people down."
While MAGA is ubiquitous, little is known about what it means to the American public. Ten years on, what do Americans think when they hear or read this phrase?
Based on the analysis of Americans' explanations of what "Make America Great Again" means to them, we found evidence suggesting that the public's views of MAGA mirror the perspectives offered by both Trump and Clinton.
Republicans interpret this phrase as a call for the renewal of the U.S. economy and military might, as well as a return to "traditional" values, especially those relating to gender roles and gender identities. Democrats, we found, view MAGA as a call for a return to white supremacy and growing authoritarianism.
Donald Trump rides an escalator to a press event to announce his candidacy for the U.S. presidency at Trump Tower on June 16, 2015, in New York City.Christopher Gregory/Getty Images
What MAGA means
We are political scientists who use public opinion polls to study the role of partisanship in American politics. To better understand American views about MAGA, in April 2025 we asked 1,000 respondents in a nationally representative online survey to briefly write what "Make America Great Again" meant to them.
The survey question was open-ended, allowing respondents to define this phrase in any way they saw fit. We used AI-based thematic analysis and qualitative reading of the responses to better understand how Democrats and Republicans define the slogan.
For our AI-based thematic analysis, we instructed ChatGPT to provide three overarching themes most touched upon by Democratic and Republican respondents. This approach follows recent research demonstrating that, when properly instructed, ChatGPT reliably identifies broad themes in collections of texts.
Republican interpretation of MAGA
Our analysis shows that Republicans view the slogan as representing the "American dream." In part, MAGA is about restoring the nation's pride and economic strength. Reflecting these themes, one Republican respondent wrote that MAGA means "encouraging manufacturers to hire Americans and strengthen the economy. Making the USA self-sufficient as it once was."
MAGA is also closely related among Republicans with an "America First" policy. This is partly about having a strong military - a common theme among Republican respondents - and "making America the superpower" again, one respondent wrote.
Republicans also wrote that putting America first means emphasizing strict enforcement of immigration laws against "illegals" and cutting off foreign aid. For example, one Republican respondent said that MAGA meant "stopping illegals at the border, ending freebies for illegals, adding more police and building a strong military."
Finally, Republicans see the slogan as calling for a return to "traditional" values. They expressed a strong desire to reverse cultural shifts that Republican respondents perceive as a threat.
As one Republican put it, MAGA "means going back to where men would join the military, women were home raising healthy minded children and it was easy to be successful, the crime rate was extremely low and it used to be safe for kids to hang out on the streets with other kids and even walk themselves places."
Another Republican made the connection between MAGA and traditional gender roles even more explicit, highlighting the link between MAGA and opposition to transgender rights: "MAGA people know there are only 2 sexes and a man can never be a woman. If you believe otherwise you are destroying AMERICA."
A banner showing a picture of President Donald Trump is displayed outside of the U.S. Department of Agriculture building on June 3, 2025, in Washington, D.C.Kevin Carter/Getty Images
Democratic MAGA views
Democrats have a very different understanding of the MAGA slogan. Many Democrats view MAGA as a white supremacist movement designed to protect the status of white people and undermine the civil rights of marginalized groups.
One Democrat argued that "'Make America Great Again' is a standard borne by people who've seen a decrease in the potency of their privilege (see: cisgendered white men) and wish to see their privilege restored or strengthened. In essence, it's a chant for all racist, fascist and otherwise bigoted actors to unite under."
Another Democrat wrote that MAGA was a call to "take us backwards as a society in regards to women's, minority's, and LGBTQ people's rights … It would take us to a time when only White men ruled."
Democrats also view MAGA as a form of nostalgia for a heavily mythologized past. Many Democratic respondents described the past longed for by Republicans as a "myth" or "fairytale." Others argued that this mythologized past, though appealing on the surface, was repressive for many Americans.
One Democrat said that MAGA meant "returning America to a fantasy version of the past with the goal of advancing the success of white, straight, wealthy men by any means necessary and almost always to the detriment of other segments of the population."
A person holds a 'Trump won't erase us' sign while walking in the WorldPride Parade on June 7, 2025, in Washington, D.C.Kevin Carter/Getty Images
Finally, many Democrats interpret the slogan as reflecting an authoritarian cult of personality. In this vein, a Democratic respondent said of MAGA, "It's a call to arms for MAGA cult members, who believe that Trump and the Republicans party will somehow improve their lives by targeting people and policies they don't like, even when it is against their best interests and any rational thought process."
While some Republicans expressed racist, xenophobic or anti-trans sentiments in their understanding of MAGA, some Democrats revealed outright condescension toward MAGA believers.
"The MAGA's are brainwashed, idiotic members of society who know nothing more than to follow the lead of an idiotic president who has the vocabulary of a 3rd grader," one Democrat wrote. "It is nonsense idiots parrot," another respondent said.
In all, in the 10 years since Donald Trump burst onto the political scene, much has been written about the conflicting visions of past, present and future at the heart of America's partisan divisions.
With the Trump administration's proclaimed commitment to return the U.S. to its "golden age" and a strong resistance to his efforts, only time will tell which vision of America will prevail.
Tags
Who is online
399 visitors
It really is our country. It really is our America. MAGA, at its most basic level, is claiming the right of self determination over an American identity.
What if pigs started flying ?
Evolution?
Would a flying pig still be a pig? And who is allowed to choose that identity?
We're certainly going to need bigger retrievers...
Well, pig calls and pig blinds might be easy enough to adjust to. But hauling around all those pig decoys is goanna be a PITA.
Not to mention the hardware, probably going to need to invest in modernizing the punt gun. I'm thinking a Gatling type crank extraction and box mag. Would be handy for crowd control too...
Careful. You may trigger one of these liberal "assault gun" whackadoodles and they'll have a tantrum.
Just paint it blue and call it a de-ICEr. Liberals won't know any better; they may even want one for themselves.
We'll need one of these babies loaded with Pink Passion.
No doubt, obviously you have to put lipstick on the flying pig before you shoot it down.
Given the term was used by both Democrats and Republicans, it means different things to different people. Some use the term "MAGA" as a pathetic childish slur against those who don't fall in lockstep with the liberal left; while others see it as putting America first.
Right, because rightwing conservative Christians have NEVER attacked, ridiculed or thrown slurs at those who don't fall in lockstep with the conservative right. /s
The fact that any conservative could try and claim with a straight face that it's "leftists" trying to force everyone to behave is truly hilarious. From attacking the music industry and Hollywood for not being more Christian or daring to present gay people as people, to their attacks on women who simply want to have control over their own bodies, rightwing Christo-fascists have been forcing their beliefs on everyone around them for centuries. First it was at the point of a sword, then it slowly morphed into verbal attacks, discrimination and cancelation. Rightwing Christian conservatives were, without a doubt, the first to employ massive cancel culture campaigns which is what makes it so funny when they ignorantly complain about it when one of them gets canceled.
I believe what MAGA means to the majority of Americans (more Americans didn't vote for Trump than did) is filth. MAGA = Filth. It is forever tied to Donalds long record of filth, from saying he likes to grab women by the pussy, cheating on all three of his wives, being accused of raping underage girls along with his friend Jeffery Epstein, paying off Porn stars he had affairs with, to his corruption and tax evasion and two impeachments. Donald is pure filth and the MAGAites line up to drink that filth, so they are forever stained with Trump shit on their lips.
As for what it means to the minority of Americans who voted for Trump and consider themselves MAGAites, it's a badge of honor. Sure, it's still pure filth, but they love filth, so they wear that shit on their lips proudly and regurgitate it every chance they get. MAGA to them is a huge racist umbrella their God and savior Donald Trump erected over the heads of millions of white Christian bigots, dickheads and assholes who are bitter that what they wrongly believe as "their" America is somehow being taken from them when nothing could be further from the truth. MAGA is like a rescue boat for the racists Christian bigots thinking their America was getting swept away by diversity and the lgtbq community and turning it into a nation they don't recognize anymore because it's not all run by rightwing white hetro cis conservative Christians anymore.
Frankly, I don't give a fuck about what a politician or community leader or teacher look like or whether they're gay, straight, cis, binary, trans, atheist, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, white, black or brown, all I care about is how well they do their job. Sadly, MAGA seems obsessed with all those details and clearly are too focused on voting against "sinners" than voting for or supporting those who do their jobs well. That's the real cancel culture we've had to deal with for decades.
Did I say that never happened? No. What I did say was factual. And it triggered you so bad it got you off on a multi-paragraph rant about shit NOBODY mentioned on this article. And as usual, most fictional and / or incorrect. But you all have never been good at being honest.
I do notice you hit a lot of the talking points:
Attaboy.
Thanks for admitting rightwing conservatives are massive hypocrites.
LOL. All you did was rant about some supposed cohesive "liberal left" demanding others "fall in lockstep" which is just stupid and hypocritical coming from the right who invented cancel culture.
Sure, sure. You tell yourself whatever you need to keep feeling superior to your fellow Americans who all ran out of fucks to give about dead weight low IQ religious conservatives years ago.
Added low IQ religious conservatives …… classic.
You are in no position to call ANYBODY a hypocrite.
So much idiocy in that sentence I don't even know where to begin.