The weeks before the inauguration have sent political reporters looking for ways to tie up the incoming administration in knotty internal splits and disputes. The hope is to weaken the sense of unity ahead of the big transition, turning MAGA/MAHA/DOGE into versions of the classic internal firing squads.
To some extent this is working. It has been bracing to watch the wild disputes over H-1B visas, the priorities over technology, as well as the disputes within the health-freedom movement over the future of the mRNA technology and vaccines more broadly.
There have been some serious fights that have broken out and some extremely harsh words exchanged over these weeks. There is no reason to feel alarmed about this. These debates needed to happen long ago. Disputes and debates can only strengthen social, cultural, and political movements.
All this activity unfolded just after I returned from Phoenix, Arizona, for the AmericaFest event held by Turning Point USA. I’ve been going to various ideological, political, and philosophic gatherings for decades, some of them quite big and well organized. I will say as clearly as I can that I’ve never in my life experienced an event like this one.
The energy emanating from the wildly enthusiastic attendees was palpable, and of substantively different form than that which comes from loud music and bright lights alone. Every exhibitor space was practically vibrating with enthusiasm from the people themselves.
The smiles were broad and the laughter and exuberance everywhere present. The massive crowd, probably exceeding 20,000 at some points, was diverse in age, race, and religion. There was truly a sense of joy present. I could feel it as I went on stage to speak.
On Saturday evening, I turned in at 10:30 p.m. to sleep well and prepare for my flight the following morning. At 3:00 a.m. I was awakened by shouts of “U-S-A” and various cheers coming from outside. I went to the window to see what was going on and there were crowds and lines gathering, clearly because Trump was speaking the next day at noon at the venue two blocks away.
Amazed that things could be going strong already—thousands were skipping a night of sleep—I tried to sleep more but that proved impossible. At 4:30 a.m. I realized that I needed to get an Uber to the airport before the streets became impassable. By the time I left, the lines had circled back and forth three and four times over—again two blocks from the venue.
I saw people having a wonderful time, meeting strangers and becoming friends, exchanging information sources and news, and offering little bios of their lives and hopes. Here I saw something that is obvious to me now, but I could not have known before. The Trump lines have become a major source of social and cultural organizing in themselves.
There is a theory that the anti-Soviet revolution of 1989–90 and the overthrow of the communist government that had held power since 1918 was born in the bread lines. They became societies of their own, places where people met and gossiped and shared news from their lives and experiences. In these lines, strangers became friends and exchanged views on the news of the day. Here they learned who to trust and who not to trust, and the makings of the revolution were born.
I see now how this could happen and I see now why it is that people line up to hear Trump speak for 12 hours and more before he gets on stage. Trump is the focal point but the substantive value that people gain from this experience is meeting people, disputing ideas, making friends and sharing experiences, seeing in real time how isolation gradually becomes community.
This is the real value of these in-person meetings that no amount of online chatter can replicate. As I watched it all unfold, I had in mind the typical reporter for a major mainstream newspaper and what he or she must think about the sheer strength and cultural power on display at these rallies. I discussed this briefly with a CNN cameraman who was marveling at the energy, happiness, and hope on display. We both agreed: there’s never been anything like this in our living memory.
The joining of MAGA with MAHA and DOGE is surely one of the most remarkable political coalitions ever to be assembled in such a short period of time. It put together people who had no idea that they had much in common before, and impressed them all with a sudden realization that perhaps they had overlooked features of other groups that bear examination.
Just think about the class and political divides that this coalition has helped to heal. The tech bros seemed to have nothing in common with the patriotic, flag-waving cowboys in the MAGA base. The crunchy whole-foods shopping fans of organic produce that formed in the 1990s have always voted left and were deeply suspicious of both bourgeois religious fervor and high-tech innovations.
In a matter of weeks, the divisions between these groups melted away, as they all realized their common interest in freedom: free enterprise, free speech, freedom of religion, and peace in the world. This coming together has provided huge opportunities for exchanging views and learning from each other, almost as if the private salons many of us formed during lockdowns had gone public and then become a mass movement.
A historian of society will do a much better job of covering this than I can but we can see the outlines of the story already. And it is a remarkable one, something far too strong to be dissolved by online disputations concerning H-1B visas or the future of vaccines. These arguments need to be had and they are ongoing. They are essential, not existentially dangerous for the coalition that has formed.
This is what the typical reporter at big city newspapers does not understand. The movement that has formed around Trump is much larger than one person. It has come to appreciate disputes, diversity, learning, and a variety of points of view. That is ultimately what freedom is all about, not the triumph of one ideological orientation but the capacity of many points of view to co-exist within the same society.
Speaking for myself, I discovered how much I need to learn during lockdowns, a time when our old personal networks and ideological circles were blown up. We had to assemble new ones, and I confronted a huge range of points of view to which I had not been previously exposed. I still retain my biases and preferences but now have a greater appreciation than ever of what I need to learn, books I need to read, and points of view I need to consider. I’m much better off as a result.
Just for example, four years ago, I never could have imagined joining up with people who have grave concerns over chemicals in food and dangerous medical products that subvert the human immune system. I did not see how these issues overlapped with my own focus on economic freedoms. And I could not have imagined how much we would all depend on the freedom of speech to learn and act. This is all new and quite exciting.
And this is precisely why all the supposed divisions within the coalition now preparing to assume the responsibilities of governance do not bother me. We are all united in the belief that the American people and all people should enjoy the right and freedom to manage their own lives without technocrats, big corporations, and permanent bureaucracies overriding our dreams and aspirations. This is a simple demand, in the end, the insistence on getting our lives back after so many years of upheaval.
Getting along with others doesn’t mean surrendering principles. It means understanding the bigger picture that we all have an interest in protecting freedom against its enemies. This is the essential and core belief of the remarkable coalition that has emerged so suddenly to overthrow the old. Yes, it is diverse, and that is precisely why it is so strong.
