MAGA is growing impatient with Trump 2.0. As the President’s second term nears the one-year mark, cracks are appearing in the rock-solid foundation that has supported him since 2015. Will the dam break?

After last week’s off-year elections, in which Democrats racked up bigger-than-expected wins in states including New Jersey and Virginia, media reports suggested some in Trump’s circle worried he had been too focused on foreign policy. Last month, he stunned observers by proposing increased imports of Argentinian beef and throwing a lifeline to President Javier Milei. He provoked further controversy on Saturday by floating the idea of a 50-year mortgage. Then, in a Monday interview with Laura Ingraham of Fox News, Trump reignited anger with his renewed support for H-1B visas.

As if those stories weren’t enough, House Democrats released new Epstein emails today, showing the deceased financier emailing Ghislaine Maxwell and Michael Wolff about Trump. Epstein and Wolff traded emails during Trump’s 2015 primary run about how they might be able to shape any responses the then Republican candidate gave to questions about his relationship with Epstein. In an email to Maxwell, Epstein also claimed Trump “knew about the girls”. Today’s publication increases the likelihood that a bipartisan group of House members will force the chamber to vote on a resolution that compels the release of more Epstein documents, which all but assures the story will continue to make headlines for weeks to come.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, whose entrance into politics was inspired by Trump, has begun publicly breaking with the administration over these concerns. But she’s not the only one. Yesterday, Turning Point USA contributor Savanah Hernandez published a long X post that went viral on the Right. “I’m tired of ‘based’ social media videos and big talk from the admin with zero follow through,” she wrote. Several other MAGA influencers made similar complaints. Ingraham’s tough interview of Trump is another indication that some leading MAGA proponents’ patience is wearing thin.

On the Left, outrage is aimed at the Democratic leadership for not doing more to counter the Trump administration’s swift structural reshaping of the federal government. By contrast, MAGA critics are divided: some bristle at the pace of the changes, while others chafe at their direction — or the absence of a clear one.

For years, Trump’s instinct that he could “shoot somebody” on Fifth Avenue and maintain the support of his voters proved correct. Not all of those voters are hardcore MAGA rallygoers, but Trump has historically benefitted from many people, Republicans and independents alike, believing his anti-establishment bent makes him the lesser of two evils.

But cracks may now be starting to show in that coalition. After last week’s election results, both Politico and The New Republic observed signs of slippage in Trump’s 2024 coalition. Latino voters who had swung toward him last year appeared to return to the Democrats, while exit polls in New Jersey and Virginia showed Republican candidates underperforming Trump among voters under 30, Black voters, and Latinos.

With the second half of his presidency fast approaching, and the midterm cycle heating up in just over a month, Republicans are gradually realising that the post-Trump era is in sight. Trump is notoriously fixated on personal loyalty, which has long allowed him to cultivate enthusiastic support from influencers and politicians who choose their battles wisely and go above and beyond to shower the President in praise.

If people like Greene and Hernandez start speaking out, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Trump’s MAGA critics could have a Dead Poets Society moment and discover strength in numbers.

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Emily Jashinsky is UnHerd‘s Washington correspondent.

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