Trump 2.0: Expect a cage battle between old MAGA and new MAGA

“I will have Elon Musk run out of here by Inauguration Day. He will not have a blue pass to the White House, he will not have full access to the White House, he will be like any other person," he proclaimed in an interview with an Italian newspaper, where he also suggested that Musk had the maturity of a little boy.

“I made it my personal thing to take this guy down. Before, because he put money in, I was prepared to tolerate it; I’m not prepared to...."

Well, the inauguration has happened. 

Musk got prime indoor seating. 

Also Read: Welcome Elon Musk, the shadow president-elect of the United States

As the head of Trump’s cost-cutting efforts, Musk is also slated to have office space in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building (EEOB), part of the White House office complex. 

Bannon, who speaks and dresses like a man at war, lost this round. 

More recently, he has sounded less confrontational and a bit defeated, saying Musk, with his billions and his own social media platform, is here to stay. 

“As soon as I can turn Elon Musk from a techno-feudalist to a populist-nationalist we will start making progress," he said in a Politico interview.

Still, this will be one of the defining rivalries of the Trump 2.0 era. 

And Bannon, Trump’s former strategist, is relentless. 

Don’t expect Trump to douse the flames; Trump loves a good fight. Even better if it’s between people on the same side — a feud is always good for ratings.

The battle pits old MAGA, of which Bannon was an intellectual architect, against new MAGA, of which Musk was the biggest funder and disseminator of ideas via X, the platform he bought in 2022. 

The immediate spark for the feud was immigration— Musk and Trump back H-1B visas, while Bannon doesn’t. 

Also Read: America’s H-1B visa is vital to US interests—and suits India too

But it’s also about who MAGA is for. 

The wealthy or the working class? The rich tech geeks who have sidled up to Trump as the AI boom looms? Or working-class Americans who disdain globalists and elites?

The broader Republican Party coalition includes evangelicals and pro-lifers, presumably with expectations around abortion, as well as business owners who want tax cuts, deregulation and smaller deficits (but not tariffs). 

More recent additions to the mix include younger Republicans and a larger share of working class African-Americans and Latinos, particularly men. 

It’s an unwieldy coalition held together by Trump, a grip that will be tested, but likely unbroken, as he turns to governing.

Trump’s movement has always been his id writ large—he was the outsider, ever the aggrieved victim. 

Now, powered by the working class and funded by the elites, Trump finds himself an insider, flanked by people who once ostracized him. 

He is at the apex of his political power, with some of his highest favourability ratings and a largely optimistic public, according to a CNN poll. 

The tableau of faces at the inaugural events and the flow of hundreds of millions of dollars into his coffers speaks of how far he has come. 

He isn’t an accidental president this time. 

He now sits atop an expanded movement and has unprecedented power, bending the will of corporate America, the media and every wing of his party.

But he is also a second-term president who will never again be on the ballot, though Bannon has suggested a third term that would require a constitutional amendment and seems unlikely. 

And his favourability ratings may be close to a personal best, but they are rather low—just 46%— for a president fresh off a victorious campaign. 

The grind of governing will likely dampen those ratings over the next weeks and months, ending Trump’s brief honeymoon period.

In some ways, he has created a movement he no longer needs. 

The Supreme Court has granted him a sweeping degree of criminal immunity, which gives him a level of power he has long sought.

So the MAGA factions will fight, though it’s not clear it matters much to Trump. 

He wins no matter what. 

After his second inauguration, he is at the pinnacle of his power, with hundreds of thousands of MAGA loyalists having flocked to Washington to celebrate. 

His swearing-in was moved indoors, where there was room for fewer than 100 witnesses, because of the bitter outdoor temperatures expected. 

The location change was also a useful metaphor for Trump’s political ascent, from mocked outsider to flattered insider.

Also Read: Harsh Pant: How the world at large should brace for Trump 2.0

Trump has suggested that he would take the American grassroots along on his political journey, elevating their status, economically and culturally. 

Yet, it could be that there’s simply not enough room on the inside. ©Bloomberg