The MAGA Hydra: What Everybody Gets Wrong About Trump and His Supporters

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Our newsletter and podcast episodes are 100% reader-supported. There are no ads, no corporations, and no one telling us what we can write or say. To support us, please consider becoming a subscriber. Paid subscribers get access to the full podcast transcript.A Hydra is “a many-headed serpent or monster in Greek mythology that was slain by Hercules and each head of which when cut off was replaced by two others” or, when not capitalized, “a multifarious evil not to be overcome by a single effort,” according to Merriam-Webster dictionary. The Hydra to which I refer is the noxious, dangerous Palin/Trump populism that has taken root. No matter how many times Republicans and the rest of the country cut off its head, more pop up.Photo by Colin Lloyd on UnsplashAnd that is how we get to the GOP primary line up via Morning Consult:Trump Continues to Lead DeSantis: An increase in Trump’s support following his indictment on criminal fraud charges in New York appears to be leveling out, but he’s still well ahead of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Just over half of potential Republican primary voters (53%) support his candidacy, down from a high of 57% last week. Meanwhile, DeSantis’ backing has increased marginally from a low of 22% last week to 24%. Things are so bad for DeSantis that Republican political strategist  Mike Madrid of the Lincoln Project said the latest Wall Street Journal poll was a “red alarm” for DeSantis as he has “high positives but a low base,” and ultimately, “There’s no path.”And a new NBC News poll found that “68% of Republican voters still support  Trump after he has been charged with 34 felony counts in Manhattan.”These results seemed to surprise powerful Republican donors and establishment types, who were hoping to insert DeSantis as a withdrawal pacifier for Trump supporters. But I’ve been warning for almost a year that the Trump base is not enthusiastic about Ron DeSantis. They tell me DeSantis seems snobby, he’s elitist, and he’s just not capturing their attention. He’s not TRUMP.Republicans thought that since their base has been so primed to respond to often times manipulated culture wars instead of issues (given that the only issue they agreed up was abortion and now that they have it they’re fighting among themselves about just how much control they should be allowed to have over women, more on that later) that they could easily be fed another culture war hero with a cleaner image and a less drama-filled personal life.Republicans thought they could feed DeSantis to the base, because they know the issues don’t matter.