What does MAGA mean?

Trump, emboldened by legislative victories in November, is governing unrestrained. He straddles the Western hemisphere as Punch's Rhodes did Africa, spanning everything from the Panama Canal to Greenland and the Great White North with the threat of mass deportations, import tariffs, and outright annexations. That he is discussing the futures of sovereign countries with democratically elected, internationally recognised leaders is all but a footnote to his one-page memorandum to see America win again. He wields his baton of choice, tarriff by executive order, with all the confidence of a Victorian policeman. It is increasingly clear, where it was not before, what Trump's priorities will be in his second term.

Confusion abounded between November and January as to what Trump 2.0 would look like. His executive branch nominees included both union fanatics and business leaders, both loyalist lawyers and venture capitalists. A rift appeared in the MAGA coalition following the appointment of Sriram Krishnan to White House team.  That Krishnan, an Indian-American, has previously called for the lifting of country caps on the H1-B invited accusations that he was insufficiently committed to a movement who believe Americans to be a distinct people and America to be that people's homeland. Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy found themselves forced to clarify their support for immigration liberalism; Ramaswamy did so to no avail. Musk and Ramaswamy are obssessed with large-scale civilisational conflict. For them, "beating China" means the liberalisation of the H1-B visa programme to expedite the search for the world's engineering talent, producing more stuff, and colonising the stars. But for the American who proved themselves willing to storm the halls of American power on Trump's behalf, it profits America nothing if she gains the whole world, but loses her soul. JD Vance voiced this mood in his declaration that America is a "nation, not an economic zone". The apparent condition between these two camps has been resolved by ignoring the issue entirely. While VP Vance pays lip service to issues of American identity on X, Trump will get on with realising his project for American greatness. For as much as culture wars have dominated the politics of the past ten years, questions of American heritage have no place at the essence of Trump's political thought.

Let us return to the day he descended that golden escalator. Every answer lies there. He departed the penthouse suite in Trump Tower, a monument to his life's work in real estate, and became a politician for the first time. Watching Trump's announcement of his 2016 presidential run feels like opening a time capsule. He talks about Common Core, that pet hate of Republicans in the 2010s, and highlights with urgency the importance of defeating ISIS. More importantly, he lays bare the distinguishing features of his political philosophy. Winning is Trump's alpha and omega. He catapulted himself to Twitter stardom by lambasting "haters and losers." He mocked John McCain for being captured in Vietnam and questioned McCain's war hero status on the grounds that he was defeated. He spent much of the 2015 candidacy announcement lamenting American defeats to Mexico and China on trade. "We used to have victories" rang from the stage on June 16, 2015 and has reverberated in his mind in that New York tough guy accent of his every day since. America used to have victories in war — hence the need to eradicate ISIS. America used to have victories in trade — hence the need for tarriffs. 

The tarriffs of Trump 2.0 outstrip all of their predecessors in audacity; even Biden found the previous round on China palatable. Trump is now redefining the nature of the United States' geopolitical alliances (and is bidding to refedine the logic of macroeconomics along the way). But he believes it will bring America victory. Nothing else matters. 

Football fans, especially those familiar with Diego Simeone's Atletico Madrid, know that you don't need to play beautiful football to win. All that is required is that you suffer less than your opponents, that your scars are less of a blemish than theirs. Trump's politics operate according to the same logic. It doesn't matter that Americans will be impoverished by the economic crisis his trade war will bring - so long as he can say "no one has it better than us", he has delivered the victory that he promised all those years ago. To "Make America Great Again" is to make her first in an impoverished global village — forget being second in Rome.

Image: Christopher Gregory/Getty Images