'Trump has cost us': After midterm losses, MAGA asks if it's over

In the aftermath of the Republican Party's devastating losses in the midterms, concerns are mounting within the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement about its future. Many supporters who once saw Trump as a driving force are now questioning whether the movement has become a liability. The losses were not only a referendum on Trump's policies but also on the movement he built, which is now facing potential irrelevance.

In a post-election speech, Trump doubled down on the movement's core agenda, promoting hardline immigration advocate Stephen Miller to chief of staff. While some within MAGA celebrated this move as a return to the movement's roots, others have begun to doubt the movement's direction and leadership. This internal strife is evident in online forums, where around 20% of self-proclaimed MAGA supporters expressed doubts about the movement's direction.

Half of them still support the movement but no longer back Trump, while the other half remains loyal to Trump but critical of the leadership.

The defeat has also forced MAGA to grapple with broken promises on living costs, the Iran war, and the withholding of evidence related to Jeffrey Epstein. The movement, which has shaped Republican Party policies and debates on various issues, now faces an existential reckoning as it transitions from being driven by stolen-election claims to confronting the challenges posed by Democrats' sweeping congressional victories.