James Carville says he thinks ‘MAGA will survive Trump’

Democratic strategist James Carville said during a Tuesday podcast that he believes the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement will outlast President Donald Trump.

Host Donny Deutsch asked Carville on “On Brand with Donny Deutsch” whether he agrees Trump is an anomaly in the Republican Party. Carville said he disagreed, arguing that the MAGA perspective was present before Trump and will persist after him, crediting the president with intelligently harnessing the movement.

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“I don’t agree with that. It was a Pennsylvania Republican who ran for Senate — her name was Kathy Barnette … she said: ‘You gotta understand, MAGA was here before Trump and MAGA will be here after Trump,” Carville said. “MAGA is the Republican Party.’”

“[Former National Security Advisor] Brent Scowcroft is not walking back into the [party]. He’s not coming back, okay?” he continued. “It’s not going to happen so don’t worry about it. But no, I think that MAGA ideology of MAGA worldview — I think it existed before Trump came along.”

Carville said he believes former presidential candidate and conservative author Pat Buchanan was likely “the first person” to outline the MAGA perspective. Buchanan ran for the GOP nomination in 1992 on a platform opposing globalization, unfettered immigration and the departure from social conservatism.

The Democratic strategist said Buchanan had “crazy ideas,” but he and Deutsch agreed that he was “charming.”

“The point is: Trump can — I guess he could be, if he wanted to, somewhat charming. But I do think that MAGA will survive Trump,” Carville added. “And I think MAGA was here before Trump. I think he was smart enough to see it, exploit it — and he’s very good at exploiting things but this thing is not going anywhere.”

Buchanan told the Daily Caller in April 2016 that he was shocked by Trump running a campaign that included similar ideas to his own.

“I was just astonished to see him raise the precise issues on which we ran in the 1990s … Donald Trump has raised three issues of real concern to paleoconservatives and traditional conservatives like myself,” he told the Caller.

Buchanan was referring to border security, economic nationalism and being “skeptical of these endless wars and interventions.”

Vice President JD Vance has been aggressively pushing the Trump administration’s interests and defending its agenda as a chief spokesman of the MAGA movement. Daily Caller News Foundation co-founder Tucker Carlson predicted on “VINCE ” in March that Vance will become the Republican Party’s 2028 presidential nominee.

“I think people want to leave a legacy, all of us do, and great men especially do. And the only person in the entire Republican Party from my position who’s capable of carrying on the Trump legacy and expanding it, making it what it should fully be, is JD Vance,” Carlson, whose son Buckley serves as Vance’s deputy press secretary, said at the time. “I think his loyalty is without question and his service to Trump has been profound.”

NewsNation political contributor Chris Cillizza also speculated on Nov. 25 that Donald Trump Jr. may run for president in 2028, suggesting he could inherit his father’s “political movement” in part because he “gets the MAGA base in a way very few Republicans do.”

However, Trump’s son strongly denied a March Mediate report that he was weighing a 2028 bid, citing his role in assisting Vance in becoming the 2024 GOP vice presidential nominee.

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