When MAGA Hits Puberty - 11/24/25

There has been much talk in recent weeks about the weakened relationship between Donald Trump and his most loyal supporters. As Trump’s base either criticizes or ignores the president on a growing number of his policy and political objectives, questions are flying as to whether the relationship between Trump and his backers is damaged beyond repair. 

The most obvious rupture has been over the Jeffrey Epstein files, where Trump was forced to back down in the face of a party rebellion that would have forced the release of the remaining documents. The unique nature of the Epstein controversy and the cultural resentments that it has provoked resulted in an otherwise-unimaginable Trump retreat. It has become increasingly difficult to look past the frequency with which MAGA conservatives have been pushing back against their longtime leader. 

Trump’s interview with Fox News host Laura Ingraham, in which he defended increases in the number of visas for high-tech workers and international students, ignited an uproar that will not go away after the Epstein furor has subsided. Grassroots unhappiness on tariffs, inflation, and healthcare are spreading, as is a worry among activists that Trump’s involvement in Ukraine, Gaza, Iran, and the Caribbean are out of line with the America First ethos they were promised when he first ran for office.

The unrest is not confined only to the activists who have populated Trump's rallies for the last decade. Republican legislators in Indiana and Kansas have resisted his efforts for mid-decade redistricting, and GOP senators have ignored his call to eliminate the filibuster, institute 50-year mortgages, and distribute $2000 tariff-generated stimulus checks. What may turn out to be Trump’s biggest challenge with his backers is just beginning to emerge, as the divide between his full-throated support for expanded use of artificial intelligence and the growing concerns among voters about the economic threat, rising energy costs, and potential hazards to children that they believe AI poses. The president’s proposal to ban state-level regulation on AI is already drawing criticism from longtime allies. These fights will multiply rapidly in state capitals in both blue and red states.

But any parent with teenagers should recognize the dynamic at play here. The MAGA movement began in 2011, when Trump first began raising doubts about Barack Obama’s citizenship. It has grown throughout his three presidential campaigns into an unquestioningly supportive group of disciples, much as many small children admire their mothers and fathers. But as MAGA prepares to turn fifteen years old, it seems that the signs of rebellion that many teens exhibit to display their growth into adolescence and closer to independent adulthood are also becoming evident among Trump’s true believers. MAGA has reached puberty.

Parents who have survived their children’s adolescence should recognize these signs. As a teen grapples with social, emotional, and behavioral change, they seek out ways to demonstrate their autonomy; they become more likely to question authority, to challenge rules and boundaries, and to make more of their own decisions. A 15-year-old boy or girl wants to pick out their own clothes and listen to their preferred music, especially if their tastes are different from the adults in the family. It’s entirely possible that a 15-year-old political movement might come to the same conclusions but proclaim its defiance through public policy rather than haircuts and curfews.

These rebellious tendencies usually pass when a teen’s hormonal system begins to stabilize, usually without too much lasting emotional damage. But sometimes these ruptures are beyond repair. Like many headstrong young women, Marjorie Taylor Greene ran away from her political home last week. Many of the other children may not take such dramatic steps, but they will never see their parents as the same type of infallible leaders they idolized when they were small.

Many of the most determined members of MAGA nation might argue that they are not the ones who have changed. They point to Trump’s recent political conduct (such as shamelessly flirting with the young Mamdani boy next door) as aberrant behavior, and they see no choice but to fend for themselves if the head of the household is no longer capable of caring for them.

There’s no way to predict when or if this breach can be healed. But Trump has never faced this type of pushback from his children before. We’ll see if his response is to become more accommodating or even more strict.