Donald Trump has been president of the United States for less than a year, and he has already turned the country upside down. In November, his administration released a new national security strategy that redefines the goals of US foreign policy.
America’s decades-old partners, such as Europe, need to realize that American support can no longer be taken for granted. Instead, this offer is being made only if Trump feels it is a good deal for his country. What matters is “America First” or, as his earlier 2016 election campaign slogan stated, “Make America Great Again” (MAGA).
There has also been a lot of change in domestic politics since Trump assumed power on January 20, 2025. Masked agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) pull people from their cars or arrest them on the streets. Where large crowds protest such actions, the President sends in the National Guard.
Media outlets that refuse to report in a favorable manner to Trump are sued or shamed online.
Measures to include employees with disabilities or pursue diversity in companies (known as DEI programs) have been eliminated in all government institutions.
Under Trump, diversity is considered liberal, or “woke.” To the American president and his supporters, these values are a red rag because MAGA is not just a slogan, it is a worldview.
Still, the MAGA movement is not a monolithic entity. Different streams have their own specific concerns. President Trump may be the leading figure, but the MAGA ideology is supported by many powerful groups and individuals who are all fighting for their own interests.
Heritage Foundation
Heritage FoundationA right-wing nationalist think tank based in Washington, DC, dedicated to “creating and promoting conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual liberty, traditional American values, and a strong national defense.”
The think tank is also the force behind “Project 2025”, a plan published in 2023 that outlines how a conservative US president might reshape government. Although Trump insisted during the election campaign that he had nothing to do with the project, he began implementing many of his ideas soon after taking office.
Members of Trump’s administration, such as Press Secretary Carolyn Leavitt and Russ Vought, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, previously worked for the Heritage Foundation. Watt was one of the lead architects of “Project 2025”.
So Heritage Foundation Donation $1 million (about €850,000) for the Republican National Convention, where Trump is officially confirmed and celebrated as the presidential nominee in the summer of 2024.
Among other things, “Project 2025” envisions a much smaller government in which employees can be more easily fired and a more powerful president. As part of the DOGE initiative, which aimed to make the US government more efficient, thousands of government employees were fired during the first weeks of Trump’s second term.
Trump also sometimes ignores court rulings that block his policies or fire the heads of government agencies with which he disagrees.
evangelical christian
“Project 2025” also calls for restrictions on abortion rights. This is especially important for evangelical Christians who have long been among Trump’s most loyal supporters.
Evangelical Christians form a powerful lobby in the United States, and the majority of them vote Republican. This is probably why Trump does not want to alienate them on issues like abortion.
The fact that Trump has publicly admitted that he enjoys flirting with women, or that he has five children by three different women, does not seem to be an issue for this group. What matters is that they are pushing what they believe in.
In autumn 2020, just weeks before the presidential election at the end of his first term, Trump nominated a judge known for his opposition to abortion to the Supreme Court. In June 2022, the Supreme Court overturned abortion rights nationwide, with a conservative majority of six justices, including three appointed by Trump. From then on, it is up to states to decide whether and under what conditions abortion is permitted.
Another move that may have been due to the influence of evangelical Christians was the appointment of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. He previously described himself as an evangelical Christian, a “Christian warrior”. Since he took office, he has banned transgender people from serving in the military, and has praised statements made by a priest, according to media reports Opposition to women’s right to voteCritics see the growing influence of evangelicals on the US government as a threat to the separation of church and state,
Billionaire and blogger
Blogger and software developer Curtis Yarvin appears to have inspired some of Trump’s ideas. Yarvin argues that democracy is an outdated concept and that the state should instead be run like a company by a CEO. In this scenario, there would no longer be voters, but customers who would have the right to terminate their contracts. After all, anyone who dislikes his boss – that is, the government – can easily walk away.
Before the 2024 elections, Trump had jokingly said that if people voted for him this time, they would not have to vote again later.
Yarvin also came up with the idea of turning the Gaza Strip into a vacation paradise. In April 2024, he proposed expelling Palestinians from Gaza and turning the area into a luxury resort. Then, in February 2025, Trump took the same approach with his idea of turning Gaza into the Riviera of the Middle East.
peter thielThe founder of the online platform PayPal also considers democracy inefficient. The German-born billionaire donated $1.25 million (about €1 million) to Donald Trump in various ways during the 2016 election campaign. However, in 2024, he did not donate to any political campaign. At that time, he had already spent large amounts of money on J.D. Vance’s Senate campaign, such as $15 million (about €13 million). Vance’s success in the Senate eventually earned him the position of Vice President. For Thiel, a smart long-term investment.
Thiel’s views that politics should give free rein to corporations and tech companies are already reflected in the policies of the current US administration. Vance recently criticized the EU’s Digital Services Act, which could result in a million-dollar fine for social media platform X.
This article was originally published in German.