The 'mark' of MAGA exposed: 'It's how you audition' for Trump

US President Donald Trump gestures at a midterm election campaign rally for incumbent US Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) at an arena in Corinth, Mississippi, US, October 26, 2026. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

On Tuesday, a leading conservative political commentator argued that there is one thing that the MAGA faithful know they must display to be considered part of the in-group, particularly those who are auditioning for a role in President Donald Trump’s Cabinet. According to conservative journalist David French, it all comes down to cruelty.

French raised the issue while appearing on the podcast of Republican insider Charlie Sykes, saying, “Why is MAGA so cruel? Because their cruelty marks them as MAGA. It is the thing that brings them into the club. If you’re somebody who’s kind to your opponents, if you’re somebody who listens to opposing arguments, has an open mind ot realize that here I might need to compromise, or here I might be wrong – that’s a sign that you’re weak. You’re quisling. You’re horrible. But if you are willing to lie, if you’re willing to inflict pain on other people, that signals that you have the right kind of toughness to do what it takes. And you just see it everywhere. It’s how people essentially auditioned to be in his Cabinet. It wasn’t just, ‘How sycophantic were you?’ It was also, ‘How cruel were you to Trump’s enemies?’ So on the one hand you had to be sycophantic to Trump, and you had to be vicious to his enemies.”

Both French and Sykes spent decades as Republican insiders and commentators before breaking with the party over its embrace of Trump, becoming outspoken critics of the MAGA movement. And they aren’t the only high-profile conservative media figures to suggest that Trump and his allies have dragged the GOP into the “gutter.” Earlier in the week, Fox News Senior Political Analyst Juan Williams decried the “scummy” behavior and “despicable lies” that he said are inherent to MAGA.

Williams cited a 1993 essay by Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.), who coined the phrase “defining deviancy downward.” Trump, wrote Williams, “with his infamous claim to grab women by the genitals and involvement with a porn actress has accelerated that downward spiral, lowering the bar for wretched political discourse to new nadirs.” The “race to the bottom,” Williams asserted, has been hastened by Republican midterm candidates’ “shameful, disgusting, offensive” barrage of appeals to racism and the party’s willingness to ignore accusations of child abuse. Trump, concluded Williams, has brought the “age of get-in-the-gutter politics.”

But there are signs that MAGA may be running out of steam. As the Guardian reported earlier in the week, there has been a wave of closures among shops selling pro-Trump merchandise. Recent polling has also shown that the movement has lost support as disillusioned Trump supporters peel off. Another October poll found that only 25 percent of voters view the MAGA movement favorably, down from 45 percent in 2024.

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