MAGA think tanks on the brink of war over their post-Trump future: analyst

The MAGA universe is preparing for a future without President Donald Trump at the helm, but that preparation is threatening to erupt into a free-for-all over control of the movement, according to a new analysis.

MS NOW's Lily Becker argued in a new op-ed that the president "has thrown a monkey wrench into the traditionally staid right-of-center world of policymaking, transforming or pushing aside established institutions and boosting startups such as the America First Policy Institute, American Compass and Advancing American Freedom that are hoping to rebuild a new conservative order."

This effectively sidelines legacy right-wing think tanks like the Heritage Foundation, which was dutifully involved in crafting Trump's infamous Project 2025 agenda and which saw a staffing crisis and schism last year.

The network that "once appeared to be a relatively unified intellectual pipeline has fractured into overlapping networks, each claiming to represent the future of the modern right," wrote Becker.

For example, she noted that Trump was already relying on some of these new groups to shape his policy ideas. "The America First Policy Institute in particular has functioned less like a traditional outside think tank and more like an extension of the administration." That group, founded shortly after Trump left office in his first term, "has become a major personnel pipeline to the administration, with former Trump officials, advisers and policy architects moving through its orbit."

All of this comes amid extensive speculation over who Trump's 2028 successor will even be, as Vice President JD Vance and Marco Rubio appear to be going through a behind-the-scenes vetting process even as it's unclear MAGA voters will want either.