MAGA Communism

MAGA communism, also stylized as MAGA Communism or #MAGACOMMUNISM, is an American political slogan and movement. Originating as a fringe online phenomena, supporters of MAGA communism (also known as MAGA communists) call for the synthesis of Marxist–Leninist economic policies with the right-wing populism of Donald Trump's MAGA movement, and for the unity of communists and supporters of Donald Trump in order to oppose "globalist elite[s]". MAGA communists criticize liberal identity politics, denounce American imperialism, and dismiss climate change efforts as "virtue-signaling" and "green fascism", while asserting that the ideas of Martin Heidegger and Aleksandr Dugin are essential for constructing a post-liberal socialist order.
MAGA commmunism has been variously described as a political slogan, ideology, movement, and strategy. It can be viewed as an attempt to develop an American form of socialist patriotism and has been dubbed alt-left, alt-right, neo-fascist, and adjacent to accelerationism. Critics have discussed MAGA communism as lacking in ideological consistency. According to the Black Agenda Report, MAGA communism is grounded in a number of reactionary and right-wing positions, while The Guardian views it as a "fringe movement" that attempts to rebrand communism to appeal to disaffected conservatives.
In late 2022, political commentator and social media influencer Jackson Hinkle began advocating for the idea of "MAGA communism", leading it to trend on Twitter. Vice described it as a "swirl of social conservatism, patriotism and subversive energy", and described Hinkle as coming from "the far-right entertainment playbook by agitating on livestreams". Hinkle and other supporters of MAGA communism argued that those who care about the American working class should ally with the MAGA movement, which they considered to be the largest anti-establishment movement in the United States, to incite a populist revolution.
Prior to developing MAGA communism, Hinkle was a supporter of Bernie Sanders and an environmentalist who protested the proliferation of nuclear power plants and the arms race. However, by 2022, he came to define himself as an "American patriot, God-fearing, pro-family, Marxist–Leninist, pro-Palestine, Russia and China, anti-deep state, anti-imperialist, anti-woke, pro-growth, anti-monopoly, pro-weapons, pro-fossil fuel". These labels came to define MAGA communism as a movement.
On July 21, 2024, Hinkle and fellow political commentator Haz Al-Din announced the launch of the American Communist Party (ACP). The FP described the ACP as a MAGA communist party, while Hinkle described the party as supporting "Anti-Imperialism, Multipolarity, [and] Orthodox Communism". In November 2024, the party's international secretary Chris Helali, described by La Repubblica as a MAGA communist, was elected high bailiff of Orange County, Vermont.
Hinkle was invited as an international observer to the 2024 Venezuelan presidential election. In March 2025, MSNBC highlighted the Trump-appointed Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s previous ties to Jackson Hinkle.
While MAGA communism is seen as supporting Donald Trump and Trumpism, Celia Fernández of El País wrote "they don’t fully agree with Trump’s political vision. But addressing the working class through him, they explain, is the only way to channel working-class militancy away from capitalism and towards a communist future". One of the core beliefs of MAGA communism is opposition to NATO in favour of supporting "multipolar axis", which is to include Russia, North Korea, and the Islamic Republic of Iran. MAGA communists also support the President of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro, the People's Republic of China and Palestine, regardless of whether it is Hamas-led or not. MAGA communists admire Vladimir Putin, Maduro and Kim Jong-Un, as well as Joseph Stalin – because of this, MAGA communism has been described as a variety of Stalinism.
MAGA communists consider themselves Marxist–Leninists. Hinkle's party, the American Communist Party, which officially adheres to Marxism–Leninism, considers itself a patriotic and anti-revisionist alternative to the Communist Party USA. The party is opposed to the social-democratic and progressive left. MAGA communism opposes feminism, environmentalism, and the LGBTQ movement; Al-Din states that MAGA communism seeks to combat negative developments in society, which he lists as "the decline of basic masculine virtues, the rise of a kind of effeminization, especially among men". He also stated that MAGA communism wants to "protect our youth from trans terrorists and propagandists".
The model of communism followed by MAGA communists is the one of the Chinese Communist Party. Hinkle stated: "What we're trying to do as MAGA communists is show American youth that yes, communism is good. China is its embodiment, and we should respect them and also try to work with them instead of going to war with them." MAGA communists consider themselves post-liberal, arguing that liberalism is no longer a progressive ideology, but rather became the doctrine of the ruling class. Because of this, MAGA communists declare their support for anti-liberal movements regardless of their political orientation, with Haz Al-Din writing: "Trump, Putin, Xi Jinping, Julius Malema, Maduro, etc. may have completely different ideologies, but they all represent a new, post-liberal form of politics."
Daniel HoSang, a professor at Yale University and an expert on modern American right-wing movements, told Motherboard that "[MAGA communism] doesn't necessarily mean communism in the literal sense of, say, demanding collective ownership. I think it's meant to be a kind of cultural invocation—a defense from that which the elites want you to believe. It suggests something about how people's political moorings are unsettled, and the search to find new bearings". MAGA communists believe that by adopting the slogan of "Make America Great Again", they embrace the reality of the American working class.
Left-wing commentators have variously described MAGA communism as an alt-right ideology and a form of "tankie communism". MEMRI grouped MAGA communism as part of the wider National Bolshevik movement. These characterizations are opposed by Al-Din, who describes MAGA communism as purely a populist strategy and argues that the MAGA communists are Marxist–Leninists. Al-Din rejected claims that MAGA communism is inherently reactionary, stating that critics misunderstand the distinction between its strategic approach and ideological commitments. He has said that many mainstream depictions of the movement are "superficial" and fail to grasp its deeper working class objectives.
Haz Al-Din insists that MAGA communism "has absolutely nothing to do with supporting Trump" and "is not in any way about combining Marxism with the ideology of the American right." He argues that the "rise of MAGA in 2015-2016 marks an irreversible point", at which Americans politics has been reshaped and presents a new reality that communism should adapt itself to. Al-Din states that he "never trusted Donald Trump as a political leader", but that his supporters represent "a real desire and aspiration for popular sovereignty". According to him, MAGA communists believe that while Trump is not a revolutionary leader, a large portion of his supporters are, and their aspirations represent something that communists should strive for. The premise of MAGA communism is that it "is not possible that a class struggle politics led by communists can simply be neutral in the face of MAGA as a political phenomenon."
Brian Hughes, the associate director of the Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab (PERIL) at American University, said: "Various figures are trying to take advantage of the moment. Skull-mask [neo-fascist] networks, and accelerationist networks more broadly, have been juicing MAGA Communism because they like to inhabit odd, esoteric subcultures. They're smaller, and easier to exploit. It helps that MAGA Communism has little ideological consistency, and can vibe with people who want to be edgy, on the political fringe". MAGA communism has also been placed within the context of an American conservatism that, in the words of Democratic Party strategist David Shor, was getting "really very weird", with The New Republic describing it as a movement that "combined American nationalism with praise for another authoritarian leader despised by most Americans, China's Xi Jinping".
Compact Magazine argued that the movement was a response to broad dissatisfaction amongst the American working class with the traditional left's abandonment of economic issues in favor of cultural politics. Kathleen Hayes, a researcher of Marxist and antisemitic movements, rejected attempts to label the MAGA communists as right-wing or far-right but instead described them as "[genuine] creatures of the left". Hayes told the Jewish Journal that MAGA communism appeals to a modern American left that is sympathetic to "Middle Eastern jihadism" and warned that the movement could forge a red–green alliance with Islamists. MEMRI stated that Hinkle and other MAGA communism advocates promote Islamism and are "emblematic of the broader White Jihad movement". Eddie Kim of Vice News argues that MAGA communism lacks ideological consistency and appeals mainly to people disillusioned with modern American liberalism rather than the American working class.