Trump needs to tell voters what MAGA really means

President Biden has gone from Independence Hall to Valley Forge, painting MAGA as the most toxic and deadly pestilence ever to hit American shores. Rumors abound that he will go to Ford’s Theater next to shoot more holes in the MAGA brand.

His likely opponent in 2024, former President Trump, gets credit for the MAGA (Make American Great Again) slogan. However, has he ever spelled out what MAGA means to him? If we listen to his rallies enough, he dribbles out hints.

• Immigration based on merit/Close the borders
• Drill, drill, drill
• Avoid foreign wars
• “Fair trade” with China
• “Made in America” replaces “Made in China”
• Lower taxes
• Limited regulation
• Strong military

One of his most recent endorsements came from Vivek Ramaswamy, who had no trouble spelling out what MAGA means to him. Now that Vivek has ended his 2024 run, Trump would do well to clarify what MAGA means to him and use Vivek’s 10 as a template.

Image: Donald Trump (edited). YouTube screen grab.

Trump, who is famous for name-calling, apparently does not realize that Biden is busy toxifying the MAGA label. This toxification will have an impact as long as Trump delays in telling us what MAGA means to him.

One of Trump’s supporters, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, made a splash in 1994 with his Contract With America. Hopefully, former Speaker Gingrich can help former President Trump come up with how he plans to Make America Great Again.

Make America Great Again is a great slogan. It tells us what Trump wants to do, and it repudiates Barack “Transform America” Obama. Delicious as that slogan is, America needs more than a slogan in 2024. We need something more specific, such as Gingrich’s Contract With America or Ramaswamy’s Big 10 Truths.

Former President Trump can do much to endear himself to the millions of Americans who voted for Biden in 2020 and have voter’s remorse. Biden wants to bring them back into his corral by making them think that Trump is the worst human God ever created.

For those of us who believe Biden is the worst President ever, it would be nice to see former President Trump articulate what we need to do To Make American Great Again.

Words of hope, leadership, and vision worked for Lincoln, Kennedy, and Reagan. I suspect people will even forgive his former mean tweets if Trump showed us his blueprints for a better future.

Mean talk is off-putting, but words of hope and vision might just heal a nation weary of hate, division, and the “grownups” spouting it.

Ned Cosby, a prolific contributor to American Thinker, is a former pastor, veteran Coast Guard officer, and a retired career public high school teacher. His newest novel OUTCRY is a love story exposing the refusal of Christian leaders to report and discipline clergy who sexually abuse our young people. This work of fiction addresses crimes that are all too real. Cosby has also written RECOLLECTIONS FROM MY FATHER’S HOUSE, tracing his own odyssey from 1954 to the present. For more info, visit Ned Cosby.