The Republican Party, once united under the banner of Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement, now finds itself in the throes of an unprecedented internal struggle. The aftershocks of Trump’s 2024 return to the White House, followed by his departure, have left the GOP grappling with a crisis of identity, leadership, and direction—one that’s playing out in Congress, conservative think tanks, and the nation’s largest city.
It was just a year ago, on November 5, 2024, that Donald Trump secured a second, nonconsecutive term as president, according to the Washington Examiner. Republicans swept the House, regained the Senate, and solidified their hold on the Supreme Court. Trump’s vice president, JD Vance, only 40 at the time, was widely touted as the party’s heir apparent for 2028. The mood in Washington was one of triumph and anticipation for a new era of conservative dominance.
But beneath the surface, deep fissures were forming. As former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) told CNN’s Anderson Cooper on November 6, 2025, “You’re starting to see this civil war bubble up within the GOP.” Kinzinger’s words proved prophetic. He described a party without a clear successor to Trump’s MAGA movement, noting, “People ask me all the time what happens when Donald Trump is no longer in the picture, who’s the heir apparent to MAGA? And the answer is, nobody knows.”
This uncertainty has bred chaos. The party’s rightward drift, fueled by figures like white nationalist Nick Fuentes, has sparked outrage and division. Kinzinger, who has been outspoken in his opposition to extremist elements, urged the GOP to reject Fuentes’ views after a controversial interview with Tucker Carlson sent shockwaves through the conservative base. “Are you going to allow these Nick Fuentes types to come in? I hope they don’t allow that, but that is a decision they have to make,” Kinzinger warned.
The controversy reached a boiling point on October 27, 2025, when Carlson, a major conservative media personality and close friend of Vance, hosted Fuentes on his podcast. According to the Washington Examiner, Carlson “did not interrogate Fuentes so much as massage him into the mainstream,” allowing him to air antisemitic and conspiratorial views unchecked. The fallout was immediate and more bitter than the aftermath of the 2017 Charlottesville rally. Conservative media, lawmakers, and activists split into warring camps, with some defending Carlson and others condemning the platforming of hate.
Kevin Roberts, president of the influential Heritage Foundation, only added fuel to the fire. In a scripted video released on October 30, Roberts offered Heritage’s “full support” to Carlson, while simultaneously denouncing antisemitism and the “globalist class.” Critics argued that Roberts failed to grasp the gravity of mainstreaming extremist ideas. His 2024 book, Dawn’s Early Light, had already called for “burning down” American institutions, a sentiment that resonated with some on the populist right but alarmed many others.
Roberts’ approach, and Heritage’s powerful role in shaping conservative policy, have made the think tank a battleground for the GOP’s soul. In July 2024, Roberts declared on Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast that Heritage was “in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the Left allows it to be.” His rhetoric, along with the organization’s Project 2025—a blueprint for Trump’s second term—underscored the party’s growing appetite for institutional upheaval.
Yet as the “MAGA supremacy” fractured, the Republican Party’s internal disputes spilled over into the public square. Nowhere was this more evident than in New York City, where a different kind of civil war erupted over the election of Zohran Mamdani as mayor on November 5, 2025. Mamdani, a self-described socialist, won just over 50% of the vote, according to Fox News Digital. His victory provoked outrage among national Republicans, prompting Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) to introduce the “MAMDANI Act,” a bill that would strip New York City of all federal funding for the duration of Mamdani’s tenure.
Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.), the city’s lone Republican in Congress, fiercely criticized the effort. “Attempts by Congressman Buddy Carter to strip New York City of all its funding is ludicrous and a slap in the face to the hardworking taxpayers of this city, half of which did not even support Zohran Mamdani for mayor,” she told Fox News Digital. Malliotakis argued that New York pays “an exorbitant amount of federal taxes” and that federal funds are essential for education, transportation, and national security. She warned that any Republican backing the bill “should not come to New York City to raise a dollar for their campaign.”
Carter, for his part, framed the bill as a stand against socialism. “Nicole is New York City’s last line of defense against socialism. If everyone stood up for New York City the way Nicole does, it wouldn’t be in this awful mess,” he said, adding, “Taxpayers shouldn’t bankroll a socialist or communist agenda.” The dispute, as Fox News Digital noted, signaled a broader battle within the GOP, pitting national ambitions against local realities and exposing the party’s inability to reconcile its populist, nationalist, and traditional conservative wings.
Meanwhile, potential 2028 presidential contenders like Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have sought to distance themselves from the fray—at least for now. Rubio, in a July 2025 interview with Lara Trump on Fox News, emphasized his commitment to his current role: “I believe that if I am able to be here, through the duration of this presidency, and we get things done at the pace that we’ve been doing the last six months, I’ll be able to look back at my time in public service and say I made a difference, I had an impact, and I served my country in a very positive way.” He added, “And I would be satisfied with that as the apex of my career.” Rubio also called Vance one of his “closest friends in politics,” signaling a cautious unity among the party’s top figures.
But unity is in short supply. The right is now, as the Washington Examiner put it, “at war with itself.” The mainstreaming of extremist voices, the backlash from established institutions, and the rise of new populist leaders have left the GOP in a state of flux. Heritage’s Roberts, after initially supporting Carlson, eventually issued a detailed condemnation of Fuentes’ antisemitism, calling it “explicit, dangerous, and demands our unified opposition as conservatives.” Yet even this failed to quell the internal discord, with staff resignations and public infighting continuing to roil the movement.
The Republican Party’s predicament is not merely a matter of personalities or policies. It is a crisis rooted in deeper social and economic currents—a generation alienated by economic hardship, cultural change, and institutional mistrust. As Rod Dreher observed, the rise of figures like Fuentes reflects a “generation unmoored in purpose and morals,” and the party’s failure to offer “something substantive and hopeful to these alienated young men.”
As the flames of internal conflict threaten to consume the conservative movement, the future of the GOP—and of American politics more broadly—remains uncertain. The match has been struck, and the party’s next moves will determine whether it can weather the storm or be consumed by it.
