Team of bitter rivals
Will internal tensions tear apart Trump's unlikely alliance?

Donald Trump won the White House with perhaps the most unlikely coalition of supporters ever assembled in American politics. There was the usual male MAGA crowd, who lapped up his macho talk of taking back America from the feminized Left. But exit polls show he also won a higher share of women this year than in 2020 and lost voters who support abortion rights by a mere 4 percentage points — even though he nominated the three Supreme Court justices who were crucial to toppling Roe v. Wade. He won with white people who approve of his plan to deport millions of immigrants, but also did 16 points better with Latino voters this time around. He won with oil and gas workers who want to "drill, baby, drill," and also with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. supporters who want to ban hydrocarbon-derived fertilizers and plastics. And he boosted his vote share in both deep-red rural counties and deep-blue cities such as New York and Chicago — though he once likened the latter to war-torn Afghanistan — partly by nudging up his numbers with Black men. Trump's diverse coalition, in other words, looks a lot like America.
The question now is whether he can keep this unusual alliance together. Will he shed support among Latinos if, as promised, he sends the National Guard into communities to round up undocumented migrants and tear apart families in mass deportation raids? Will Trump lose women voters if, as his backers on the Christian right have requested, his administration curtails access to abortion pills or dials back reproductive rights? Can he balance the demands of a conspiracy theorist like RFK Jr. — whom Trump has promised to let "go wild on health" — with the interests of food and pharmaceutical companies, as well as those of countless Republican and Democratic parents who want their kids to be vaccinated against polio and other deadly diseases? Can he keep Tesla CEO Elon Musk on side while also slapping 60% tariffs on products from China, Tesla's biggest market outside the U.S.? I don't know the answer to any of these questions and neither, I suspect, does Trump.
This is the editor's letter in the current issue of The Week magazine.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Theunis Bates is a senior editor at The Week's print edition. He has previously worked for Time, Fast Company, AOL News and Playboy.
-
October 19 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Sunday's editorial cartoons include Pete Hegseth and the press, an absence of government, and George Washington crossing the Delaware
-
A little-visited Indian Ocean archipelago
The Week Recommends The paradise of the Union of the Comoros features beautiful beaches, colourful coral reefs and lush forests
-
AI: is the bubble about to burst?
In the Spotlight Stock market ever-more reliant on tech stocks whose value relies on assumptions of continued growth and easy financing
-
DOJ indicts John Bolton over classified files
Speed Read Continuing the trend of going after his political enemies, Trump prosecutes his former national security adviser
-
Trump, Putin set summit as Zelenskyy lands in DC
Speed Read Trump and Putin have agreed to meet in Budapest soon to discuss ending the war in Ukraine
-
‘The illusion of wealth can encourage people to take on more debt’
instant opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Trump says he authorized covert CIA ops in Venezuela
Speed Read He is also considering military strikes inside the country
-
Are inflatable costumes and naked bike rides helping or hurting ICE protests?
Talking Points Trump administration efforts to portray Portland and Chicago as dystopian war zones have been met with dancing frogs, bare butts and a growing movement to mock MAGA doomsaying
-
‘Are we just going to stand in passive witness to the degradation of our democracy?’
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Bad Bunny: Why MAGA is incensed
Feature The NFL announced Latino artist Bad Bunny as the Super Bowl halftime headliner, sparking MAGA outrage
-
Supreme Court: Judging 20 years of Roberts
Feature Two decades after promising to “call balls and strikes,” Chief Justice John Roberts faces scrutiny for reshaping American democracy