Top White House officials are in full-blown panic over a growing “fracture” within the MAGA movement, led in large part by right-wing influencer Candace Owens, according to a senior Trump official who spoke with Zeteo.
“I have gotten so many texts asking: what are you guys gonna do about Candace Owens?” said a senior Trump official, speaking with Zeteo under the condition of anonymity. “What can I do? Delete the internet?”
Once a staunch defender of President Donald Trump, Owens has since soured on the president and has become among his most vocal critics, joining the likes of other prominent right-wing figures like Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly who have created a rift in the MAGA movement.
That rift was on full display last week during Turning Point USA’s annual America Fest conference, where right-wing figures like Ben Shapiro openly attacked Owens, Carlson and Kelly for promoting “conspiratorial nonsense.” And, while Trump-aligned figures have often tried to dismiss Owens and Carlson as irrelevant and not part of the MAGA movement, behind the scenes, Trump officials are taking the rift seriously.
“Our MAGA civil war is spreading,” a senior Trump administration appointee told Zeteo, also speaking anonymously.
The division among the MAGA movement has grown so prominent that Vice President JD Vance felt compelled to address it on Sunday during America Fest, but couched his commentary in a message of unity, a different approach when compared to figures like Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL), who have instead called for figures like Carlson to be expelled from the MAGA movement entirely.
“President Trump did not build the greatest coalition in politics by running his supporters through endless, self-defeating purity tests,” Vance said to a crowd of thousands of young conservatives at the America Fest in Phoenix, Arizona on Sunday. “We have far more important work to do than canceling each other.”