'Saving grace': Expert says MAGA is turning on Trump — and it could cost him the election

Former President Donald Trump and his control over the Republican Party face a new potential threat, writes Amanda Marcotte for Salon: a MAGA movement at war with itself, and, in some cases, even at war with Trump for not being extreme enough.

One of the most recent developments of this, she wrote, is the We the People AZ Alliance, an Arizona-based group tied to right-wing Senate candidate Kari Lake and funded by Patrick Byrne, the conspiracy theorist former CEO of Overstock.

"According to a weekend report from the Washington Post, a faction of Arizona delegates to the Republican National Convention has concocted 'a secret plan to throw the party’s nomination of Donald Trump for president into chaos,'" wrote Marcotte.

"These aren't moderates worried about nominating a convicted criminal as president," she adds. "Byrne has been tweeting that Trump is 'surrounded by DEEP STATE nobodies.' While it's not entirely clear what the anti-Trump MAGA flank wants, part of what they seem to be suggesting is that Trump needs a QAnon-level maniac like former general Mike Flynn to be his running mate — or to replace him as the presidential nominee entirely. The situation is threatening enough to Trump's campaign that they are trying to replace these faithless delegates and are sending out irate memos alleging 'a multi-state conspiracy.'"

Similar revolts are happening around the country; from GOP Sen. Mike Braun being saddled with a Christian nationalist running mate in the gubernatorial race against his will, to Minnesota Republicans tossing out the initial MAGA favorite for their Senate race in favor of Royce White, a former basketball star who repeatedly engages in public meltdowns.

All of this threatens to damage and destabilize the Republican Party come November, wrote Marcotte.

"It's a saving grace that authoritarians hate each other almost as much as they hate liberals," she concluded. "Their views are unpopular, so they need to stick together if they want to win. But MAGA attracts people who are constitutionally incapable of playing nice with others, even those in their own tribe. With democracy on the line, everything helps, and this intra-GOP acrimony is a welcome self-own."