In Focus delivers deeper coverage of the political, cultural, and ideological issues shaping America. Published daily by senior writers and experts, these in-depth pieces go beyond the headlines to give readers the full picture. You can find our full list of In Focus pieces here.MAGA Republicans have tended to downplay the federal government’s annual deficit and debt. That’s a serious error because both threaten the nationalist and populist goals that are central to the MAGA movement.MAGA conservatives have many inclinations and priorities, but making America great again is by definition the movement’s central principle. Its criticism of the globalist economic order focuses on how America, as a great power, is weakened by the offshoring of key industries and by its enrichment of the already wealthy. Its criticism of the globalist internationalist order, whether rooted in multinational organizations such as the United Nations or the World Trade Organization or America’s vast web of international military alliances, stems from the belief that America’s freedom of action in pursuit of its own interests is constrained by its submission to or membership in these entities.
One might think the deficit and debt are tangential to these critiques. In fact, they are integral to them.
