Make America Great Again
"Make America Great Again" (MAGA, US: /ˈmæɡə/)[1] is an American political slogan most recently popularized by Donald Trump during his successful presidential campaigns in 2016 and in 2024.
The slogan became a pop culture phenomenon, seeing widespread use and spawning numerous variants in the arts, entertainment and politics, being used by both supporters and opponents of Trump's presidency and as the name of the Super PAC Make America Great Again Inc.[2] Originally used by Ronald Reagan as a campaign slogan in his 1980 presidential campaign (Let's Make America Great Again), it has since been described as a loaded phrase.
"[15] Author Octavia E. Butler used "Make America Great Again" as the presidential campaign slogan for the dictator Andrew Steele Jarret in her 1998 dystopian novel, Parable of the Talents.
"[21] On November 12, he signed an application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office requesting exclusive rights to use the slogan for political purposes.
It was registered as a service mark on July 14, 2015, after Trump formally began his 2016 presidential campaign and demonstrated that he was using the slogan for the purpose stated on the application.
[25] The slogan was so important to the campaign that at one point it spent more on making the hats – sold for $25 each on its website – than on polling, consultants, or television commercials.
In an article for Bloomberg News, Mark Whitehouse noted: "A regression analysis suggests the phrase adds (very roughly) 51,000 to a post's retweet-and-favorite count, which is important given that the average Trump tweet attracts a total of 107,000.
Marissa Melton, a Voice of America journalist, among others,[4][5] explained how it is a loaded phrase because it "doesn't just appeal to people who hear it as racist coded language, but also to those who have felt a loss of status as other groups have become more empowered.
"[43] Writing opinion for the Los Angeles Times, Robin Abcarian wrote that "[w]earing a 'Make America Great Again' hat is not necessarily an overt expression of racism.
But if you wear one, it's a pretty good indication that you share, admire or appreciate President Trump's racist views about Mexicans, Muslims and border walls.
"[5] The Detroit Free Press and the Los Angeles Times reported how several of their readers rejected this characterization and did not believe the slogan or MAGA hats are evidence of racism, seeing them more in patriotic or American nationalist terms.
[47] "Make America Great Again" has been the subject of many parodies, jokes, instances of praise, references, and criticisms which base themselves on the four-word slogan.
[citation needed] In October 2024, Trump promised former third party candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. control of public health using the phrase "Make America Healthy Again".
Adult film star Stormy Daniels, who allegedly had an affair with President Trump, took part in a "Make America Horny Again" strip club tour.
[63] In 2017, after the certification of the election of Trump by Congress, then-Vice-President Joe Biden was heard saying "God Save the Queen", leading to History Today claiming it would get "Make America Great Britain Again".
[69] In late 2022, the political slogan "MAGA Communism" trended on Twitter after being tweeted out by former San Clemente city council candidate Jackson Hinkle.
The slogan has been spotted at numerous anti-Trump events from Democratic political rallies to marches to social media, with Live Science noting "Think Again" as one of its top hashtags for 2017.
[95] "Make America Great Again" has frequently been parodied in advertising, the media, and other outlets of popular culture, with varying levels of comparison to Trump from none at all to a rebuke of the former president and his ideology.
Inspired by graffiti painting My God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love, it depicts Donald Trump giving a fraternal kiss to the Russian president Vladimir Putin.
[103][104] In 2011, Republican former United States Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell published a book about her campaign in the 2010 Delaware special election titled Troublemaker: Let's Do What It Takes to Make America Great Again.
Dogg was quoted in Rolling Stone magazine as saying that 'Make America Great Again' refers to a time in the past that "always takes me back to separation and segregation so I'd rather Make America Crip Again" and referred to a time "when young black men in impoverished areas organized to help their communities and to take care of their own because society basically left them for dead.
"[107] Singer Joy Villa produced a single "Make America Great Again" a few months after appearing at the 2017 Grammy Awards in a 'MAGA' dress.
[108] Australian heavy metal band Thy Art Is Murder recorded a song called "Make America Hate Again" on their album Human Target.
Peters Hines, the studio's vice president of marketing and public relations, was quoted on GamesIndustry.biz as saying, "Wolfenstein has been a decidedly anti-Nazi series since the first release more than 20 years ago.
"[116] During his campaign for the 2019 Indonesian presidential election in October 2018, former opposition leader Prabowo Subianto used the phrase "make Indonesia great again", though he denied having copied Trump.
"[123] Following Donald Trump's victory in the 2024 United States presidential election, she described his win as an effort to "restore conservative American values and ideals, which have been under attack by promoters of extreme far-left ideology.
In January 2025, during a campaign rally of Alternative für Deutschland for the 2025 German federal election, Elon Musk spoke at the event through a video call, reiterating his previous endorsement of the party.
Following his short speech, Alice Weidel, the leading candidate of the party for the upcoming elections, thanked Musk and used the derived expression "Make Germany great again".
