The Trump 2.0 Reset

Is MAGA back on the agenda?

Commenting on recent developments and the new US National Security Strategy, Alexander Dugin reviews the relevance of his book “The Trump Revolution” and critically appraises the return of the MAGA project.

---

A little under a year ago, I published a book entitled The Trump Revolution: A New Order of Great Powers. It was released simultaneously in Russian and English, and, as the publishers have told me, it has been given to Trump. His reaction is unknown.

Over the course of this year, it has been translated into many languages, most recently into Arabic, where it was published in a huge print run.

The book consisted of an analysis of the Trump phenomenon during his first term, the pre-election debates with Biden and then with Kamala Harris, the formation of the MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement, and the figures and organizations surrounding Trump at the time of his election as the 47th president of the United States. A significant part of the book consisted of transcripts of my programs on Radio Sputnik (the Escalation show) and articles in RIA Novosti.

In this book, I suggested taking Trump 2.0 and MAGA very seriously — unlike Trump’s first term, which was dominated by opportunism and the line of neocons and old Republicans (RINO — Republican In Name Only, as they were nicknamed by orthodox Trumpists). I described this as a convincing attempt at a Conservative Revolution in the US, fraught with radical changes to the entire world order, not to mention tectonic shifts within the US itself.

You could say that I based my analysis on the fact that I “believed” in Trump and MAGA and, on that basis, outlined predictions and trends for the future. In the first weeks of Trump’s arrival in the White House, these predictions came true in the most surprising way — both in terms of the appointments of MAGA people to key posts, the sharpness of the actions, and the decisiveness of the first decrees (the abolition of “cancel culture,” the rejection of gender politics, the recognition of traditional values as paramount, the elimination of the woke and DEI agenda of institutionalized excessive concern for degenerates and minorities, the fight against illegal immigration, the start of a campaign to dismantle the deep state, the rollback of the globalist agenda, and so on). Even former neocon Marco Rubio, who became Secretary of State in Trump’s cabinet, spoke out in favor of multipolarity.

Trump 2.0 charted a course toward a world architecture that I have called the Order of Great Powers. This means the triumph of realism in international relations, a sharp rejection of liberalism and globalism, an end to “democratic interventions” and support for color revolutions. In essence, it is a transition from President Woodrow Wilson’s 14-point program (open globalism, internationalism) to a new version of the Monroe Doctrine.

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), created by Trump’s closest associate Elon Musk, immediately got down to business and immediately abolished one of the main globalist structures in the US, USAID. This was followed by a radical purge — up to and including the closure — of the Department of Education, where liberals and supporters of the legalization of perversions had entrenched themselves. Musk also targeted the Department of Defense, the CIA, and the Federal Reserve.

In addition, taking advantage of his control over the social network X, Elon Musk launched an active online campaign aimed at overthrowing the globalist liberal elites in Europe itself, mercilessly criticizing Starmer, Macron, and Merz and openly supporting the alternative forces of right-wing European populists. Before, this had been the modus operandi of globalist networks, primarily George Soros and his son Alexander, who shamelessly interfered in the politics of sovereign states, overthrowing leaders they disliked, accusing them of “undemocratic” practices and staging color revolutions, often using network technologies.

The same line was taken by Vice President J. D. Vance, who blamed all of Europe’s problems on European liberals themselves and their globalist, liberal policies of supporting illegal migration, legalizing perversions, etc.

The migration service, strengthened by “border czar” Homan, began to catch and deport illegal migrants on an industrial scale.

Trump threatened to publish the lists of the oligarch Epstein, who organized pedophile orgies on his secret island, in which representatives of the American elite (especially from the Democratic Party) participated. A portrait of Bill Clinton in a woman’s dress hung at the entrance to Epstein’s villa as a symbol of his control over the ruling elites. There were rumors of black masses, experiments on children, and other horrors. In many ways, Americans chose Trump because they believed in his promise to expose the elites.

At the moment of the MAGA movement’s ascendancy, as it moved from strength to strength, from success to success, I finished editing the book to capture the historical moment. After all, it would have been possible to continue to observe the development of the situation in the US for a long time, and the book would never have been published. Especially since I had gathered enough material.

At the same time, in my speeches and comments on this book, I warned in advance: we had outlined the direct vectors, the trends of the policy that should logically follow from the clearly defined ideology of MAGA. This time, it was not limited to slogans and populist promises, or to the charisma and passion of Trump himself. Now it was a system that provided for the implementation of a full-fledged program for radical change in the course of American politics, and therefore required continuity of power. Hence the role of Vice President J. D. Vance, who embodied the common denominator of the MAGA movement in all its complexity — from national populists (chief ideologist Steve Bannon, Charlie Kirk, Tucker Carlson) to Silicon Valley magnates (Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, Marc Andreessen, and others).

Of course, real politics involves certain deviations, fluctuations, and compromises, but overall, they should unfold like a sine wave around the main central axis. In a sense, I tried to describe the map of the starry sky in its general structure, without paying attention to the dynamics of the movement of the planets and, even more so, to the random flashes of comets and asteroids. Taking into account this MAGA map of the new Trumpism, I proposed that we observe the fluctuations while trying not to miss the main vector.

To be honest, things soon went far from smoothly. Step by step, Trump began to stray from his planned route. So much so that it seemed as if he would never return to his original agenda and had broken with MAGA in its first version forever and irrevocably. I noted with regret that my book on the Order of Great Powers was rapidly losing its relevance. What was the reason for this?

The main obstacle was the Israel factor. Trump had always consistently supported the right-wing Israeli politician Netanyahu, who was just as much a conservative and a supporter of traditional values as Trump himself. But in the context of the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and preparing aggression against Iran, the invasion of Lebanon and Syria, the question arose sharply: is Israel a proxy for the US, its reliable ally, or, on the contrary, is Tel Aviv dictating policy to Washington, forcing it to do things that are completely disadvantageous to America itself? Trump’s behavior confirmed the second hypothesis, which led to a split in MAGA. Hence, the question arose: America First or Israel First? America first, or Israel no matter what?

Netanyahu’s unconditional support was most strongly condemned by Trump’s closest associates, Congressmen Marjorie Taylor Greene and Thomas Massie, the famous journalists and influencers Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson, the chief strategist of American populism and intellectual Steve Bannon, and most of Trump’s electoral base. Charlie Kirk, whom Trump considered his “political son,” a prominent conservative and young Christian politician who was recently killed during his tour of American campuses, also leaned toward the same position. This attitude toward Israel was criticized by deep analysts like John Mearsheimer and Jeffrey Sachs, Colonel Michael Douglas and General Michael Flynn, Judge Napolitano, and former CIA analyst Larry Johnson. But Trump remained adamant, and under Netanyahu’s influence, American bombers struck Iranian nuclear facilities. In other words, Trump broke one of the most important promises and ideological principles of MAGA: he carried out an act of intervention far beyond the Western Hemisphere and put the interests of a client state and its radical ruler above those of the United States.

Trump cursed his closest associates who criticized him and lashed out at them with angry accusations. At the same time, he brought pro-Israel neoconservative imperialists Lindsey Graham (recognized as a terrorist and extremist in Russia) and Mark Levin closer to him, who had previously been his ardent opponents and openly reviled the MAGA strategy with the harshest words.

This was such a serious departure from the Great Powers Order project that it called into question the validity of the entire original program of the 47th US President.

At the same time, Trump fired Elon Musk, the second most popular politician of the new era, and reduced DOGE’s activity to nothing. All the reforms of the state apparatus were suspended. Musk was upset, but after an outburst of negativity and calls to create a new “America” party, he quickly calmed down and switched his focus to internal corporate affairs.

But even that wasn’t enough. Trump suddenly changed his attitude toward the Epstein case and claimed that no such list existed and that the whole story had been fabricated by his political opponents. Once again, the Israeli factor came to the fore. Epstein himself had close ties to Israel, Prime Minister Ehud Barak being a frequent guest at his home, and the father of his closest assistant in orgies and human trafficking, Ghislaine Maxwell, who is currently serving time in an American prison for crimes committed together with Epstein, was a confirmed resident agent of the Israeli secret service (Mossad). Once again, the question arose of whether Israel was gathering compromising information on the American elite in order to control the US.

Against this backdrop, Trump did not withdraw his support for the Nazi regime in Kiev, although he expressed dissatisfaction with Zelensky. However, he also spoke critically about Putin and Russia. In his contacts with EU leaders, he apparently succumbed to their flattery and, on the whole, allowed himself to be convinced of the need to continue the war in Ukraine. Trump imposed new sanctions against Russia and threatened to impose even more.

Trump also sharply attacked the multipolar world, criticized BRICS, threatened China and India, and destroyed relations with Brazil and Mexico.

Thus, after six months of Trump’s presidency, it seemed as though nothing remained of the MAGA strategy. Consequently, my book and its predictions lost their relevance and remained only as a record of a historical and ideological moment that could have happened but, alas, did not. That is why I did not even want the book to be translated, as something sharply different from its predictions was evident: Trump 2.0 was becoming more and more like Trump 1.0, that is, a proponent of unipolar hegemony, interventionism, and imperialism in the spirit of conventional neoconservative politics. The figure of Lindsey Graham, who increasingly accompanied Trump everywhere, served as a symbolic marker. The more Graham, the less MAGA.

It seemed like Trump would not return to his original platform, and that it was all over.

However, there were also corrections against this backdrop. With regard to the Ukrainian conflict, Trump still demonstrated differences with the neocons and took steps towards ending it. He reprimanded Zelensky, who appeared at the White House in a greasy clown suit, criticized European leaders for wanting to continue the war indefinitely, and even met with President Putin in Anchorage to find ways to establish peace.

In other words, something of the original Trump remained, even if only a little.

And now, in this situation, we have recently seen a series of steps by Trump that can be described as a sharp turn back to the MAGA strategy. Trump has entrusted negotiations with Moscow to the sane and completely loyal Witkoff (rather than the neocon Kellogg), supports a plan to end the conflict that suits Russia, and places all responsibility for the breakdown of the agreement on Zelensky and the EU. It is obvious that it is Washington, using the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor forces under its control, that is initiating the prosecution of Zelensky’s inner circle for corruption. It is likely that the Americans were also involved in the EU corruption case (the arrest of Mogherini and searches of the office of Kaja Kallas). At least on the issue of Russia, Trump has shifted quite sharply towards the paradigm of the Great Powers Order.

But perhaps the most important event has been the publication of the US National Security Strategy, which has caused a real storm in the West. This document is written entirely in the spirit of the original MAGA project, the very one described in my book about Trump.

The strategy describes a scenario that strictly corresponds to the Great Powers Order. It proclaims that the US is abandoning its mission to be a sponsor of global democracy and to interfere in the affairs of states that are not directly related to the national security of the United States itself. Russia and China are no longer referred to as adversaries. A few kind words are said about Russia, and China is presented as the main economic competitor (but not an enemy or adversary!). It is stated that Washington is ending its policy of interventionism in Eurasia and is focusing entirely on the Western Hemisphere. This is called the “Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine.” The US retains its status as a hegemon: not a global one, but as a local one (which completely contradicts the strategy of the globalist neocons). The European Union gets the worst of it in the strategy, as it is now seen as something separate and independent, rather than part of a single liberal-democratic Atlantic community. This raises the question of the possible withdrawal of the US from NATO. There is no mention of Ukraine in the document at all.

As sharply as Trump departed from the MAGA strategy in the spring of 2025, he returned to it just as sharply at the beginning of the winter of the same year.

At the same time, Elon Musk has taken a break from his corporate concerns and rejoined the process of actively dismantling the European Union online. The EU imposed fines on his X network for refusing to implement liberal censorship, and he responded by directly calling for “abolishing the EU.” Significantly, Trump supports him in this.

Something almost impossible is taking place before our very eyes: Trump 2.0 is back. Steve Bannon is proclaiming a project to create not two, but three states in Palestine — Jewish, Arab, and Christian. Lindsey Graham has disappeared from the limelight. The neocons are in a panic. The EU elites, in the spirit of the Kiev neo-Nazis, are screaming, “What about us?” Trump is putting direct pressure on Zelensky to agree to territorial concessions and hold elections. Washington is suggesting that the European countries themselves fight Russia, but is not advising them to do so.

It remains to be stated: we are once again dealing with the Order of Great Powers, and this plan is back on the table for the Washington leadership. Thus, my book is once again becoming topical and relevant, as it is written precisely about such an order, where realism and civilizational states prevail, and liberal globalism as geopolitics and ideology is rapidly becoming a thing of the past.

If this continues, they may publish Epstein’s list, reconsider their attitude toward Netanyahu, and bring Elon Musk back.

However, after the previous cycle of deviations from the dominant vector, nothing will surprise us anymore. Since Trump proved capable of deviating so far from his intended strategy once, nothing prevents him from doing so again. Trump has shown that this is entirely to be expected of him. Therefore, it is worth refraining from optimistic assessments this time around. At the same time, it is important to note that he is now once again in line with the logic of the conservative revolution and the Great Power Order.

But now we have reliable knowledge of how far Trump is capable of deviating from his own MAGA plans, how inconsistent he is, and how far he can waver. Russia can hardly count on a long-term strategy with him. We need to seize the moment, recognize it, but rely only on ourselves.

If everything continues to go in the MAGA direction, then great. That suits us. But we will only be able to take advantage of the situation if we strengthen our civilizational geopolitical sovereignty as much as possible. Trump won’t bring the Special Military Operation to a victorious close for us. And he will not prevent war with the European Union, for which its leaders are desperately preparing in their agony, nor will he win it for us. Quite the contrary.

Now is Russia’s time. Realism, multipolarity, and indeed the Order of Great Powers itself, as well as most of the points outlined in the new version of the US National Security Strategy, suit us perfectly. But in order to fully participate in such an order, Russia must not only maintain its status as a great power, it must strengthen, expand, and make it fundamental in every way possible — in the military sphere, in the economy, in technology, in politics, and most importantly, in ideology. Trump 2.0’s reset to factory settings somewhat expands these opportunities for us. It is very important not to miss this moment.

---

READ MORE by Prof. Alexander Dugin, brought to you in English by Arktos: