There is an increasingly strange, unprecedented, and radical undercurrent pulling at the ends of the traditional political spectrum. Combining Trump’s infamous “Make America Great Again” slogan with its apparent ideological antithesis, MAGA Communism has attracted the attention of millions online and has gained an endorsement from both the Kremlin and Caracas.
The Ultimate Grift or a Real Ideology?
This fringe political movement was conceived by political commentator and online personality Jackson Hinkle. With over 2.7 million followers on Twitter (X), Hinkle’s posts and opinions reach tens of millions, and he has even made appearances on Tucker Carlson, Piers Morgan, and Chris Cuomo's programs.
Hinkle, a 24-year-old white Californian who describes himself as an “American Conservative Marxist-Leninist”, has had a curious political journey to say the least. Hinkle first gained national attention when he was featured in Reader’s Digest, LA Times, and Teen Vogue as one of the most inspiring youth environmentalists. As founder of a notable youth green organization, he represented young environmentalists in a US Congressional briefing and leveraged his success to stage a campaign for a city council position as a Democratic Socialist.
However, his aspirational political path took a dark turn in 2020. Hinkle’s progressive takes dissipated during the pandemic and his rhetoric forayed into increasingly radical and taboo topics. Posts and clips of his went viral online for disparaging vaccines, lambasting Western imperialism, and supporting Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. His bombastic and unapologetic stances accrued him hundreds of thousands of avid supporters on both the far-right and far-left, but also garnered him the ire of millions.
Hinkle’s posting style is incessant and often promotes patently false information. Many of his posts use misleading images and AI-generated content or have advanced blatant propaganda from Russian, Iranian, and Venezuelan state sources. Condemned by tech companies as a mass spreader of misinformation, he was banned from Twitch, YouTube, and even PayPal. Banished from most platforms, he bestowed upon himself the label of “the most canceled man on the internet”.
Hinkle, who once admitted he does “everything for clout”, has flourished on Twitter, which has become a safe haven for fringe opinions across the spectrum in the wake of Elon Musk’s ‘free-speech absolutist’ approach. Much of Hinkle’s popularity in recent months has been generated from his ceaseless support for the Palestinian cause. However, any salient critiques of Israeli policy are counteracted by unhinged rants in which he has directly endorsed Hamas, mocked Israeli hostages, and reposted egregious antisemitic caricatures.
Red Hats in Moscow & Caracas
His online presence, while alarming and repugnant, is not notable in itself as many grifting provocateurs have risen rapidly just to fall back into obscurity. Hinkle’s rise and stardom is unique, however, in that he is the first Western influencer to have gained such access and support from the United States’ national adversaries.
Hinkle has frequently been a guest on Russian State Television and has been invited to several prestigious conferences in Moscow, Shanghai, and now Caracas in the wake of Maduro’s contested election result.
In an address at Venezuela’s national assembly last week, Hinkle was able to speak directly to Maduro, congratulating him on his “victory” and insisting that his nation was much cleaner and safer than the United States. Hinkle went on to pose a question asking if Maduro would work with Trump in the future. Maduro initially responded with skepticism, but blamed Trump’s past aggressions on John Bolton and Tillerson, concluding that he would be open to a friendship with Trump going forward.
In a February trip to Russia, he embraced and presented gifts to Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s Head of Foreign Ministry, and the main international mouthpiece for Putin’s ‘Special Military Operation’.
Hinkle was also granted a full interview with Aleksander Dugin, one of Russia’s most powerful ideologues, a Rasputinesque figure believed to be directly influencing Putin’s philosophy and decision-making.
Dugin, whose daughter was “allegedly” assassinated by Ukrainian intelligence in 2022, has advocated for a holy war against the Western Order utilizing an international coalition of ‘anti-imperialists’.
Dugin explains his unique alliance with the American Right stating:
“Intriguingly, the US also sees the emergence of MAGA Communism, as represented by figures like Jackson Hinkle and Infrared (Adam Tahir). These individuals are allies of conservative Tucker Carlson but are also Marxists who support Trump and advocate the ‘Make America Great Again’ (MAGA) slogan. This indicates that viable leftist perspectives exist. Together, they are committed to dismantling liberal dominance.” - Aleksander Dugin
Pulling Away the Mask
Dugin has jumped upon the opportunity to endorse MAGA Communism as it reflects the radical notions of the Party he revived, National Bolshevism. Fusing the state economic systems of the USSR with the racial hierarchy policies of Nazi Germany, the Party aims to create a nightmarish totalitarian ethno-state. To make the group’s connections to the horrors of the Third Reich abundantly clear, Dugin chose to represent his group with a Nazi flag, substituting the swastika for a hammer and sickle. Although Dugin has left this particular project behind, neo-Fascist ideas have remained a cornerstone of his political presence.
While Hinkle’s MAGA-Communist ideology may be largely devoid of deep substance and historical symbolism in itself, the Dugins of the world who are co-opting and endorsing the movement certainly have a malicious endgame in mind.
Building upon the culture war divide between the perceived ‘Woke’ and ‘Anti-Woke’ while utilizing anti-war and pro-Palestinian sentiments from young Leftists, figures in this space are aiming to unite the ends of the political spectrum behind a masked neo-Fascism. Their ultimate goal: to create an international system devoid of Democracy, where authoritarian strongmen can subjugate and eliminate the voices of opposition parties, minorities, women, and LGBTQ+ individuals.
The Perils of the Algo…
The accelerating popularity of Hinkle’s movement is not occurring in a vacuum and speaks to a wider failure of liberal governments and media outlets in the West. Real critiques of Netanyahu’s brutal campaign have been minimized or sanitized as the conventional media outlets have largely toed the party line – unable to confront Israeli policy head on or unwilling to castigate the Democratic establishment in an election year. The flagrant hypocrisy has led outraged masses to source their information about Gaza from alternative sources and fringe personalities such as Jackson Hinkle. Upon entering his page and media ecosystem, many are unwittingly being pulled into the algorithmic embrace of neo-Fascists.
In an online political climate where algorithms polarize and mainstream outlets flounder, these radical figures will only grow and consolidate greater audiences as they break taboos and offer provocative alternatives. While MAGA Communism itself will certainly not see the light of day in a formal fashion, the ideas espoused by Hinkle and Carlson are bound to spread, radicalizing masses of disaffected young people against Democracy and towards authoritarians and wannabes like Trump.
A note to readers:
Apologies for the infrequent posting, I’ve been quite tied up other matters. However, more great articles are lined up for publishing and several voices, old and new, will appear here in the coming weeks. Thanks for everything,
-Josh