MAGA podcaster and former Biggest Loser coach Jillian Michaels has issued a dire warning for Republicans ahead of the midterms.
After watching Fox News coverage of the midterms that discussed strong MAGA support for Donald Trump possibly preventing a ‘blue wave’, Michaels said the problem was bigger than it seemed.
“They talk about how MAGA is still very loyal to Trump, but MAGA is not a big percentage, not a big percentage, of the total voting pool, because it’s not the entire Republican Party,” Michaels said.
Speaking on her podcast, Keeping It Real, on Friday, Michaels cited research from Pew that said 28 percent of voters identify as Republicans, 29 percent as Democrats, and 44 percent as independent, or something else.
Among independents, 43 percent lean Republican and 47 percent lean Democrat.
She also cited a survey from the University of Massachusetts Amherst that broke down Republican connection to Trump’s MAGA movement and found that 32 percent of Republican voters don’t identify with MAGA at all.
Trump, 80, has been a drag on the GOP in the lead-up to the midterms, with his own polling numbers abysmally low.
But his boosters have been quick to point to his high approval ratings within the party.
Michaels says that’s a mistake.
“I gotta be honest, in talking with people, I travel a lot across the country, people come up to me in airports, in restaurants, Uber drivers, and they talk to me. I meet a lot of people who are Republicans that are not happy right now,” she said.
She highlighted a clip of Nicki Minaj on Lara Trump’s Fox News show My View saying Republicans needed to make sure they turned out to the polls.
“The point is simply don’t get confident—when they’re like, oh, MAGA strong! MAGA is not the majority. And this is why understanding what’s at stake matters,” Michaels said.
Reached for comment, White House spokesman David Ingle simply repeated the same talking points he gave The Daily Beast in response to questions about Trump’s unpopularity among non-Republican voters.
“No one can dispute the fact that President Trump has created one of the most robust coalitions in political history with the MAGA movement, and the President understands how to communicate with them. President Trump is the unequivocal leader, best messenger, and unmatched motivator for the Republican Party, and he is committed to maintaining Republican majorities in Congress,” he repeated.
But Michaels is arguing that that isn’t enough and that right-leaning independents and Republicans who aren’t MAGA just won’t vote.
“They may not vote Democrat, but they may not vote at all, and that’s it. That’s the nail in the coffin if that is the case.”
