| “It’s a MAGA summer, baby, let’s GO!” CJ Pearson was perched atop a set of stairs, overlooking a crowd of hundreds. He yelled into a microphone as the guests — a collage of congressional staffers, conservative content creators and assorted Washington arrivistes, all dressed in white — erupted in cheers. He’s a new presence in the capital, but also a very old one: an ambitious young scenester who seems to be counting down the years before he is eligible to run for Congress. Formally, he’s a consultant. He is also a prolific poster, with social feeds calling diversity, equity and inclusion efforts a “disease” and arguing that Trump’s recent deployment of federal troops in D.C. will “save countless black lives.” And he is one of several Black MAGA figures vying for status and influence in the aftermath of an election in which Trump, long seen as an avatar of the White working class, returned to power on the strength of a more diverse coalition. This has inspired a new and hopeful belief on the right: that Trumpism is now youthful, sexy, multiracial. And fun. |
