‘MAGA Is Not My Mortal Enemy’: Prominent Left-Wing Pundit Cenk Uygur ‘Optimistic’ After Trump Win

Cenk Uygur, founder of the left-wing media outlet The Young Turks, said Friday that he is “optimistic” as President-elect Donald Trump gears up for his second term in office.

Uygur, previously extremely critical of Trump, shared his realization that the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement is not his “mortal enemy” like he once believed. He identified the political establishment as his true foe in a series of posts on social media.

I’ve been trying to figure out why I’m more optimistic now than I was before the election, even though I was so against the guy who won. I know now. MAGA is not my mortal enemy (and neither is the extreme left). My mortal enemy is the establishment. And they have been defeated!

— Cenk Uygur (@cenkuygur) November 29, 2024

“I’ve been trying to figure out why I’m more optimistic now than I was before the election, even though I was so against the guy who won. I know now. MAGA is not my mortal enemy (and neither is the extreme left). My mortal enemy is the establishment. And they have been defeated!” Uygur wrote on X.

Uygur said Trump’s win was a result of more than “establishment candidate” Vice President Kamala Harris falling short at the ballot box, pointing to the decline of legacy media “propaganda.”

“It’s not just that the establishment candidate lost, it’s that their media is mortally wounded. The source of their strength was not insipid politicians like Mitch McConnell and Joe Biden. The source of their strength was their propaganda machine — the mainstream media,” he wrote.

The Young Turks founder reveled in the rise of independent journalism on social media, declaring his love for the unrestrained media ecosystem online. (RELATED: Dana White Says He’s ‘Never F*cking Doing’ Politics Again)

Now, online media is strong enough that their oppressive monopoly on the American mind has been broken. Now, we’re in the jungle. They hate that! I love it! This uncontrolled marketplace of ideas is where I’m home. I’d rather be in the populist woods than an establishment prison.

— Cenk Uygur (@cenkuygur) November 29, 2024

“Now, online media is strong enough that their oppressive monopoly on the American mind has been broken. Now, we’re in the jungle. They hate that! I love it! This uncontrolled marketplace of ideas is where I’m home. I’d rather be in the populist woods than an establishment prison,” Uygur wrote.

Ugyur has garnered attention on X for giving Trump and his allies “credit where credit is due” on a variety of issues including his post-election interactions with “Morning Joe” co-hosts and Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham. He slammed the hoax surrounding Trump’s out-of-context “bloodbath” comment and praised the president-elect’s heroism after being shot in Butler, Pennsylvania in July.

The Young Turks founder also spoke fondly of X owner Elon Musk, a close ally of Trump, for inviting open dialogue about plans for cutting the Pentagon’s budget.

“I asked @elonmusk to put me in charge of cutting the Pentagon. And he said – what are your suggestions? I run the largest left-wing network online and a Democratic leader has NEVER asked me that question. The idea that they would take advice from a populist is disdainful to them,” Ugyur wrote on Nov. 19.

“You’re SO deluded.”

Cenk Uygur clashes with pollster Allan Lichtman over the downfall of the Democrats.

Allan: “Who taught you manners?!”

📺 https://t.co/YmVwKQEiTI@piersmorgan | @cenkuygur | @AllanLichtman pic.twitter.com/CmW4gsFZUt

— Piers Morgan Uncensored (@PiersUncensored) November 19, 2024

During a recent panel discussion on “Piers Morgan Uncensored,” Ugyur delivered a fiery response to the “deluded” Allan Lichtman, who he said “deserve[s] a tall glass of shut up juice” for incorrectly predicting Harris’s victory.