A MAGA civil war has broken out as one of the movement’s top female influencers railed against women who want to be a ‘trad wife.’
The cultural divide began when conservative influencer Emily Saves America, whose real name is Emily Wilson, posted a TikTok video criticizing ‘young girls on the right promoting traditional wife nonsense.’
Trad wife, short for traditional wife, is a term used on social media to describe a woman who embraces a conventional marital role, choosing to be a homemaker instead of pursuing a career, often sharing vintage-influenced content online.
In her video, Wilson ridiculed women who ‘just want to bake sourdough for my husband,’ and warned them to find a way to earn their own income to avoid becoming financially ‘trapped’ in a marriage.
‘I suggest you find a hobby that makes you money,’ she said, adding that young women hoping to find a man who will give them a ‘trad wife’ lifestyle have a ‘slim to none’ chance of finding one.
‘You’re actually setting yourself up for failure, because it could not be easier, if that’s what you’re gonna pursue, to be trapped by a man, okay?’ she said.
The video sparked fury among some hardline MAGA figures, with podcaster Matt Walsh questioning if she belongs in the conservative movement at all.
‘A huge number of “conservative influencers” are left-wing feminists who despise the very things that conservatism by definition is supposed to be conserving,’ he wrote in a post on X.
Walsh waded into the controversy as he faces scrutiny from some over remarks he made this week on The Tucker Carlson show, where he branded gay couples being able to adopt children an ‘abomination.’
In a follow-up post, Walsh called out women such as Wilson for riding Donald Trump’s coattails, suggesting she doesn’t hold values that are conservative enough.
‘If you think that stay-at-home moms are stupid and they’re allowing themselves to be “trapped by a man,” as this woman says, then you are not in any meaningful sense right wing or conservative,’ he wrote.
‘I don’t care if you also like Trump or whatever.’
Blogger Tim Pool piled on, adding: ‘Liberals like Emily think they are conservative now but they are still liberals or [to be fair] at the very least “moderate.”‘
The issue has created a rift in the growing faction of Republican and right-wing social media figures, as some claim it is a litmus test for women to be a part of the MAGA movement.
Raquel Debono, founder of Make America Hot Again, told DailyMail.com that those promoting ‘trad wife’ nostalgia may be revealing too much.
‘The loudest voices pushing the trad wife thing probably just can’t afford nannies,’ she scathed.
‘This whole movement is starting to sound less like a moral stance and more like a budgeting issue.
‘Funny how it’s always the guys with no job, no plan, and no personality demanding a trad wife. Like sir, you don’t need a submissive wife – you need a LinkedIn account.’
After Wilson’s TikTok video ignited the debate, she took to X to double down on her take.
‘By definition you can say I’m a feminist. Is that supposed to be offensive? Slow news day I guess,’ she posted.
In her video, Wilson insisted that while she was warning women not to limit themselves, she was not inherently against a woman wanting to be stay-at-home moms.
She maintained that she ‘promotes traditional values’, but was nonetheless attacked by commentator Sarah Stock in an X post that gained almost two million views.
She said Wilson’s ‘message is ridiculous’, and said ‘being a SAHM (stay-at-home mom) is not being “trapped” by a man.’
‘That’s feminist BS,’ she said.
‘I’m very tired of our big conservative voices constantly echoing these feminist sentiments with no pushback.’
