When it matters, only Donald Trump can pull the Maga movement back from the brink.

Since Mr Trump returned to the White House in January, his support base has been engulfed by rows on everything from Jeffrey Epstein to launching airstrikes on Iran. But each time the US president has been there to paper over the cracks appearing in his coalition.

Last month, Nato chief Mark Rutte described Mr Trump as a “daddy” who “has to sometimes use strong language” to keep his team in check.

Mr Rutte was talking about the Middle East, but it could easily describe the Republican’s role as the patriarch of the Maga movement. And while that family might squabble like any other, it’s rare for any of them to become permanently estranged.

Or maybe Mr Trump’s instincts stem from his time as a real estate developer in New York City. “Know your market” is one of the key lessons from his 1987 memoir, The Art of the Deal.

Either way, Maga is woven together by a strange mix of personality and ideology, and many GOP strategists doubt it can survive when Mr Trump finally exits the political stage.

Asked what held the movement together, Dave Carney, a veteran Republican operative who worked on George H W Bush and Bob Dole’s presidential campaigns, said simply: “president Trump.”