MAGA-Coded Is One Way to Describe Things That May Not Immediately Seem MAGA-Adjacent

It's become popular to describe certain things that may appear related to a specific concept as "coded," and that terminology is now used all over different platforms and even in real life. That's probably why some people who are not chronically online are now wondering what MAGA-coded means after they heard it somewhere where they couldn't fly to the comments for an explanation.

After some people heard CBS Evening News anchor Tony Dokoupil referred to as MAGA-coded by The Daily Beast, many began to wonder what that even means. Although the on-air journalist at CBS News has not publicly shared his political party, clearly, this descriptor was meant to point to his potential political affiliation. And it certainly isn't the first time MAGA-coded was ever used.

Per ContentStudio, the word "coded" is used as a slang term to create a name for the typical traits of a group of people. For example, if someone is cat lover-coded, then they exemplify qualities of someone who loves cats, even if they don't outright say they are a cat lover. If someone is Disney adult-coded, they have the qualities of an adult who loves to go to Disney parks and isn't afraid to talk about it ad nauseam. Except the person might not have every identified whether or not they are a Disney adult.

So, for someone to be MAGA-coded, it means they have many of the qualities of someone who is MAGA, or a supporter of Donald Trump's Make America Great Again slogan. Those who support Trump are often referred to as MAGA. So if someone is MAGA-coded, it means they appear as if they support MAGA, Trump, and everything he believes, even if they don't come right out and say as much.

Hearing that something is MAGA-coded might still be new for some, though. When someone posted on X (formerly Twitter) in October 2024 that there were "MAGA-coded hats in attendance" at a football game, someone commented on the post to ask what that means.

Another user responded with an explanation. "MAGA-coded, meaning it looks like a MAGA hat but just says something different such as 'America first' or '45-47' etc.," they wrote.

So if something were to be MAGA-coded, it might be a piece of clothing that says something most MAGA-supporting people believe in, including vague references to Trump. Or, a person might be MAGA-coded if they talk about politics and, without referencing Trump at all, talk about beliefs they might share with him and his open supporters.

In another post on X, someone wrote that "these are the type of words that tell you what kind of biases are involved" in reference to MAGA-coded being used to describe a person. Per their X post, hearing someone use the term MAGA-coded to describe someone they believe is a MAGA supporter means that person using the term is on the totally opposite end of the political spectrum.