I grew up around the kind of people that today we call MAGA. They are dangerous people and I know why. I know why they are drawn to Trump like iron filings to a magnet. He, and they, are victims of grotesque and horrific childhood trauma. All of them have been abused... verbally, emotionally, physically, sexually. Trump is the avatar for…
I grew up around the kind of people that today we call MAGA. They are dangerous people and I know why. I know why they are drawn to Trump like iron filings to a magnet. He, and they, are victims of grotesque and horrific childhood trauma. All of them have been abused... verbally, emotionally, physically, sexually. Trump is the avatar for under-educated, artless, self-loathing White Christian heterosexuals, severely damaged souls, souls who, until Trump, have never experienced the taste of political power. These souls, MAGA, have no interest in what we on the Left call reality. Why would they want to return to the reality that destroyed them?
I agree with Lin that there is more to it than that. The MAGAs I know well and grew up with were not abused in any way. They were bitter from childhood, privileged, selfish, racist, seemed almost to be born that way. I am sure many damaged souls are empathetic democrats. My family MAGAs carried the bitterness and resentment into adulthood and found FOX entertainment to support their habit and give them the endorphin rush of self - righteousness, superiority and hatred. They found a FOX white supremacist community in a country that really lacks true loving community. The roots of the sickness and the alienation from earth Mother and each other can be found in the centuries of Churchianity and all the horrors it has waged upon us.
I am one of those Dems, Fox held no allure for me, but captured my best friend, whose privileged husband had captured her. An American tragedy by any measure.
As I no longer recognize most of my "brotherhood" of airplane nuts. Perhaps a much less important segment of society (we can't arrest anyone), but it's always hard to lose people you've trusted for whatever reason, gone through difficulties of whatever kind, and then you find this. As I've said, it's like the scene in Cabaret where Michael York's character sees his "good German" friend in his full SS regalia for the first time.
Wendy, I agree. The MAGAs I know are wealthy, educated, successful and claim to be Christians. They've always had a mean, selfish streak...not prone to charity or compassion. Donald gave them permission to express their hatred and narrow mindedness. Now, more than ever, they believe someone is going to deprive them of their wealth and status. And, of course, those people are BIPOC, and they must be despised and driven "underground".
I think people place too much emphasis on the ignorant, under educated MAGA. They are not the ones driving the movement. They are a convenient scapegoat because they are the ones we see foaming at the mouth at rallies, marches and school board meetings. They are a useful, powerful visual for those teetering on the edge. But they are not in charge.
And they were not indoctrinated into racism and white supremacy or religious fanaticism in their youth. None of that. The predisposition to racism etc was just there early on and The Christian fanaticism came later as a tool be superior and judge others, to feel powerful. Trump and Fox have given them a way to be collectively superior.
Wendy, I agree with you. The MAGAs in my family are like that (East/Southern Texas). I’ve been mystified at their viewpoints…. I agree about Fox (& newsmax & America first or whatever that third network is). You have a good point about violence being addictive, as are anger and outrage. These are frightening folks, especially since so many are heavily armed.
Don't be so sure they weren't abused. Many people (I was once one of them) deny it happened (I thought I had had a "normal" childhood, that everyone had that kind of bad, and tried always to focus on what little "good" had been there). Over the long years since, literally every one of my friends from back then who I have stayed in touch with (except one, and I can attest she wasn't - her mother was my mother's good friend and recognized "something was going on") has revealed some often-horrific things that were going on for them, that no one would have suspected from the way they acted at the time.
Watching "Gaslit" I was interested in the portrayal of the relationships G. Gordon Liddy had with his children, which are horrific. Yet to this day his son maintains he had a "wonderful" childhood with a "good" father (and surprise surprise he's as politically nuts as the old man).
Wendy, You nailed with "The roots of the sickness and the alienation from earth Mother and each other can be found in the centuries of Churchianity and all the horrors it has waged upon us."
I think there is something to how you describe the backgrounds of some MAGA folks. But please let me add on to it. First, the MAGA crowd is funded by some very rich Oligarchs who have stirred up residual anger within MAGAs who think they are being replaced. And they ARE being outnumbered - by the natural process of a nation becoming more and more diverse. That anger is funded and fueled by the Kochs, Mercers, Thiels, etc. Our MAGA folks are tools for them. They have effectively employed them as pathetic puppets.
I view diversity as a healthy thing. New blood, new energy. It's an American tradition and we are all here because of it. A healthy America would welcome those who would come here, work hard and pay taxes. A frightened and bigoted America would demonize the immigrant. And so it has been for centuries. The truth is we are desperate for more workers. This is not a zero sum game. I say increase immigration!
And I am a fan of the impact of epigenetics or something close to it. Combine that with early childhood indoctrination of bigotry, fear and hate of the other and the results are huge swaths of America who live in a psychology passed down from one generation to the next. Hatred as if it were a religious tenet. Bigotry as dogma. Fear in the DNA.
And consider that millions have grown up embedded with religious "unreality". If you can believe in a vengeful magic man in the sky (a white god that is yours alone) you can believe that the Democrats are evil and out to destroy you.
This Democrat does not want to destroy you, Mr. MAGA. We want you to have a good job, a good home, good health and plenty of food on the table for your family. We want your kids to have a level playing field for education. And when those kids are adults, we would prefer that they not have to deal with the devastating effects of Climate Change. Yeah, Mr. MAGA, we want your kids to have adequate supplies of potable water and not have to worry about wildfires consuming their homes, etc.
And Mr. MAGA, despite our concerns about how your genetically altered kids might vote, we want them to participate easily in every election with the faith that it will be an election with integrity - with every vote counted with no interference.
Yes, the American oligarchs who prefer ‘their’ dictator/puppet to democracy! No regulations, don’t tread on me, today’s Carnegie robber barons who have lowered capitalist greed to a new nadir!
"I view diversity as a healthy thing. New blood, new energy." I agree completely, Bill. I have long believed that immigration is vital to the U.S. economy, especially in terms of entrepreneurship and innovation.
Apropos to the reductivist comment. But problematic in itself.
"The song “Gee, Officer Krupke” illustrates, for Slavoj Zizek, the function of cynical ideology. “They don’t know what they are doing but they are nonetheless doing it” is, for Zizek, the old Marxist notion of ideology. But “cynical ideology functions in the mode of ‘I know very well what I am doing but I am still nonetheless doing it,'” as indicated by the gang members’ hypothetical plea to Officer Krupke. The paradox is how they can know this and still do what they do."
When will train and teach our children the miracle of good mental health. Will we ever have masses of people who don’t have to look down on others in order to feel good about themselves?
Sadly, it's an aspect of the human condition. Unless one self examines and decides to be open to new facts and grow psychologically and spiritually, we will always have this in our world.
Neuroplasticity of the brain. We know so much more than we ever did. We just need get out of the rut of our stinking thinking and change. Teaching our youngest the best of brain care. Knowledge is so powerful
I know them well. Could have been one of them, but this country gave options. I had more than many and I had flawed but competent parents. It always helps to have had such. That taste of political power came from Rupert (our other monster masquerading as a journalist) and he promises more as we teeter on the brink. We should all remember that Humpty Dumpty, after the fall, cannot be put back together again.
I had to read this several times (coffee hadn't kicked in yet); most of the MAGAts that I know were not the victims of abuse/childhood trauma as I know it (from my very skewed perspective of one who had to investigate family abuse cases of all varieties). I then applied your reference to the Christian orthodoxy and how it is practiced in some religions, and it all made sense to me.
I'd go one further; it isn't just returning to the reality that damaged them, it is returning to an authority that is an artificial construct of the "order of things" that, in their mind, favors them in appearance while it actually dumps them in with the rest of us as "unworthy".
Nailed it! 🙏 and more unwanted children create more “monsters” (Madison Cawthorn’s clarion call) in families without resources. On what planet do they see themselves forever loved by these “monsters”? 🤷🏻♀️
I grew up around the kind of people that today we call MAGA. They are dangerous people and I know why. I know why they are drawn to Trump like iron filings to a magnet. He, and they, are victims of grotesque and horrific childhood trauma. All of them have been abused... verbally, emotionally, physically, sexually. Trump is the avatar for under-educated, artless, self-loathing White Christian heterosexuals, severely damaged souls, souls who, until Trump, have never experienced the taste of political power. These souls, MAGA, have no interest in what we on the Left call reality. Why would they want to return to the reality that destroyed them?
I agree with Lin that there is more to it than that. The MAGAs I know well and grew up with were not abused in any way. They were bitter from childhood, privileged, selfish, racist, seemed almost to be born that way. I am sure many damaged souls are empathetic democrats. My family MAGAs carried the bitterness and resentment into adulthood and found FOX entertainment to support their habit and give them the endorphin rush of self - righteousness, superiority and hatred. They found a FOX white supremacist community in a country that really lacks true loving community. The roots of the sickness and the alienation from earth Mother and each other can be found in the centuries of Churchianity and all the horrors it has waged upon us.
I am one of those Dems, Fox held no allure for me, but captured my best friend, whose privileged husband had captured her. An American tragedy by any measure.
Sorry for your loss. Many of my friends have also gone down this hole. I’m buoyed by the close music community around me
Likewise. I no longer recognize my "brotherhood" of law enforcement.
As I no longer recognize most of my "brotherhood" of airplane nuts. Perhaps a much less important segment of society (we can't arrest anyone), but it's always hard to lose people you've trusted for whatever reason, gone through difficulties of whatever kind, and then you find this. As I've said, it's like the scene in Cabaret where Michael York's character sees his "good German" friend in his full SS regalia for the first time.
EXACTLY!!! I have a former colleague who posted a picture of $5.60 per gallon gas and a question “And you’re worried about January 6th?”
Wendy, I agree. The MAGAs I know are wealthy, educated, successful and claim to be Christians. They've always had a mean, selfish streak...not prone to charity or compassion. Donald gave them permission to express their hatred and narrow mindedness. Now, more than ever, they believe someone is going to deprive them of their wealth and status. And, of course, those people are BIPOC, and they must be despised and driven "underground".
I think people place too much emphasis on the ignorant, under educated MAGA. They are not the ones driving the movement. They are a convenient scapegoat because they are the ones we see foaming at the mouth at rallies, marches and school board meetings. They are a useful, powerful visual for those teetering on the edge. But they are not in charge.
Bingo.
And they were not indoctrinated into racism and white supremacy or religious fanaticism in their youth. None of that. The predisposition to racism etc was just there early on and The Christian fanaticism came later as a tool be superior and judge others, to feel powerful. Trump and Fox have given them a way to be collectively superior.
Wendy, I agree with you. The MAGAs in my family are like that (East/Southern Texas). I’ve been mystified at their viewpoints…. I agree about Fox (& newsmax & America first or whatever that third network is). You have a good point about violence being addictive, as are anger and outrage. These are frightening folks, especially since so many are heavily armed.
Don't be so sure they weren't abused. Many people (I was once one of them) deny it happened (I thought I had had a "normal" childhood, that everyone had that kind of bad, and tried always to focus on what little "good" had been there). Over the long years since, literally every one of my friends from back then who I have stayed in touch with (except one, and I can attest she wasn't - her mother was my mother's good friend and recognized "something was going on") has revealed some often-horrific things that were going on for them, that no one would have suspected from the way they acted at the time.
Watching "Gaslit" I was interested in the portrayal of the relationships G. Gordon Liddy had with his children, which are horrific. Yet to this day his son maintains he had a "wonderful" childhood with a "good" father (and surprise surprise he's as politically nuts as the old man).
Gaslit was fabulous!
Wendy, You nailed with "The roots of the sickness and the alienation from earth Mother and each other can be found in the centuries of Churchianity and all the horrors it has waged upon us."
I think there is something to how you describe the backgrounds of some MAGA folks. But please let me add on to it. First, the MAGA crowd is funded by some very rich Oligarchs who have stirred up residual anger within MAGAs who think they are being replaced. And they ARE being outnumbered - by the natural process of a nation becoming more and more diverse. That anger is funded and fueled by the Kochs, Mercers, Thiels, etc. Our MAGA folks are tools for them. They have effectively employed them as pathetic puppets.
I view diversity as a healthy thing. New blood, new energy. It's an American tradition and we are all here because of it. A healthy America would welcome those who would come here, work hard and pay taxes. A frightened and bigoted America would demonize the immigrant. And so it has been for centuries. The truth is we are desperate for more workers. This is not a zero sum game. I say increase immigration!
And I am a fan of the impact of epigenetics or something close to it. Combine that with early childhood indoctrination of bigotry, fear and hate of the other and the results are huge swaths of America who live in a psychology passed down from one generation to the next. Hatred as if it were a religious tenet. Bigotry as dogma. Fear in the DNA.
And consider that millions have grown up embedded with religious "unreality". If you can believe in a vengeful magic man in the sky (a white god that is yours alone) you can believe that the Democrats are evil and out to destroy you.
This Democrat does not want to destroy you, Mr. MAGA. We want you to have a good job, a good home, good health and plenty of food on the table for your family. We want your kids to have a level playing field for education. And when those kids are adults, we would prefer that they not have to deal with the devastating effects of Climate Change. Yeah, Mr. MAGA, we want your kids to have adequate supplies of potable water and not have to worry about wildfires consuming their homes, etc.
And Mr. MAGA, despite our concerns about how your genetically altered kids might vote, we want them to participate easily in every election with the faith that it will be an election with integrity - with every vote counted with no interference.
Yes, the American oligarchs who prefer ‘their’ dictator/puppet to democracy! No regulations, don’t tread on me, today’s Carnegie robber barons who have lowered capitalist greed to a new nadir!
"I view diversity as a healthy thing. New blood, new energy." I agree completely, Bill. I have long believed that immigration is vital to the U.S. economy, especially in terms of entrepreneurship and innovation.
Bravo!
"Gee, Officer Krupke, we're very upset;
We never had the love that every child oughta get
We ain't no delinquents
We're misunderstood
Deep down inside us there is good!" - West Side Story
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ym6XVvHbcfA
There is much more to it than that. Simplistic 'analyses' are part of the problem we are up against.
I still love that scene.
Perfect song for today's times. Thanks, Lin.
Apropos to the reductivist comment. But problematic in itself.
"The song “Gee, Officer Krupke” illustrates, for Slavoj Zizek, the function of cynical ideology. “They don’t know what they are doing but they are nonetheless doing it” is, for Zizek, the old Marxist notion of ideology. But “cynical ideology functions in the mode of ‘I know very well what I am doing but I am still nonetheless doing it,'” as indicated by the gang members’ hypothetical plea to Officer Krupke. The paradox is how they can know this and still do what they do."
Sadly, correct.
Sad indeed ....
You are correct. They are wayward souls who need or want to belong somewhere, to something, to someone.
Yeah, you're exactly right.
When will train and teach our children the miracle of good mental health. Will we ever have masses of people who don’t have to look down on others in order to feel good about themselves?
Sadly, it's an aspect of the human condition. Unless one self examines and decides to be open to new facts and grow psychologically and spiritually, we will always have this in our world.
Neuroplasticity of the brain. We know so much more than we ever did. We just need get out of the rut of our stinking thinking and change. Teaching our youngest the best of brain care. Knowledge is so powerful
I know them well. Could have been one of them, but this country gave options. I had more than many and I had flawed but competent parents. It always helps to have had such. That taste of political power came from Rupert (our other monster masquerading as a journalist) and he promises more as we teeter on the brink. We should all remember that Humpty Dumpty, after the fall, cannot be put back together again.
I had to read this several times (coffee hadn't kicked in yet); most of the MAGAts that I know were not the victims of abuse/childhood trauma as I know it (from my very skewed perspective of one who had to investigate family abuse cases of all varieties). I then applied your reference to the Christian orthodoxy and how it is practiced in some religions, and it all made sense to me.
I'd go one further; it isn't just returning to the reality that damaged them, it is returning to an authority that is an artificial construct of the "order of things" that, in their mind, favors them in appearance while it actually dumps them in with the rest of us as "unworthy".
Brilliant!
Nailed it! 🙏 and more unwanted children create more “monsters” (Madison Cawthorn’s clarion call) in families without resources. On what planet do they see themselves forever loved by these “monsters”? 🤷🏻♀️
This, from WAPO. I tried to gift it with no luck. Shattered my day. https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/06/12/election-suspicion-georgia-greene-trump/
https://wapo.st/3HmrBWC Here it is gifted. Shattering indeed.
Can't read it. I mean I CAN read it -Thanks for the access Ally - but the subject is too awful.
Wow Greg, this says it all.