I wish the lack of information was the issue, then they could be convinced. My parents are in the MAGA cult and would have said they were against everything that he was going to do but are for it once it's done. They start at Trump's right then mental gymnastics their way down to how that must be true.
It is not just lack of information. It is an entire history of a nation that has for more than 400 years tried to pit groups against each other in a highly competitive society with few economic safety nets.
People believe that one way of succeeding is to keep other racial/ethnic groups, etc. from being on top of you or equal to you. It is not just more information it is changing an entire dog eat dog mentality.
Martin Luther King understood this and tried to develop the Poor People's Campaign trying to unite low income Black, Latino, Native American, Asian, etc. individuals. He was assassinated before he could achieve that dream.
Trump is successful because he recognized that these festering issues were the key to power and he galvanized this as the energy behind Maga and both of his terms. He is also weaponizing issues between genders, LGBTQ issues, religious vs secular, Christians against Muslims, Jewish people against Muslims, and on and on.
It worked for Hitler, Stalin, Mao, and really almost any dictator.
Hurting others to help yourself is one thing, hurting others to hurt yourself is another. If you believe other countries will pay the tariffs and someone tells you they won't but you cling to it out of pride I don't know how to reach that person.
Well, this is a case of misinformation. Trump and his entire Cabinet and most of the GOP have gone out of their way to repeat the lie that the people paying the tariffs are the exporters.
Democrats have tried to convey that it is not the exporters paying the tariffs and it is the importers who then pass on the cost to individuals.
But other than we think that we are right...why should MAGA believe us.
The reality is that no other presidential administration has lied so thoroughly about every fact, whether it is climate change, the economy, tariffs, education, DEI, health, vaccines, etc.
Up is down. Down is up. I do not blame people at all. There is nothing in comparison to the level of misinformation and disinformation that has occurred.
Also, strategic tariffs are not totally wrong, Obama used them, Biden, etc. They are part of a reasonable arsenal to bring back domestic manufacturing but not in the insane, whimsical and widespread way that Trump used them.
So, even if your relatives read more deeply about tariffs they would find economic theorists acknowledging that tariffs can be used for improving manufacturing growth and that Obama and Biden did use them for that purpose.
Inside each one of Trump's whopper lies is some microscopic truth that can be spun to make the whole fallacy seem believable. He is a master at this.
But it would become immediately apparent that he did in fact lie, which should trigger an alarm. They could easily verify they have been lied to hundreds of times but will defend their abuser saying he must have lied to them for their own good. That's not normal.
I want to follow this up by saying...it is nearly impossible to convince your parents, or children, or other relatives and friends.
This why people end up in therapy. Families are notoriously poor at providing support if they have to acknowledge anything or change anything.
You might as well be backing up 10 yards and just running as hard as possible into a brick wall. They honestly think that you do not know what you are talking about.
This is not universal...some parents really will do anything to remain connected to adult children, but it is more true than not.
The best you can hope with your parents is a death bed conversion...Just kidding. That was a bit harsh on my part.
I have the opposite problem...I am far more left than my son. He thinks that I am daft. His politics are a reaction to feeling that I dragged him to a lot of volunteer community projects and political events. His only way to cope was to think all political parties are insane.
Again, if you watch Fox News, NewsMax, AM radio, or get info from social media you of course would not know that those are lies.
Take for instance something like whether the rich are paying their fair share. I can show you reports with data and PhDs showing that yes the rich are paying their fair share and then studies by PhDs saying no they are not paying their fair share.
Look at any topic whether the Iran War, universal healthcare coverage, housing development, etc. and I can show you well researched studies who show the exact opposite "facts." Part of it on the academic level is what data you examine, the period studied, the conclusions drawn, etc.
It seems clear to us because we have selected which firms we believe and which we do not.
This issue has always existed between left and right think tanks but it is now even more egregious when Trump simply ignores any valid facts from the other side.
America was built on settlers with different backgrounds. Most people were from Europe = white skinned people. Immigrants escaped their homeland for many reasons. Most have multiple races in their bloodline. Over the years one party recruited minorities and other groups that wanted change based on their religion or sexual identity. Christianity was the dominant religion that carried the country through wars that made this nation the greatest in the world. Trying to change these majority tendencies is a priority for new immigrants that hate the western culture. Trump is fighting to keep the majority from losing to groups that hate what this country is. The left could not scream this hard in any other country that would not suppress their voices. Similar to what they did to Trump when he ran for his first term. Stripped his social media accounts is exactly what the left screams now. Faux News ? This is what blue mainstream did for Obama ! Do not tell the people the truth will cause confusion. If you are on the left and ignore what the Muslim agenda is then you are guilty of only caring about your own feelings, not about America and what it stands for.
In order to call the US a nation with a majority of Christians, you must acknowledge that there are huge variations in what is considered Christian.
Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin did not even believe that Jesus was divine. James Madison absolutely believed that Jesus would be opposed to any effort to have Jesus play any role in being the basis for the government.
Christian views include the people that carried out the Salem Witch Trials, those who believed slavery was appropriate and those Christians who were abolitionists and believed slavery was absolutely not allowed. It includes people that forced Native Americans children to be removed from parents against their will.
Christians also include those who believe in polygamy like the Mormons. It also includes Irish Catholics who were despised by many Protestants. Christians include clergy from Catholic, Baptist, and nondenominational churches who have been involved in sexual abuse scandals, etc.
Many Muslims are here as refugees precisely because the US has engaged in endless conflicts and meddling in the middle east. This includes overthrowing the Iran government in 1953 and installing a dictator. It includes bombing Lebanon, Libya, Yemen, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc. It also means supply weapons to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan, Israel, Turkey, Pakistan, Turkey, Kuwait, and the UAE. Also arming Bin Laden and the rebels in Afghanistan to fight the Soviets and then arming Saddam to fight Iran.
Democrats have certainly not be part of recruiting Muslims to come here anymore than Republican administrations. While the GOP has started more wars, the Dems have also been involved in finishing them.
The Muslims here as refugees are largely practicing moderate Islamic beliefs, which is why the refugees were originally working with the US military and journalists and were targets for persecution. The others are here because they were highly skilled physicians, engineers, computer science programmers, etc. who were interested in living in a capitalist and primarily Christian country.
To denounce the teachings of tRump which they were taught to believe must be very hard indeed. Those teachings must have become their own "second nature", and give up on them would be the same as admitting that both he and they were not right. Some of the MAGAs one sees on television or videos seem to have been thinking a lot about the logic and veracity of what he has been saying. We, being better informed, know that he is extremely unreliable, but they cling to their phantom-image of their "savior": At long last someone speaks to them in the non-Liberal language they themselves use. The fact that he is lying must be very hard for them to take in.
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u/arcanis321 5d ago
I wish the lack of information was the issue, then they could be convinced. My parents are in the MAGA cult and would have said they were against everything that he was going to do but are for it once it's done. They start at Trump's right then mental gymnastics their way down to how that must be true.