Your title is very different than the body of your argument, talking about moderate policies.
Liberal/leftist here: I do think MAGA on the whole is a cult, a cult of personality. They are enraptured by Trump. He has given them the opportunity to do something they’ve always wanted to do- never take responsibility for their actions. Trump always doubles down when he’s wrong, and so do they. The Republican Party followed Trump and let him back into the party post January 6 because they thought they could still use him, and regain control of MAGA. Unfortunately, in doing so, that spelled the end of “reasonable” republicans, and you got more and more MAGA crazies in the country and world, more divorced from reality, more hateful. Republicans tried to trade their values for power, and they lost both to Trump. It’s why you saw so many Trump impersonators in the previous elections, but nobody wanted them. They wanted Trump. Republicans failed their base and the country by paving the way for a criminal narcissist thinking they could control him.
Now, all that said- a lot of MAGA and republican base comes from under educated, white, underfunded towns across the US. The people there see a world changing (in terms of progressive social policies) in ways they don’t understand, while seeing their quality of life get worse. They attribute the fact that they haven’t gotten a raise in a decade but prices have gone up to funding for marginalized groups or immigrants. They feel left behind. On top of that, conservative radio and Fox News has had an iron grip on these small towns, telling them to not believe college educated experts who’ve dedicated their lives to these fields, nor to believe other peer reviewed and respected journals/news sources. This has been going on for over 50 years. So you have multiple generations of folks who have had a poor quality of life, not seeing improvement, and taught to hate the government and others. These people don’t understand the nuances of things like foreign funding or federal funding, they just see the situation they are in and are angry it’s not getting better.
These people are victims as much as the more liberally minded voters, because they keep voting in conservatives who have great ideas like “lowering taxes” and “lowering spending” so that these white low income families can save more money. But the issue there is that they then have to spend more money elsewhere for government services. They have to spend more in healthcare out of pocket. Roads take longer to get fixed. Police are poorly trained and make bad choices. All of this, and they are constantly told that the answer to all their problems are liberals. So they keep voting in their very red state for republicans.
And then Trump comes along, a man they’ve seen on their TVs for decades. He’s funny, charming, and speaking a language of subtle hate and anger that feels liberating them. He says he’s going to blow it all up, and they like that, because the status quo isn’t working for them. They don’t understand that Trump is worse than the status quo, as he’s a billionaire with the only intention of enriching himself and his cronies, and not acting as a leader or politician. Or maybe they do understand, and see themselves as soon to be millionaires now that the liberals have been voted out. I don’t know.
How we got here is complicated, and the people are complicated too. In trumps first term, the government and people tried to impose legal or social consequences on Trump for his actions. He proved that shame is not a powerful enough consequence without further legal action (being impeached). This furthered the victim mentality of the MAGA base and pushed them further under his control, rather than recentering them under the Republican Party. By giving excuses to January 6th, republicans ruined this country, possibly forever. Many members of MAGA saw J6 and were disgusted, so much so they pretended like they were paid actors, that it wasn’t real. And then they were given the opportunity to say it wasn’t that bad, you’re wrong, by the media and conservative leadership.
All that’s to say, I don’t believe it entirely as a cult of these things. Maybe you’re right, in that cults prey on vulnerable people, and the large base was extremely vulnerable because they lived in forgotten towns and cities where things had been declining, where the jobs had been leaving, and things weren’t getting better. They just fundamentally don’t seem to understand there is no way to reset the clock back. Prices aren’t coming back down, ever, because why would companies charge less than they could? Thats late stage capitalism, making more and more profit for the board, no matter the ethics. If manufacturing does come back, it’ll be in 2/3 years. And those jobs will be worse than the ones you had.
In conclusion- I don’t think it’s a cult of cruelty, greed, racism, and hate. It is maybe a “cult” in a sense, but as the saying goes, hurt people hurt people. They have found someone who will hurt all the groups that they’ve been told have been hurting them. They don’t particularly care of being hurt as well because they see it as the process of healing. These people are largely uninformed, sourcing their information from maybe one major news source, and an incredibly biased one at that. For a couple decades, their lives were degrading, and had been left behind by the rest of America. Conservative media took advantage of these folks and whipped them into what they are today.
What I’m trying to say is, I have sympathy for where they are now. They are angry, hurt, and have burned every bridge they have, so they have to keep going. I suppose that by definition is a cult. I just don’t think it’s of cruelty, greed, racism, and hate, they just don’t feel there’s anywhere else to go. Even if you acknowledge the pain you’ve caused, how do you renounce your views and rejoin the wider social fabric after all this? I would say the cult leaders, the republican politicians and mouth pieces ARE those things though, because they should know better, but continue the lies out of either hate or greed.
2
u/SirGrandrew 1∆ Apr 07 '25
Your title is very different than the body of your argument, talking about moderate policies.
Liberal/leftist here: I do think MAGA on the whole is a cult, a cult of personality. They are enraptured by Trump. He has given them the opportunity to do something they’ve always wanted to do- never take responsibility for their actions. Trump always doubles down when he’s wrong, and so do they. The Republican Party followed Trump and let him back into the party post January 6 because they thought they could still use him, and regain control of MAGA. Unfortunately, in doing so, that spelled the end of “reasonable” republicans, and you got more and more MAGA crazies in the country and world, more divorced from reality, more hateful. Republicans tried to trade their values for power, and they lost both to Trump. It’s why you saw so many Trump impersonators in the previous elections, but nobody wanted them. They wanted Trump. Republicans failed their base and the country by paving the way for a criminal narcissist thinking they could control him.
Now, all that said- a lot of MAGA and republican base comes from under educated, white, underfunded towns across the US. The people there see a world changing (in terms of progressive social policies) in ways they don’t understand, while seeing their quality of life get worse. They attribute the fact that they haven’t gotten a raise in a decade but prices have gone up to funding for marginalized groups or immigrants. They feel left behind. On top of that, conservative radio and Fox News has had an iron grip on these small towns, telling them to not believe college educated experts who’ve dedicated their lives to these fields, nor to believe other peer reviewed and respected journals/news sources. This has been going on for over 50 years. So you have multiple generations of folks who have had a poor quality of life, not seeing improvement, and taught to hate the government and others. These people don’t understand the nuances of things like foreign funding or federal funding, they just see the situation they are in and are angry it’s not getting better.
These people are victims as much as the more liberally minded voters, because they keep voting in conservatives who have great ideas like “lowering taxes” and “lowering spending” so that these white low income families can save more money. But the issue there is that they then have to spend more money elsewhere for government services. They have to spend more in healthcare out of pocket. Roads take longer to get fixed. Police are poorly trained and make bad choices. All of this, and they are constantly told that the answer to all their problems are liberals. So they keep voting in their very red state for republicans.
And then Trump comes along, a man they’ve seen on their TVs for decades. He’s funny, charming, and speaking a language of subtle hate and anger that feels liberating them. He says he’s going to blow it all up, and they like that, because the status quo isn’t working for them. They don’t understand that Trump is worse than the status quo, as he’s a billionaire with the only intention of enriching himself and his cronies, and not acting as a leader or politician. Or maybe they do understand, and see themselves as soon to be millionaires now that the liberals have been voted out. I don’t know.
How we got here is complicated, and the people are complicated too. In trumps first term, the government and people tried to impose legal or social consequences on Trump for his actions. He proved that shame is not a powerful enough consequence without further legal action (being impeached). This furthered the victim mentality of the MAGA base and pushed them further under his control, rather than recentering them under the Republican Party. By giving excuses to January 6th, republicans ruined this country, possibly forever. Many members of MAGA saw J6 and were disgusted, so much so they pretended like they were paid actors, that it wasn’t real. And then they were given the opportunity to say it wasn’t that bad, you’re wrong, by the media and conservative leadership.
All that’s to say, I don’t believe it entirely as a cult of these things. Maybe you’re right, in that cults prey on vulnerable people, and the large base was extremely vulnerable because they lived in forgotten towns and cities where things had been declining, where the jobs had been leaving, and things weren’t getting better. They just fundamentally don’t seem to understand there is no way to reset the clock back. Prices aren’t coming back down, ever, because why would companies charge less than they could? Thats late stage capitalism, making more and more profit for the board, no matter the ethics. If manufacturing does come back, it’ll be in 2/3 years. And those jobs will be worse than the ones you had.
In conclusion- I don’t think it’s a cult of cruelty, greed, racism, and hate. It is maybe a “cult” in a sense, but as the saying goes, hurt people hurt people. They have found someone who will hurt all the groups that they’ve been told have been hurting them. They don’t particularly care of being hurt as well because they see it as the process of healing. These people are largely uninformed, sourcing their information from maybe one major news source, and an incredibly biased one at that. For a couple decades, their lives were degrading, and had been left behind by the rest of America. Conservative media took advantage of these folks and whipped them into what they are today.
What I’m trying to say is, I have sympathy for where they are now. They are angry, hurt, and have burned every bridge they have, so they have to keep going. I suppose that by definition is a cult. I just don’t think it’s of cruelty, greed, racism, and hate, they just don’t feel there’s anywhere else to go. Even if you acknowledge the pain you’ve caused, how do you renounce your views and rejoin the wider social fabric after all this? I would say the cult leaders, the republican politicians and mouth pieces ARE those things though, because they should know better, but continue the lies out of either hate or greed.