Fuck Trump Supporters
I was terribly wrong.
I was wrong.
I am not afraid to admit that I was wrong in my way of thinking and am changing course.
What was I wrong about?
The idea is that we need to engage in civil discussion with MAGA/Trump supporters to push them more left. I wrote an entire essay on the topic.
The idea was wrong because it did in some ways coddle Trump supporters from facing the reality of their decision-making. To be charitable, I think far from “woke indoctrination” we are indoctrinated by media, political institutions, and education to support this system at all costs.
The default of both Democrats and Republicans is American exceptionalism. We see any alternative to our economic and political systems as authoritarian, wrong, or somehow morally bankrupt. Do not be mistaken, this is deliberate.
The ruling echelon of society has purposefully limited our political imagination to what supports their power and rule. Liberal democracy has failed because in many ways it does not serve the interest of those in power anymore. This is what made worker’s movements so dangerous and powerful in the past, it genuinely held those in power accountable to the masses. But that time has long passed, and the worker’s movement has been broken by big business and capitalists.
The American working class is fragmented along racial, gendered, and class-based lines which are, again, deliberate. The culture war apparatus is propped up in popular discourse to distract from our shared interest, which is opposed to the economic and political elites of society.
Even with these considerations and charitability, we cannot pretend the MAGA movement is not harmful and blatantly wrong. In psychology, we talk about motivated reasoning and the psychological defenses people utilize to justify their beliefs. Then we attempt to deploy this knowledge to get others to see our perspective and side, but this is divorced from reality. If people are unwilling to rethink their perspective and change their actions things will remain the same.
Fascist rhetoric feeds on the genuine grievances, fears, and insecurities of its audience. It is deceptive, promising revolution while producing more oppression and heartache. However, no matter how a Nazi falls for Nazi rhetoric or ideology, they are still a Nazi. Nazis need to be opposed and fought on every ground and not given concessions for their beliefs.
If people identify with left-wing politics, their goals are diametrically opposed to right-wing forces. While people online decry tribalism, they’re putting their heads in the sand if they think someone who is against racism will find a “middle ground” with a racist. It is hard for right-wing centrists to grasp, but some issues have no middle ground for discussion. If our movement’s end goals are opposed to the right it makes no sense to appear civil and engage in collaboration, in the end, that might do more harm than have any benefit.
The process of deprogramming a racist, a Nazi, or a MAGA supporter is a long and difficult task. The American left does not have the coherency, organization, or agency to effectively deprogram those who fully embrace the right. We are fragmented and dispersed, many in online cliques or gangs who are unwilling to fight for the masses. The left’s job at this moment is not to find a “middle ground” with those who dedicate themselves to destroying us and what we stand for.
What the left needs to do is build coalitions, and educate themselves and those who are willing to listen, organize, and genuinely struggle. The left needs to focus its precious limited energy on talking to those willing to accept its message and do something about it.
We are here to educate the people we can. We are not here to pander to the right and get them on our side. Online debates will not break the deep indoctrination that has a grasp on many people who are dedicated to not changing their views.
Here is the reality…
Trump has gained power again, fascism has risen, our society is in decay, the Democratic Party has failed the left, and now we have to fight through numerous forces that seek to outright destroy or hinder the American left.
The further we lie to ourselves about this reality the worse our situation will become. The left needs to organize and fight now more than ever.
So... My enemies are bad. You didn't have to use so many words.
The more I see and think about things, the more I become convinced that people feel a certain way, then pick reasons that intellectually justify those emotions. Poor people are angry. Trump is angry and mean and blames others. That makes them feel better about themselves, so they find reasons to justify supporting him.
It used to be that poor people were angry, and their angry union leaders found their support by harnessing that anger. Anger can be manipulated by either side. Logic doesn't come into it, except in cherrypicked claims that attempt to justify emotion-based decisions. Trump was born a millionaire, and he's helping out his millionaire/billionaire friends - but MAGAts love him, because he's angry, and they're angry.
They cite "his stance on tariffs" or "his stance on illegals" - as if illegals would be here if anyone else wanted to do those jobs. And most of his supporters don't seem to know how tariffs work.
There's a little bit of the identity of "We want freedom", but that again is a feeling. "Freedom" is interpreted as the right to own guns, not the right to be non-binary or marry someone of your same sex or put up a Quran verse next to the the Ten Commandments at a city hall.
So, basically, I think talking to people is useless. Reasoning is useless. You just appeal to their emotions (which the Democrats are certainly capable of doing. They do it in certain arguments - abortion, illegal immigration (to a degree).) None of Trump's supporters care that he's inconsistent. There's more pressure on the Democratic side to be somewhat logical, and somewhat civil, and that's been holding them back since the early days of Rush Limbaugh.
Those angry poor people used to be Democrats who wanted their unions to fight for more rights. Now they're angry MAGAts...and it's just because he's appealing to the anger. The Democrats can get them back, they just need to leave reason aside and play the political strategy that works - appeal to emotion.
Why don't Democrats demonize Republicans for kicking out hard-working illegal immigrants who work for low wages and no benefits and provide us with lower-costing goods? (Not that I think that's good, either - why not just offer enough legal ways to work here that our system can function legally (I know - it costs businesses too much...well...)) The argument that tariffs will bring jobs back to the US is just as legitimate as the argument that tariffs will make everything cost more - the Democrats just have to get angry about it. Demonize rich American industrialists who want to bring jobs back here. Demonize Republicans who deincentivize immigration and international trade. The secret's not in the logic, it's in the emotion.