Of Course MAGAs are “Weird”
It’s what happens when you live in a fake world
There’s been some play in the media lately about how Democrats are criticizing right-wingers in the MAGA Mob for being “weird,” and how the MAGA rank and file is melting down over it.
3 things:
MAGAs are weird because they live in the Right Wing Alternative Reality
The way they behave is reasonable for that world
Their reaction indicates that this may have actually pierced their bubble a bit
They Are Weird
Those on the MAGA train actually:
Believe that Trump won the election in 2020 (there’s still no evidence that he did)
Listen to overtly political music
Have created their own social media platforms so they don’t have to deal with liberals
Only get their news from specific sources, based on what those sources tell them
Created a secret “code” word and then told everyone what it means
Believe that liberals are satanic pedophiles who kill or abuse children to get high on their adrenaline
Think that the economy is down and that crime is terrible
Believe that DEI, migrant crime, immigration in general, liberals, critical race theory, and “wokeness” are “destroying America”
Think that cities are cesspools of blood
Cling to everything that they’ve been told liberals want to get rid of in order to make the world a better place
Go to Trump rallies like they’re a major concert
Have surrounded themselves with fellow MAGAs and alienated their liberal friends or family members
Enthusiastically engage in performative patriotism
Distrust the school system for teaching “woke” things, like anti-discrimination of the LGBTQ+ community
Follows a small group of B-list celebrities
Have created a slew of MAGA-focused businesses for its followers to frequent, from novel “news” outlets, to beer that costs $30 for a 24-rack (if you subscribe to monthly shipping, $39 if you don’t), to a coffee chain, to a company that sells chocolate and razor blades (at least until one of these outlets starts to worry about how far the right wing is willing to go and stops walking the party line)
Are convinced that Joe Biden’s family is the one doing the crimes, while Trump is completely innocent
Create, share, and like images depicting Trump as a patriot, a warrior, Superman, as Jesus, and as some mythic figure on social media:
Like, seriously, what the hell is this?
(This is not a nobody. Tim Pool is a far-right-wing YouTuber and Podcaster with 1.36 million subscribers)
This is their culture. It is what they do. Looking at it from anywhere but the inside of it, it is weird.
Their Behavior is Totally Reasonable on the Inside of It
But from the inside, it is completely reasonable. This is the reality that has been created for them. They’re just acting in it. Just consider how:
Right-wing media constantly refers to Donald Jackwad Trump as “President Trump,” but to President Joe Biden as “Joe Biden”
The right-wing media ecosystem constantly portrays Trump as a savior figure, evangelical pastors have said that Trump is Christ-like, his campaign has leaned into an evangelical slant with Trump as its center, and Trump himself has made the comparison, repeatedly (and all of this has only gotten stronger since the attempted assassination)
Right-wing media indoctrinates patriotism as a moral value while its politicians theatrically read the Constitution rather than pass legislation
They are told that schools groom children to be queer, with Trump eloquently claiming that teachers, “teach transgender to our children”
The right-wing media fans the “go woke, go broke” flames whenever someone, some thing, or some company says or does something that goes against the right wing culture, leaving them with so few brands or celebrities that they have to create new ones and dredge out anyone with any semblance of name recognition
Their elected officials have insisted that it’s the “Biden Crime Family,” investigated them numerous times (while acknowledging behind closed doors that it was a waste of time), and the right wing media has covered it incessantly
They are constantly told that prosecuting Trump is politically motivated and that the Department of Justice is run by “the Left”
When Trump says something false or lies, right-wing media scrambles to cover for him, in some cases paying $787 million for doing it
This is why everything has become political. The facts that you live by are different, depending on your partisanship. What you think is real has become political, because the right wing has escaped reality.
Their Sensitivity to Being Called Weird Might Trigger Some Introspection
The only thing surprising about right-wingers being “weird” is that they’re sensitive to being labeled that way.
Leftists can dunk all they want on how sensitive the “fuck your feelings” crowd can be, or how hypocritical it is for them to whine about name-calling – I think a more interesting takeaway is that this rattles the MAGA Mob at all. They’ve been getting called, correctly, “racist,” “sexist,” “fascist,” and “authoritarian” for years now.
But I think that there are 2 reasons why “weird” is resonating so hard:
MAGA revels in power and manliness, and “weird” is about as dismissive as you can get, and
Being the “in-group” in society is central to MAGA-ness, and “weird” cannot be twisted to describe that.
All the prior insults bounced off the MAGA movement because they were what you would call a bully, and the MAGA Mob soaked them up because they are bullies. “Weird” both deflates them and accurately describes how the MAGA Mob acts and the policies that their leaders want to impose on the country.
The fact that even Fox News thinks that the attack line is working on the base makes me hopeful that Democrats can use it to court independent voters with an accurate description of MAGA policies, and make the members of the MAGA Mob doubt their role as the powerful in-group, open their eyes to how different their personalities have become in the past decade, and maybe, just maybe, make them start to question the Right Wing Alternative Reality that they have been shown since Trump first started to campaign.
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