Leaving MAGA, part 1: How we got here
Trump named it but "we" created it
Michael Moore, who shocked us by calling 2016 for Trump is now calling 2024 for Harris.
However, the polling is so close that it highlights the heartbreaking division in our country. The reality that a candidate can do so many things wrong (from convicted felonies, rape, a mountain of lies, as well as a growing mental disconnect) and still be an orange shadow away from the White House doesn’t compute in a rational world.
Maintaining hope is a full-time job
One bright light for me is a new trickle of “leaving MAGA.” Meet Rich Logis:
Rich describes the beginning of his MAGA life, “I began supporting Donald Trump in 2015. I was a political independent, fully estranged from our two-party system. When I realized that both major parties considered Trump a threat, I was all in. He seemed to be exactly whom I’d been waiting for: a needed disruptor, someone who not only was willing to obliterate the established political order, but seemed able to do so.”
“Estranged” is a poignant word describing someone in a state of alienation from a previous close or familial relationship. Estrangement is a powerful state of shock, loss, and grief; someone who was there and played a powerful, trusted part of your life is now gone. This state can also be triggered by the loss of trust in something important to you … such as your government or the media.
Estrangement is a state which can trigger anxiety, confusion, anger,
and a search for something, anything, to fill the hole left behind.
A small incident years ago changed my thinking. It was 1990 and I had the opportunity to join a group taking fifty American teenagers to Moscow to join fifty local teenagers for a two-week accelerated learning camp. It was the era of glasnost where Soviet citizens could, finally, openly talk with foreigners about their life under a communist regime.
During one of the conversations I had with a teacher, I asked her if she hated the United States. I assumed that they did because during the Cold War our government had taught us that the USSR was an enemy trying to destroy us,
Her answer shocked me. “Oh, no,” she said, “We love the Americans. When I was a little girl, they dropped winter coats to us.”
Her comment and how warmly we were hosted surprised me. They were going through a traumatic time of barren grocery stores, where buying bread meant standing in a queue of four hours or more, and the black market was filling the gaps left by normal retail. At one party I attended, a group of a dozen or more of us shared one orange and a tiny tin of candies … but there was plenty of song and laughter.
Adding to that was scarcity of basics, we saw some of the results of seventy years of communism … ugly, crumbling concrete apartment buildings with families crammed into two-room apartments and where decades of unempowered workers meant getting even simple tasks done involved incredible levels of frustration. The USSR may have had nuclear weapons but I couldn’t imagine how they would have waged war at that point. I felt lied to by my own country.
Fortunately my feelings of estrangement did not fall on fertile ground, although they did give me some insight into the political changes to come.
MAGA wasn’t created by Donald Trump … globalization, mega corporate layoffs, and the toll of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, created a gaping wound where estrangement grew virus-like with the help of the rise of the billionaire class, and corporate greed as well as the constant and consistent voices of the far right FOX and buddies.
Here are a few of the steps along the way …
Late 1990s - lost jobs as large corporations responded to the changes of globalization by offshoring manufacturing and laying off about a million workers a year with little hope of being reinstated.
Early 2000s dot-com bubble burst in 2001 with the NASDAQ losing 34.2% of its value in a month and wiping out over $5 Trillion in market value within a year and a half.
Housing collapse - high-risk mortgage practices led to 10 million people losing their homes and the value of homes falling more than 20%.
2008 Recession with the bank and auto company bailouts while people were losing their jobs and homes.
Between 2007 and 2011, one-quarter of American families lost at least 75% of their wealth, and more than half of all families lost at least 25% of their wealth.
Tea Party rose in 2009, while funded largely by the Koch brothers, it was energized by anger at “big corporations” and “big government.” It was a major factor in the Republicans gaining 63 House Representatives in the 2010 election. While the “Tea Party” name died, many of its calls for small government were incorporated into mainstream Republican policies.
Globilization brought with it a greater influx of immigrants. Since 1995, the foreign-born population doubled, from about 25 million to just over 51 million.
Immigrant population grew from 9% of the population to 15.6% in 2024.
Trauma of war. Amongst these financial gyrations came the trauma and insecurity of 9/11, prompting the Afghanistan War, plus the deceptions and trauma of the Iraq war, which spread to a global war on terrorism and conflicts in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Libya, and Syria.
Rise of the billionaire class and corporate greed resulting in sports-star level compensation for CEOs and layoffs and wage/pension reductions for workers.
Social media exploded while restrictions lessened. Suddenly, anyone could say almost anything and listeners could tune in at almost no cost. A new wave of “news stars” were free to spread misinformation and conspiracy theories that reached a receptive, estranged audience.
Early leaders:
Rush Limbaugh - Longtime conservative radio host who was highly influential from the 1990s until his death in 2021.
Sean Hannity - Fox News host who has been a prominent conservative voice since the late 1990s.
Bill O'Reilly - Former Fox News host who was a major figure in conservative media from the late 1990s until 2017.
Glenn Beck - Rose to prominence in the mid-2000s on CNN and Fox News before launching his own media company.
Andrew Breitbart - Founder of Breitbart News, influential in the early 2010s until his death in 2012.
Current leaders:
Tucker Carlson - Former Fox News host who was highly influential until 2023. Now runs his own media operation.
Laura Ingraham - Fox News host who remains a prominent conservative voice.
Ben Shapiro - Founder of The Daily Wire and popular conservative podcaster.
Steve Bannon - Former Trump advisor and host of the "War Room" podcast.
Dan Bongino - Conservative commentator and radio host.
Charlie Kirk - Founder of Turning Point USA and conservative influencer.
Tim Pool - YouTube commentator and podcaster popular among right-wing audiences.
Candace Owens - Conservative author and commentator.
Christopher Ruddy - CEO of Newsmax, which has gained prominence in recent years.
Elon Musk - While not a traditional media figure, his ownership of X (formerly Twitter) and promotion of right-wing views has made him influential in this space.
Where once we felt strong and invincible, suddenly trust and faith have been challenged … in our financial world, our media, and our government. Estrangement grew and more and more people wanted an anti-hero strongman to put things back to the way they were.
Enter Donald Trump, a non-politician, perceived successful business man, outrageous outsider who promised to solve all problems with a snap of his fingers. He was going to Make Us Great Again.
** Special thanks to Perplexity, which has largely replaced Google in my research and refreshed my memory on some of the details above.
Next Saturday, in Part II, we will cover some of the stories of people leaving MAGA with help from people like Rich Logis who is now working to help more people extricate themselves from the cult-like grip of MAGA.
In the meantime, are you seeing any changes in how people are thinking? Our eastern seaboard has been hit by devastating storms and a virtual flood of lies and conspiracy theories while the reality of first responders and federal aid has been on the scene even before Milton made land fall. I have to wonder if being surrounded by the reality of aid while conspiracy theories are raging will make any difference.
What do you think?
I have no idea what MAGA is never heard the term but I am an Aussie, maybe that's why. Anyway I found this an interesting read.
Hmmm... interesting article. Glad he is leaving MAGA, and wonder what he sees as a viable alternative to anything we have in our limited choices? Much I agree with, some seems off the mark historically - for instance, the billionaire class. being recent, rather than simply blatant because it now has full power globally - but it's been around longer than anyone can say, through family dynasties (such as the Drumpfs and far far further back by many centuries and eons)
I am confused by the language of the Preamble to our Constitution, so clearly stated for Equality of all peoples, and how the people in charge never honored that language (they contiuned to practice slavery, making sure that women had no rights or voice, the massacre of First Nations, for instance) When did it get co-opted? From the beginning, I think. The Iroquois Confederacy had done equality already in their own governance and leadership, for hundreds of years before that So the idea of making North America - USA in particular - 'great' again - as if we were, as if we lived up to that Preamble... sticks in my craw, especially the 'again' part -when was it so great? THIS, is how and why a Trump, and MAGA. happened. The wake up call we need goes well beyond party politics - it is a spiritual thing. We need spiritual CPR, a return to Critical Thinking being taught in Public schools, and self governance and ownership of as responsibility and a privilege.
Here's an article about the Iroquois Confederacy - in honor of tomorrow's Indigenous Day (yay - finally, no more 'Columbus Day!' At least here in WA.
https://www.pbs.org/native-america/blog/how-the-iroquois-great-law-of-peace-shaped-us-democracy. This is what gives me hope, and I hope we turn to Indigenous peoples to help guide us through these times now and to come, so we can see the light as it is meant to be seen.
You're right in that 'we the people' bought into MAGA and the divide - but I think we need to remember that we were and are conditioned to be divided by those at the top who hope we won't catch on. It takes hard work to look for commonalities and build collaboration. Usually it takes some kind of disaster. Thank you for all your hard work on this, Joyce. I'm focused on local and state elections and initiatives and referendums, where we can actually make a small difference. I'm glad you will start 2025 doing something self nurturing.