One of my favorite movies is Harold and Maude. It’s a 1971 black comedy with a fantastic soundtrack by Cat Stevens. In one exchange, Harold remarks “You sure have a way with people.” To which Maude responds “Well, they’re my species.”
Over the last few years I have felt myself becoming increasingly alienated from people who identify as MAGA and, particularly, ultra-MAGA. I read tweets and find myself wondering “Are you my species?”
Why?
The willful blindness. The need to follow. The predisposition to bully, blame and mock others that is best exemplified by TFG.
It’s not the grievances of the MAGA crowd. It’s that their grievances are baseless. If the presidential election had truly been stolen, I too would be furious. Even if the candidate I voted for won. Free and fair elections are a touchstone of American democracy. However, court after court has ruled against or tossed out TFG’s claims of voter fraud. Many of his lawyers can no longer practice law due to ethical violations committed while representing him. His own Attorney General told him the claims had no merit. He lost! Still, he, Kari Lake and the rest of the election deniers continue to make their baseless claims and accusations. Accusations that have as little merit as the accusation that I, at 5’2” and 103 lbs., was fat. And many, all too many, still believe them.
They are willfully blind.
There is a need in many people to follow, to have a leader. I’m not wired like that, many are. When he was elected, 45 did not have the full support of the Republican Party. Unfortunately for America and democracy, that changed. Up until the mid-term results started coming in, the GQP backed him no matter what. Even on the rare occasions when they spoke against him, notably in the immediate aftermath of January 6th, they ultimately ended up supporting him. I don’t know about you, but if a heavily armed mob came to my place of work, brutally murdered security officers, and caused my colleagues and I to shelter in a secure location for hours, I would not categorize it as “legitimate political discourse”. But then I take seriously the possibility (IMHO high probability) that a former president committed foreign espionage. Perhaps both during and after his presidency.
Willful blindness allows people to ignore unassailable facts. With MAGA, facing facts about TFG would mean giving up the leader they are invested in. The party wants a leader. TFG wants power. MAGA wants to be lead. It’s a combination made in hell.
What is horrifying is not so much that MAGA exalts their leader, it is the traits of the leader they have chosen. The GOP liked Reagan because they believed an arms race was winnable, they believed in trickle-down economics, they believed that while he might not have been the sharpest knife in the block, he took advice from smart people. TFG, on the other hand, espouses hatred. He blames others, immigrants, minorities and anyone he perceives as disloyal, rather than ever attempting to solve a problem. He bullies and whines like a coddled 1st grader. He even mocked a journalist’s disability. MAGA likes this. They like seeing these traits in their leader because it implicitly gives them permission to do the same. As a child with a disability I was mocked, picked on and ostracized with impunity. In the days of witch hunts I would have been burned as a witch for my disability. The Nazis would have exterminated me as a “useless eater”. So yes. The fact that large swaths of this country are MAGA not only sickens me, it scares the bejeezus out of me.
The hatred scares me. Our society is morphing into one where we can no longer count on each other. Will a MAGA call 911 if they see an accident if the car(s) have Democrat bumper stickers? As a New Yorker who witnessed the MAGA crowd making the vile claim that Covid was a hoax while the bodies of dead New Yorkers were stored in refrigerator trucks on the streets and buried in mass graves, I’m not sure.
As I write this, full election results are not in. The Republican Party is turning on TFG. Rupert Murdoch has turned on him. Ann Coulter has turned on him with a tweet exemplifying her nastiness. I anticipate a lot of popcorn in my future.
But while it’s comforting to think his power may be waning, we are not out of the woods. The Republicans are pushing people who have his same traits. Notably the Trump wannabe Death Santis. And there’s even a push to put Marjorie Traitor Greene in the Whitehouse.
Why? To appeal to the same crowd – people who would give up democracy rather than admit they fell for lies
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Hi,
Harold and Maude is also one of my favourite movies.
I have come to the conclusion that the Jesuits were right: "‘ Give me a child till he is seven years old,’ said St Ignatius Loyola, ‘ and I will show you the man.’ " Except that charismatic(??) leaders seem to be able to build a cult following or has the groundwork been laid already and leaders tap into their belief system. So - do we all belong to a cult?
Cheers,
Peter