I first started contemplating what makes MAGA tick after Donald Trump took the White House in 2016. I will never forget watching Chuck Todd's incredulous face on NBC's election countdown as the electoral college maps on display were indicating Donald Trump won enough votes to become president. Just a little over a week or two before, presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was doing quite well in the polls, and was actually favored to win the election. However, around that period, James Comey who was the head of the FBI alleged there were security issues with Clinton's official email accounts. Trump, being the animated cartoon character he is, immediately vamped up the phrase "crooked Hillary") and threw it to his MAGA base (which were relatively disregarded at the time). The day after the election, a real awakening occurred in this country--that among our midst, undetectable cave dwellers had emerged out into the open who were registered to vote. People who would vote for a "grab them by the p*ssy" reality tv star who is racist and cannot take a joke.
MAGA reminds me of two science fiction movies, each most likely before the reader's time. Mad Max is one, depicting marauders roaming about who are simply cruel for no good reason. The second one is invasion of the Body Snatchers, a 1978 science fiction movie concerning an alien invasion. Donald Sutherland accomplished superb acting in the film--you literally forget he is acting as you are watching it. Aliens had arrived to planet Earth taking the form of seed pods which exhibit flowers and began duplicating human beings by invading existing human bodies. In the movie, there is great uncertainty as to which people have been assimilated into the alien collective. Herein lies the comparison in my mind. One day you wake up, and you are in the midst of aliens derived from cave dwelling populations which never got over the loss of the Civil War. Great grandparents, grandparents, aunts and uncles passing their hate from one generation to the next while praising God at the same time. Remaining quiet even in the polls and emerging by stealth.
The aliens featured in the movie are how I look at MAGA; duplicating and taking over our democracy until the point of destruction. Know, I never wore rose colored glasses regarding white supremacy in our country, but this group is more than that-they relish on cruelty, exalting themselves above others, and are gun-toting vicious people with a gladiator arena entertainment mentality. A truly disconcerting and beyond disturbed group of people.
MAGA has a cult like mentality, yet the driving force within them is racial hatred. Christian white nationalism is a very dominant force within their collective, but there are some in it who are not Christian, nor pretend to be. Again, in my opinion, the biggest driving force behind MAGA is hatred and fear of white displacement. True Christianity is the opposite of hatred, that is for those which actually follow a belief in Christ. But for Christian white nationalists, such as those like Charlie Kirk; they are hypocritical, often twisting the meaning of scriptures. They promote a very distorted, twisted view of Christianity to support their own agendas. Kirk's goal was not only to spread hate and the idea of the "great white replacement theory", but just as importantly, he strived to promote his money making ventures off of his hatred. I do think however, the cave dwellers-- pea-pod birthed MAGA aliens, worship and idolize Donald Trump, our felon-in-chief. If the evil tyrant dropped dead, and J.D. Vance took his place, it would change some things; particularly the idolization component. These racists and cruel hearted people do not worship Vance like they do Trump. Nevertheless, Trump is just the symptom of an insidious disease known as hate by a white supremacist nation which feels threatened by people of color with increasing populations. This problem will remain long after Trump is gone.
Yet what is it about MAGA, even their youth, which engages them to rise up in great numbers and vote during the elections? Probably fear and great mobilization efforts. However, some Democrats, and liberal leaning non-registered voters remain stagnant and consider themselves helpless when it is voting time. If you feel I am being too hard, just look at the statistics on how many registered Democrats did not vote in the 2024 presidential election. Regarding MAGA, fear and racial hatred are two major motivating factors for election participation. MAGA Republicans are just as good at mobilizing as they are with gerrymandering and resulting to other underhanded methods to influence political elections aside the electoral college. It is my absolute opinion the electoral college needs to go. If it were not in existence in 2016, Hillary Clinton would had won the election because she had the popular vote. Elections by popular vote to me is how a true democracy should work.
Additionally, since our democracy is now gone and replaced by an authoritarian regime, whatever government eventually evolves once this regime crumbles must rid itself of, or reform our Supreme Court structure. I personally feel no party should dominate it, that equal representation from liberals and conservatives should be its composition, and that terms should be limited to no more than 10 years. We would not have to worry about a buck dancing black walrus on it, longing to be white his whole damn life. The Republicans are orchestrating a host of methods to illegally and legally influence the mid-terms, such as the gerrymandering efforts we have witnessed in Texas, and pushing the Supreme Court to roll back protections on voting rights. The Supreme Court's Justice Clarence Thomas has tunnel vision to destroy Section 2 of the Civil Rights Voting Act, which assures equal representation of minorities regarding elections. Instead, Section 2 has become twisted into an argument purporting whites who control nearly all the wealth in this country, and dominate nearly all of the powerful positions in government, are somehow being discriminated against.
MAGA is an unhinged movement, composed of very animated cruel people and fake Christians with no less than 20 guns in their homes. I do believe in the right to bear arms, but somehow with MAGA, their gun ownership seems related to preparing for war--such as a civil war. And these people have brewed over their cups since their ancestors lost the Civil War, and now they want to take America back--a country which never belonged to them in the first place, but which belongs to the indigenous people. I myself, do not even attempt to reason with them, but there is one thing they will take note of--hurt. Hurt from rising prices, hurt from lack of medical care or food, and relatives stuffed in their houses from nursing homes. Perhaps they will find "eggs" not to be so coveted after all.
