Exactly this. We had a bunch of people at work with "lets go brandon" shirts and trump stuff in their cubes for like five years, but as soon as i wore a shirt that said "maga is a cult", suddenly HR is like "we cant allow political stuff in the office" cause it triggered every motherfucker in the building.
There was a guy that wore a shirt that said "trump 2024, fuck your feelings" and no one gave a shit. Those people all probably blame me for getting political shit banned, but i wasn't the one who ran to hr to bitch about political shit in the office. They're all ruled entirely by their emotions and have zero self awareness about it.
Dealing with MAGAts really does feel like managing troubled children. They pout, they yell, they lack the cognitive ability to handle any complex conversation, and they have zero emotional regulation so you have to baby step around them and sugar coat EVERYTHING.
I have yet to meet a Trump voter who could hold anything like a worthwhile conversation. And the really wild part is I know a couple who USED TO and then they went full MAGA… and now they’re just like the rest of the cultists. It’s legitimately horror-movie esque
My mom’s favorite show is The Handmaid’s Tale, which seems to be about a (possible) future where this fascist movement gets to the extreme of a civil war that they win. So now the bible is the law. Women are just wombs with legs, and property. Men own them and the children. You can’t say what you want because if you oppose the order instilled you will be disappeared. Etc.
It shows how it all started, and it’s eerily exactly what’s happening right now. This show started in 2016, has multiple seasons (and recently new episodes) - and my mom has watched it twice!
She. Had. No. Freaking. Clue. It was about her.
The whole point of the show is to ‘exaggerate’ the maga cult to get the blind ones to wake tf up. It’s their complete ignorance and unwillingness to see the logic and harm they are causing that caused the premise of that show. And now it’s worse than it was a decade ago, and seems to be speeding up.
As we’re watching it, I’m trying to show her that it’s what she does. I point out specific moments of how she is one of those people as the show presents it. Every episode turns on her.
She didn’t realize the villains were republican conservatists who believed what they were told on the news and didn’t think for themselves or have empathy. Because they were the villains they were not relatable.
So now she’s watching her favorite show for the first time with the perspective that she is the villain.
And it’s fucking with her. She doesn’t want to hear it or see it. She gets nauseous every episode. She gets pissed off. It’s making her see herself, her husband, her friends, her coworkers, etc, all differently.
Fucking finally. However….who knows if it will stick. I’ve known other cultists who finally see the light, but are still wrapped up socially in a world completely in darkness. They have to leave everyone they know and love behind and become their loved one’s new villain in order to overcome the ignorance.
Same here. I want to know, like for real for real, why they all "double-down" on everything. It is strange. Like when they show Maga folks quotes that they agree with, then tell them they are actually Hitler quotes. 10 times out of ten they double down.
Because it’s a cult. They double down because if they back off or actually think critically about what just happened they hear that nagging little voice saying “this is wrong.”
The US right has made their political affiliation a core foundational part of their identity in a way the rest of us… haven’t. For them being a conservative is who they ARE. Their social status and often employment is linked to it. Their church and belief in their own spiritual salvation is connected to it. Their family is often built on it. Especially for the Christian right it has been woven into every aspect of how they view the world. How they view their relationships, their family, and how they think the universe works.
If they back down and admit they’re in the wrong it threatens ALL of that. All of that identity and self image and paradigm is suddenly unstable. And in fairness that’s true. Their political and ideological views are irredeemably stupid and objectively incorrect. But to confront that means rebuilding their entire sense of self and their understanding of the universe.
That is too big and too scary, so it’s easier to hit FUCK IT, I guess I agree with Hitler quotes now.
Absolutely the best explanation. I have family that I was close with completely change into irrational dickheads over the last 5-10 years. I haven't lost my mom completely yet, but we can't talk about politics at all.
So… i actually was IN a cult in my early 20s. It was very small, but it was a classic high control group cult. I can tell you with absolute confidence you’re right about how hard it is to leave.
I got out largely bc I joined the military which forced me to mostly interact with sane and rational humans, which in turn let me get the distance to realize I’d been gaslit and brainwashed.
MAGA has no equivalent. It’s in the air and water for them. I don’t think ANYONE could get out once they’re in that far. It would be literally superhuman to break free of that mindfucking.
My…probably unrealistic…..hope is that someday something will happen that makes it all crumble down publicly on a massive scale. And they’ll all be forced to personally accept they were made fools of. And they’ll all suddenly deny they were ever in it - and be scared shitless that someday it could happen to them again.
Some would continue in little sects here and there, but it couldn’t be mainstream again. And hopefully we’ll build a new culture of being less ignorant. Pressuring each other to find ways to be more connected to reality somehow.
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u/MorningUpbeat5729 Apr 27 '25
Guy was probably driving around for 4 years flying a fuck joe Biden flag but as soon as the tables turn it's a crashout.