Will MAGA Learn? Will We?
How MAGA fell for Trump is an important lesson for us.
A New York City Billionaire who was a draft dodger, a cheater, a liar, vulgar, and a Clinton pal convinced millions of rural and working class people that he was not only worth their votes, but blind loyalty.
Millions of people are asking not only how that happened, but whether MAGA will learn their lesson. Starting with the Iran strike and then reaching a crescendo with Epstein, many Trump supporters have. Some learned it earlier on January 6th, 2025. Unfortunately, many haven’t.
Fortunately, from the November elections to the recent, shocking historic wins by a Democrat for Miami mayor and a state legislator in a +12 Trump district in Georgia, it’s clear that the numbers and energy are there — for significant electoral change.
An Answer
Trump’s supporters were American human beings who were justifiably angry and fell prey to a basic human frailty and the epitomé of taking an old adage too far — the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
Trump had money and celebrity, but that only gave him a small foothold in the 2016 primary field. In the first poll, Trump placed 8th with 5% of likely Republican primary voters. But he had the advantage of lacking ties to the Republican establishment that had let working-class voters down and, more importantly, the knack and the willingness to pick battles with everyone, Republicans included.
He was better than most at picking fights with the Democrats and media institutions that working class Americans hated. Before you judge them for responding to that, just think about how the Clintons sold out to corporate interests and the media hasn’t exactly reported fairly on big ticket items — like corporate power and Israel’s war on Gaza. Their anger was justified, and is even more so now.
On the Republicans, when you hear people say that ‘Trump tells it like it is” or “being honest,” it’s that he was willing to call out Republican failures without any sacred cows.
In return for his sharp attacks on establishment figures, the establishment rewarded Trump’s antics with attacks on him. Instead of destroying him, it triangulated him as THE non-establishment choice against divided Republican field. The incessant attacks also inoculated him because the off-target ones were amplified and then discounted so that the future ones just became “noise” and code for — they just hate Trump — and eventually Trump Derangement Syndrome. Worse, direct attacks on his supporters by people like Lindsay Graham and Hilary Clinton spurred identity fusion between Trump and the people that despised either corrupt Republicans or the Democrat frontrunner.
The Resulting Question
In contrast to 2016, the best strategy for any Democrat seeking to achieve the nomination for a higher office is to mimic Trump’s 2016 psychological strategy. No matter what your policy positions, bio, or donor base, if you can get the President of the United States to attack you right now, you’re going to become a hero.
Creating a social media account that really gets under the President’s skin or threatening you with arrest arrest you makes you an instant political star right now. If you really wanted to stand out, you would attack both the President and the worst establishment Democrats — and hope they retaliate.
One of the fundamental effects of MAGA bonding with Trump is that it robbed their vision. As stuff came out in the general election, it no longer moved the needle — not even the Access Hollywood tape with evangelicals.
We should be careful to not lose our vision in 2026. People seeking nominations or our vote in general should still be pushed on substantive issues, and warning flags from the following questions should be noted and addressed to the extent possible:
What are signs of their character?
What have they accomplished?
Besides alignment against Trump and campaign skill, what do they offer?
Are they attacking power or fellow citizens?
Do they have specific proposals to address the corporate, banking and international elite’s grip?
What is their donor history and alignment?
Given the scope and extent of this administration, any electoral enemy of the President should almost certainly be considered an ally, but there is a big difference between an “ally” and a friend. The bigger question than will MAGA learn may end up being — will we learn from MAGA’s mistake?
Don’t Fall for the Illusion of Hope
Beyond not being blinded to a candidate’s weaknesses, we should also not be conditioned to believe that major elections are the singular solution to our country’s problems. I believe that is another mistake that MAGA made when they bought into Trump’s “I Alone Can Fix It” message. We are a government of the people and by the people, but our government is captured by an unaccountable elite. There is a whole lot of work for We the People to do year-round for the foreseeable future.
On the political front, there are critical challenges and opportunities between now and the midterms, and we must seize every possible moment and inflection point now.
The results of midterms don’t apply until over a year from now in January 2027. Having free and fair elections are still in doubt. Having those elections and the actual winners seated is still in doubt.
For right now, we have an election in Fort Worth January 31st; the Tarrant County Commissioners Court is way out of line and so is our jail. To quote Steve Bannon from about this race: “As Tarrant County goes, so goes Texas. As Texas goes, so goes the world.” Taylor Rehmet is running against Bannon’s guest in that video as they hyped up the Fort Worth race.
How ‘bout we kick some tires and light some fires?
Recommended Reading
How Donald Trump Seduced America’s White Working Class (September 10, 2016) Note: This was from when J.D. Vance was a “Never Trumper” who called Trump cultural heroin and “America’s Hitler.”
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