It means these hateful sacks of crap aren't going anywhere and aren't going to change when The Dotard finally kicks the bucket. They will still be a problem to deal with after that.

They are obstacles and hazards.

They used to be a minority in the shadows but Trump and a sycophantic media has helped them come out and multiply.

They used to be isolated.

They reinforce each other, and algorithms keep them insulated from opposing viewpoints. Their chosen news sources keep reality away.
And then there are the bots giving the impression that their MAGA numbers are huge.

This article hits the nail right on its head. The only thing I would add is the tv bloviators always seem to give the magas a pass for their disgusting comments by their automatic bothsiderism of false equivalences. Last night (early morning ) on morning joe, scarborough denounced trumps vile depiction of the Obamas followed a round of criticism of George Soros by joe's terrible guest, David Drucker. There was nothing George Soros did or was referenced to have done, just a demented need to partake in bothsiderism by a beltway bloviator.

Correction: trump's vile depiction of the Obamas followed BY a round of criticism of George Soros

...like Stockholm syndrome. These are people who have been hurt in the past, they easily acquiesce when battered repeatedly psychologically.

We're bullies who are bigger than you so give us your lunch money

They were taught to devalue education, and over value group identity. This group vaguely includes race, religion, political party. They were primed to be in a cult since they were born.

From the movie “Tombstone:”

Wyatt Earp: What makes a man like Ringo, Doc? What makes him do the things he does?
Doc Holliday: A man like Ringo has got a great big hole, right in the middle of him. He can never kill enough, or steal enough, or inflict enough pain to ever fill it.
Wyatt Earp: What does he need?
Doc Holliday: Revenge.
Wyatt Earp: For what?
Doc Holliday: Bein' born.

He had an awful father who was cruel to him. And he had a job he loved and came in one day and was fired because of a merger. He never got a good paying job again. Worked in the Amazon factory, supermarket and now a postal carrier. And he blames his problems on DEI and minorities because he can’t find a good paying job.

It's not their fault, but someone must be blamed for their pain of repeated trauma and failure. American society has become too unstable and corrupted and these people are caught in the trap.

Thank you! Excellent post.

*rump having "information phobia," I think to a lesser degree many of his followers do as well.

Thanks for the thread Nevilledog

for someone of his class and wealth in his lack of curiosity about the world in which we live. But having grown up in an extremely religious, red area I would say that the percentage of conservative religious people who had a real curiosity about a broad range of subjects is less than 10%. To me it almost seems to be a distinguishing feature, I've never met people from any other population so fiercely obstinate in their ignorance. Even trying to engage them with "God created nature so we owe it to God to appreciate it through studying it" fell on deaf ears.

were and are a convenient tool for the billionaire class to use and support in order to gain and retain more power and wealth.

It worked especially well for Foreign billionaires because they never bought into what America truly means which is diversity and freedom for all.

Our domestic self made billionaires for the most part didn't start off this way, save for the Koch Brothers and a few others.

OANN, Newsmax, Xwitter would have never existed.

But Faux Noise didn't flop, they made boatloads of money for doing practically nothing but spewing hatred 24/7/365. I blame them for everything, and I blame hate-radio like Rush Limbaugh and his imitators.

Oh my God, they have ruined our country!

Every stupid fucking Maga is the living embodiment of Rush Limbaugh. Cruelty counts with these people and the absolute insistence you are right about every single thing, including shit you don't even understand.

The thing is these people's irony meter is shot to hell. Limbaugh literally said anti-smoking science was "the left" trying to control you and smoking was pretty much safe. What happens? Dude dies of fucking lung cancer. And no one on that side thinks, "shit he was really wrong about that one, what else was he full of shit about?"

It's how I got away from that movement. I started catching Limbaugh lying about shit. Yea at the time it felt good to "blame the left", but when he was spouting off shit I simply knew to be lies I lost all faith and confidence in him. That said he is arguably one of the most influential people in American history. The misery fascist shit show we see today can be laid directly at his feet.

it is. that said, when I moved back to the US from Japan in 1998 after 23 years abroad, it was Limbaugh that horrified me. So calmly lying and stoking hatred and fear.

I would've said (and have said, in various ways on occasions past) though I'd probably add that they're angry because, not only have they been DUPED, but they willingly, eagerly SUBMITTED to being duped. Angry because they KNOW they've been duped.

And not by those they love to demonize - that minority, immigrant 'other' they love to blame for their own shortcomings, for allowing themselves to be duped

but DUPED by Trump and those representatives they REPEATEDLY vote for and place trust in.

And (as suggested above) rather than admit to it by turning on those they KNOW have been rear ending them for DECADES, they double down... via asshole rationalizations, alternate realities, and denialism. The kind of inane, batshitery that pours from their mouths at every interview.

But they don't mind spewing bullshit and coming off like lunatics. Because better to hate on mythological BOOGIEMEN than to admit to knowingly and wilfully being PLAYED (by their billionaire class) as "suckers and losers" their entire fkng LIVES.

K & R

The author should disclose when they use it.

insists on having society fashioned the way they are convinced they should be. God commands it. Abortion is forbidden from conception onward. Theirs is the True Religion and must be strictly forced on all. Only men can lead so a woman cannot be President of the United States.

"The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism is a 2007 book by Canadian author and social activist Naomi Klein. In the book, Klein argues that neoliberal economic policies promoted by Milton Friedman and the Chicago school of economics have risen to global prominence because of a deliberate strategy she calls "disaster capitalism". In this strategy, political actors exploit the chaos of natural disasters, wars, and other crises to push through unpopular policies such as deregulation and privatization. This economic "shock therapy" favors corporate interests while disadvantaging and disenfranchising citizens when they are too distracted and overwhelmed to respond or resist effectively."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shock_Doctrine?wprov=sfla1

When you have such a small penis, you have few options.

Not just MAGA.

Professor Corey Robin wrote about it years ago; the one animating philosophy of conservatism: “if he gets something then I get less.”

Everything. And that includes voting. If more get the vote - then his vote means less.

The framework helps explain patterns and behaviors that have felt confusing to me and hard to articulate.

This deserves to be shared far & wide.

It started with televangelism. Jimmy Swaggart led to Rush Limbaugh, who led to Fox News, who led to Infowars, who led to TPUSA, Daily Wire, and so on. It's just the same round of talking points, bullshit, and hatred wrapped in a new package for a younger audience to consume.

Why do you think Trump released the racist video , last week , gin up the base