[Writer’s Note: This is an open letter to MAGA, which in and of itself might be a fool’s errand since they don’t usually read anything longer than social media posts. But maybe someone who loves someone who’s MAGA will see this, and maybe we can start figuring out a better way to reach them, since nothing has worked as of yet.]
Dear MAGA,
I’ve tried to get through to you in multiple ways over the last decade. Despite the way you’ve treated me and anyone else who votes for Democrats, I remain fascinated by the groupthink mentality you deploy as a protective shield against the truths about Trump that don’t sit well with you.
A recent incident within my own social group has led me to consider a different tactic with you. I talked to someone far outside the group (okay, it was my Mom), and she began her reply with, “As an outsider who’s just making an observation, this is what it looks like to me.”
The topic of the conversation doesn’t matter. She prefaced what she was about to say to lay the groundwork for me to hear a different answer from the one I wanted. I also knew she was going to offer me advice that wasn’t going to sit well with me. This doesn’t make her wrong or a bad person. It makes her someone outside of the situation who can see things in a way I couldn’t. She didn’t change my mind, but she did make me pause before deciding what to do next.
I know that’s hard to believe just based on my Twitter history, especially since Trump blocked me in August 2015 and has never unblocked me, but I’m honestly here to help as someone who’s been an outsider from up close this entire time, MAGA.
Since I suffered your horrific cyberharassment during the 2016 campaign, I feel uniquely qualified to discuss your behavior. Those of you who claim to be “good Christians” gave this Jewish woman plenty of reasons to never have forgiveness in my heart for any of you.
Not cool, MAGA.
See, what had happened was, Trump gave you all a green light when you started wearing those red hats back in 2016. Once you were allowed to dump all of your issues on your chosen scapegoats, it was easy for Trump to keep breadcrumbing you by yelling things like “FAKE NEWS!” when something true was said about him.
So he could keep you on the hook, to keep grifting you. I’m sorry, but it’s true.
You voted for him for reasons that actually ended up hurting you as much as the rest of us. Some of you can admit this, but too many of you just haven’t suffered enough personally from his tariffs or his egregious cuts to all of the agencies that keep America functioning. You were mad that Barack Obama wore a tan suit while being a melanated President, yet you don’t care that Trump has demolished Washington, D.C., and turned the Oval Office into the tackiest Hobby Lobby in Moscow.
I understand wanting to belong to a group, especially if you’ve often felt alone in the past. Being a part of MAGA made you feel accepted for qualities which had caused others to reject you. But ALL groupthink is bad, even in groups created for good reasons.
There’s a reason it bothers you when people call you a cult, MAGA. It’s because you exhibit all of the behaviors of a religious cult: Your whole ideology is centered around your extreme devotion to Trump, who’s been able to use social media to manipulate you into near-total submission. Cults use specific behavioral patterns to break down individual autonomy and establish complete social control, which explains the widespread social media campaigns from paid agitators repeating the same lies over and over until enough of you shared them and believed them. Trump’s strategy of overwhelming Democratic strategists worked in 2016 because no one had ever seen anything like MAGA online before.
The biggest example of this manipulation was, of course, January 6th. Too many of you still refuse to call it what it was, and Trump’s pardons will never erase the facts of the day.
MAGA, as someone who is outside of your situation, I’ll always see your behavior in a very different way than you do. I see it as you hurting yourselves, whether you’re aware of it or not, and there’s really no reason for you to keep suffering for someone who’s made it abundantly clear that he couldn’t care any less about you. Haven’t you noticed that he keeps taking things away from you, mostly your money? Did you know that it costs the average American family in a Red State nearly $6,000 more to live this year than it cost before Trump’s tariffs?
The questions I asked in 2016, 2020, and 2024 are still valid, MAGA.
Before Trump, would you have voted for a convicted felon?
Before Trump, would you have accepted any Epstein Bestie as the GOP’s presidential nominee in 2012 instead of Mitt Romney?
Before Trump, would you have let anyone fracture your family over politics?
I don’t know those answers, but I’d love to believe you wouldn’t have done those things.
Because you didn’t, before Trump.
I don’t know how you’re going to make it up to the people you hurt after Trump is gone. Because first, you’re going to have to make it up to yourselves.
You were conned, MAGA. You were hurt and lied to and grifted, and I’m sorry that all happened to you. You hurt others because you didn’t realize you were mad at Trump for hurting you.
Once you understand that, I hope you can begin to heal from Trump, along with the rest of us.
