MAGA have not and will not go away. They've been here since the birth of the country

[NewHendoLib]

They've gone by different names - or lots of names. It is like there is a malignant disease that ebbs and flows depending upon the presence of a catalyst. TFG was certainly a major tumor, but his malignant cells are out there in lymph nodes, or even still in plain sight.

It won't go away because there has been and always be racism, ignorance, fanaticism - there will always be hatred and grievance. There are a host of extreme branches of religion that fan the flames of discord.

TFG may be defanged, but his disciples are out there - the election deniers that now (or still) hold offices. Some were defeated - some were not.

I truly believe there are less of them than there are of us, but it is easy to get apathetic (meaning, to not vote) - and to think that it doesn't exist, or vanishes.

The fight is never done. As long as voting is made more difficult, as long as different groups become disenfranchised - and especially, as long as there is a well funded right wing noise machine, lack of a fairness doctrine, Citizens United, and a fanatical majority supreme court, we are in danger of losing what we have. The changing climate pushes on us from a different zone, but it doesn't really care who or we are or how wealthy we are - that is a battle for everyone, but far too few are engaged.

So - we celebrate - then we go right back to fighting the cancer that is conservatism and ignorance.

[ananda]

1. KKK is what I think of first.

...

[Bernardo de La Paz]

2. In 50s & 60s, they were John Birchers fighting against miscegenation & fluoridation. . . nt

[Baitball Blogger]

3. Yes.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

4. In 1930s they were the "America First" movement, Lindbergh, and the Businessman's coup. . . nt

[mercuryblues]

5. exactly.

by next election they will have a new name and deny they ever voted for trump.

kkk/birchers/birthers/teaparty/maga all the same spool of thread

[cutroot]

6. They will dump Trump the same way they dumped the Bush family

[tulipsandroses]

7. Yes 👏 to all of this. The post racial America was never a thing

Every election will be the “most important”.
We should keep in mind that all the movements that pushed this country forward, took decades. Whether it was civil rights or women’s rights.
Do not for one second, think this will be better soon.
We have now picked up the mantle from our heroes of the past. Onward we go!

[Hugh_Lebowski]

8. As I often point out, these people exist in every country

Which is why I'm 99% convinced it's genetic, part of our evolutionary heritage.

Same is true with liberals.

Like Jeebus, and many of the Founding Fathers, who were quite liberal for their era overall.

I think there's a species survival advantage to having a certain % of the population be extremely self-serving, and a certain % who are more community-oriented.

[Midnight Writer]

9. They remind me of The Know-Nothings from before the Civil War.

The Know-Nothings were organized around anti-immigrant hatred and called themselves The Know-Nothings because they were proud of their ignorance and reactionary against educated "elitists".

[Celerity]

18. You are applying a modern template from now to a more complicated, mixed past.

A key to understanding a lot back then is that the Democrats (especially in the South) were often tge truly overall malevolent force in American politics, by far more likely to be slavers and reactionary.

The Know Nothings were a real mixed bag, with some truly horrid views and yet some views that were far more like the modern Democratic Party. They opposed the Southern Democratic slavers as well.

Here:


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Know_Nothing

The Know Nothings supplemented their xenophobic views with populist appeals. The party was progressive in its stances on "issues of labor rights and the need for more government spending" and furnished "support for an expansion of the rights of women, the regulation of industry, and support of measures which were designed to improve the status of working people." It was a forerunner of the temperance movement in the United States. The Know Nothing movement briefly emerged as a major political party in the form of the American Party.

The collapse of the Whig Party after the passage of the Kansas–Nebraska Act left an opening for the emergence of a new major political party in opposition to the Democratic Party. The Know Nothing movement managed to elect congressman Nathaniel P. Banks of Massachusetts and several other individuals into office in the 1854 elections, and it subsequently coalesced into a new political party which was known as the American Party. Particularly in the South, the American Party served as a vehicle for politicians who opposed the Democrats. Many of the American Party's members and supporters also hoped that it would stake out a middle ground between the pro-slavery positions of Democratic politicians and the radical anti-slavery positions of the rapidly emerging Republican Party. The American Party nominated former President Millard Fillmore in the 1856 presidential election, but he kept quiet about his membership in it, and he personally refrained from supporting the Know Nothing movement's activities and ideology. Fillmore received 21.5% of the popular vote in the 1856 presidential election, finishing behind the Democratic and Republican nominees.

The party entered a period of rapid decline after Fillmore's loss in the 1856 presidential election and the Dred Scott v. Sandford decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in 1857 further galvanized opposition to slavery in the North, causing many former Know Nothings to join the Republicans. The remnants of the American Party largely joined the Constitutional Union Party in 1860 and they disappeared during the American Civil War.

snip

[ITAL]

25. Even more complicated

The Democrats, though largely the party of southern slavery, were more receptive of immigration that the Know-Nothings and beat the Whigs over the head as far as being exclusionary, since in many northeastern cities the Whigs and Know-Nothings formed governing alliances together.

The North had much more of the (mainly) Irish immigration, so the Nativist fear of Catholics was higher there than the South in the 1840s and 50s.

[Silent3]

10. We can change how much care and feeding they get, however

The fascist, conspiracy-prone personality exists on a spectrum. The worst of MAGA-like people will get there on their own without much help. The rest, however, either won't strongly manifest a MAGA-like personality, or they will quietly keep it to themselves, if they don't get fed lots of propaganda, and don't feel like they have a lot of social support.

For years now people have been complaining about Democrat's "messaging", that they aren't as effective at it as Republicans. But Republican messaging isn't superior in general, it's superior at motivating the worst in people. They've been targeting people's basest motivations for decades now, and amping it up more and more until we got to where we are today, because it's a seductively easy way to gain power.

Perhaps Republicans, just as we teeter on the precipice of losing our democracy, have finally hit a brick wall on the effectiveness of that approach. They've finally created too much disgust in the often tuned-out public for their rabid followers to overcome.

Unfortunately it's only electoral defeat, not human decency, that will possibly change Republican power brokers' calculus on whether they cater so strongly to the worst in voter behavior and attitudes.

[Norbert]

11. As I read somewhere;

The GOP should be forced to carry Donald tRump to term.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

12. Yep. Racism, ignorance, and fanaticism will ALWAYS be well financed.

[louis-t]

13. I noticed my MAGA acquaintances are either very philosophic

or downright angry and spewing nonsense these days. One guy sez the only "free" states left are FL and TX. Angrily denouncing our "crappy blue state". Some others are posting poetic sayings on their fb about self-love, self-determination, etc. It's like they're in mourning. The one they worship is going down in flames finally.

[CrispyQ]

14. We could create a culture that didn't cultivate so many of them.

What would that look like?

[scipan]

17. One with less fear? Especially economic fear I guess

Like having a true health care system so that people would never go bankrupt paying medical bills.

Like having a good welfare state that just keeps anyone from dying of starvation or hypothermia or being murdered because they have to live on the street.

I'd sure like to give it a try

[CrispyQ]

19. I'd like to give it a try, too.

I was going to say let's build an economy for all & not just the few. I really do believe much of the dissatisfaction & anger the right has is economic. The American dream that your kids will do better than you isn't nearly as possible as it was 40-50 years ago. We should go back to a progressive tax, rein in predatory capitalism, & start investing in We the People.

I asked one of my right wing relatives "What's the point of a national defense budget if you don't take care of your people?" His answer was that the people need to take care of themselves.

It's a different world view. Jared Bernstein called it the YOYOs vs the WITTs. Your On Your Own vs We're In This Together. Bernstein was Biden's economic adviser when he was VP.

[scipan]

21. That's it in a nutshell! So concise.

[ironman99]

15. Yes Magas have always been with us

Just look at the end of the Whig party in the 1850s. They splintered into two parties: what became the party of Lincoln, and the Know-Nothing party, aka The American Party.

They were anti-Catholic, occasionally antisemitic, which led them to anti-immigration.

[ITAL]

26. The Know-Nothings

They actually pretty much died off before Lincoln's presidency. They were ascendant in the 40's and 50s, but by 1860 they were all but done.

[Wounded Bear]

16. Sad, but true...trump just enabled them...nt

[Kennah]

20. A few more losses and maybe they stick their heads back down

[moondust]

22. What attracted them to the Chief Birther?

The "grabber" who was known for his numerous bankruptcies, "alternative facts," and no past experience or proficiency in public service?

And to the Tea Party?

Was it the their party's policy agenda? Well, I guess not since they didn't have one.

So what did the Chief Birther and the Tea Party have that attracted so many voters? There must be something.

Midterms have shown that they're still out there but their standard-bearer who elevated and sanctioned their behavior--likely aiding its spread to other parts of the world--may be replaced.

[LeftInTX]

23. Yep!

[Just A Box Of Rain]

24. Populism has always been a threat

and will always be a threat.

[Aristus]

29. If we could just get their population to shrink a little.

Just small enough to drown in a bathtub. Although the mere sight of a bathtub may cause your typical MAGAt to die of fright...

[Hermit-The-Prog]

30. Grant, 1875 ...