As hard as it is to talk to your MAGA friends and aquaintances,

[applegrove]

now is a time when they might be open to new ideas about Trump. If they reach out to you, give them a chance to change their personal relationship to Trump (now that he is a known crook) and maybe to you. They've been exploited and exploited people go through a bewilderment phase where they try and square what is going on with the reality they assumed was right. That can lead to shock, denial, anger, bargaining and all the stages of trauma and grief. Take the pulse of those you know in the MAGA crowd.

[BOSSHOG]

1. Take their pulse with what?

I greatly appreciate your sentiment and in the long run you are right. But.

I’m in no mood to play nice with the garbage which has done incredible damage to our political institutions. For no apparent good reason. They are ignorant and incorrigible. Maybe in about 20 years I’ll calm down enough not to want to kick their asses.

[NoMoreRepugs]

2. Can't do it.

[Hortensis]

3. You bet. We have 5 grandchildren who need and have a right to the country

we grew up in -- and our opportunities. We can't lose them everything.

[applegrove]

5. There is hope.

[Hortensis]

6. Yes, lots of hope. We're winning, and our institutions have proven

much more resilient than we feared. And even if it sometimes doesn't seem like it, half of those on the right have basically the same values and expectations for their futures as we do.

Nothing's going to happen overnight, of course. A few more percent not voting Republican in November would mean a big shift of power. More, more. We need to get our Democracy Rescue legislation etcetera passed.

[CanonRay]

4. I no longer have a relationship with any of those people

[TwilightZone]

7. They don't agree that he's a crook.

I'm not sure why that's so difficult for some to understand. It doesn't matter what Trump does, and I mean that quite literally. They will *never* hold him responsible, will *always* believe whatever he says, and will *always* blame Democrats. The vast, vast majority of them will never waver.

Why? Two primary reasons: 1) they only get their information from Trump, Fox News, OAN, Tucker Carlson and other right-wing media and social media. They can't be persuaded by information that they never see or hear. 2) Trumpism is quite clearly a cult. The cult members are conditioned to believe whatever the leader of the cult says.

Edit: typo

[Diamond_Dog]

12. +++This.

The Democrats are harassing him with trumped-up charges. They’re being so mean!

Nobody’s perfect.

Leave the poor guy alone. He was our beloved President!

He did a lot of good things for this country!

Etc. Etc.

[Floyd R. Turbo]

8. I have none!

[YDogg]

11. I'm with you.

[Sky Jewels]

28. Seriously!

"MAGA friends" is the biggest oxymoron I can think of!

[liberal N proud]

9. I guess I quit my job a week too early

Their reaction would be fun to watch. They are deep MAGAs

I recall in 2012 when Obama won his second term, I was sitting in a meeting with managers (different job). There were several of the managers nearly in tears over the election.

[usonian]

10. Just say you like SOME of his ideas. Like these ..,

[Historic NY]

13. I think building a gallows might get them thinking..

]

[Arazi]

14. They're even more fervent Trumpers now

I’m not sure you understand how deeply they’ve bought into his persecution and grievance complex.

#Traitor has had the finest disinfo coaches on the planet (Russian intelligence) combined with his malignant narcissism and has been preparing his MAGAts for years for exactly this moment.

They’re not failing him now

[Shanti Shanti Shanti]

16. Yep, this here. They are doubly, tripley going all in with Trump now, he is their Pharaoh, their god

I just snicker and grin at the over the top holiness of their frothy fervor, lol

[Aristus]

15. No.

They deliberately subjected our country to a nightmare from which we are yet to awaken.

To Hell with all of them, and I only wish they could suffer a million times more than we did starting in 2016. They voted for one of the most horrible people on the planet because they were pissed that we had a black President.

[DontBelieveEastisEas]

19. I'm thinking that is not why they voted for Him.

1. First, if they were so set against black people, they would have voted republican anyway.

2. Second, if that drove their turnout, the turnout would have been even more driven when they could have voted against a black president.

3. Third, I know one of the MAGAts that even voted FOR the black president the first time.

__________________________________________________________________

I believe I know at least a few things that drove them to vote for the worst president ever.
(In their minds)

1. They loved his, 'you're fired', 'high success' image.

2. He told them he would 'HIRE' only the brightest.

3. His Charisma.

4. Saying he would stop the influx of immigrants.

5. He would be the first real 'businessman' to run things.

6. He was the Chosen one.

[applegrove]

23. +1

[Sky Jewels]

29. Studies have shown that racism was the #1 factor in Trump's election.

"Stop the influx of immigrants" is part of the racism.

[GoodRaisin]

32. +1

[hunter]

17. My MAGA family, friends, and acquaintances learned a long time ago...

... that I'm not a person they want to talk to about politics.

Maybe they are thinking, "Man, that Hunter guy, freaking socialist asshole he is, maybe he was right about Trump!"

I suspect they'll never confess it, and claim they never voted for Trump.

They've all heard how I think their saint Ronald Reagan was a meat puppet who would do or say anything for a blow job.

After they hear me saying stuff like that they kind of shut up.

[GoodRaisin]

34. Me either.

Because they know I like to make them explain the things they say. And they can’t.

[Mopar151]

18. They traded their allegiance to America for moar gunz!

They were always confused and bewildered by democracy and the rule of law. Trump.gave them legitimacy and freedom to be their worst selves.

[Emile]

20. I have no patience with the brilliant assholes!

[LowerManhattanite]

21. Charlie Brown has several spinal fractures...

…from all of the falls after Lucy snatched the football away. Which is EVERY time.

[DontBelieveEastisEas]

22. Stupid, Ignorant or Not a Good Person

I told the ones that I know, "if you can not see that Trump is 'Not a Good Person', then you're either 'Stupid' or 'Not a Good person', and I know you're not stupid".

I later realized that there was a 3rd option, ignorance.

I often hope that they start to see the truth.


TFG knew about the red mirage, and yet used it to claim election fraud the night of the election.

Imagine using such a lie for such a purpose! It endangers the United State's democracy.
How mean is that?

The other day, I heard him say, in slightly disguised wording so as to not be held accountable, that, "Ashli Babbitt was 'trying to hold others back' when she was shot by the 'rouge cop'".

There is no truth in that statement by TFG:
Ashli Babbitt was the first, and last, person to cross the last barrier that still separated the members of congress from the riotous mob.

Imagine how harmful that is to the innocent man.
TFG KNOWS it is a lie. And he KNOWS the Red Mirage was working as expected that night.

So yes, I'd love to reach out and try to reason this out with them. Even though it risks alienation, it is worth it in order to attempt change that would benefit mankind.

[Azathoth]

24. Not even close. The stuff coming out of Fox and conservative entertainment

Is outright Rwanda Radio levels of delusional eliminationist rhetoric. Republican congressmen are openly calling on right wing terror militias to prepare for civil war.

The cult of Trump is a creation of this deranged propaganda media, and until it is broken its viewers will be beyond any form of reality or rational argumentation.

[ExWhoDoesntCare]

25. Exploited?

Maybe some of them, but most of them weren't exploited in the least. They supported him because they agreed with the hate he sniveled, even before he came along. The only difference between the average MAGAt and their deformed leader is that he has more money and fame. Give them the same advantages, and you wouldn't be able to find a quark's worth of space between them and their dear leader.

Your kindness is why you can try to see the good in everyone, it does you credit, but it doesn't change the fact that the vast majority like him because they're just like him.

[applegrove]

27. It is not my kindness that makes me post. It is that every week on the DU

somebody posts that MAGAs should never be talked to for any reason. And that is the OP. I have my suspicions that they are right wing trolls worried that MAGA support is based not on most GOP policies but shallow personal relationship MAGAs have with Trump through the TV.

Here is what they are afraid of:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/6/8/2162143/-The-shocking-real-reason-DeSantis-targeted-New-College-is-foretelling-of-things-to-come

Read to the end.

[Boomerproud]

26. KnR to the replies.

[Sky Jewels]

30. If these dumbfucks didn't have an epiphany when

Trump tried to overthrow democracy via a violent coup d'etat attempt nor when he sold out the country by stealing classified documents, I'd say there is probably not a lot of hope for them to suddenly "get it."

Fuck them all. Luckily they are slowly dying out and Gen Z is coming on strong.

[Proud to be Woke]

31. Cultists gotta have a cult figure

My brother, a Hare Krishna adherent, knows several people who call themselves adherents too, who love Trump and say he is godly. He told me that he asked one woman who is a Hare Krishna believer who loves Trump how she can say she feels that way about a man who is so cruel and obviously a crook. He goes against everything they are taught about being moral. She replied with some emotion that "if I gave Trump up, I would have nothing."

My brother admits that some people who joined the Hare Krishna movement only did it to be a member of a cult and if they can't worship one cult figure they will find another one. I have to wonder why some of them apparently lose interest in Krishna and go to Trump.

[sakabatou]

33. Thankfully, I have none