So. I made an enemy this week.

[ShazzieB]

28. I've come to the conclusion that MAGA is not really a political movement so much as a fandom.

It's not really about a shared ideology (although Trump fans do have many shared beliefs). At its core, MAGA is a community based on fanatical devotion to Trump the celebrity and media personality.

When he was starring on The Apprentice, he acquired a fan base of admirers who believed that he really was the fantastically rich and successful businessman portrayed in that show. I strongly suspect (though I can't prove it) that his road to political success was paved by the devotion of fans who had followed that TV series and already saw him as the embodiment of success, wealth, and power before he ever held his first political rally.

Along the way, MAGA fandom grew way beyond Apprentice fandom and into a subculture held together by the sense of community and identity Trump fans acquire through their participation in it.

I really wish someone would do a serious academic study of how the public image TSF acquired through The Apprentice set him up for political success. I honestly thjnk there could be a doctoral dissertation in there for the right researcher.

When I look at MAGA through the lens of fandom, it's not that surprising to me that his fans don't share a coherent political set of political principles. They don't need one, because MAGA is not about that. I believe that's why it's so hard to reach those people through logical, well-reasoned arguments, and why it's so hard to shake their devotion to MAGA even when you can get them to see some of the contradictions.

If there was some way to get them to see that TSF is not the stong, rich, powerful hero5 they think he is, but rather a weak, sniveling coward who has lied to them and misled them over and over again, that might do the trick, but I don't see any way to accomplish that. They're too invested in believing he's their savior who is going to fight for them and get rid of everything that makes them uncomfortable, and they're too good at waving away any information they don't like as "fake news," just as he taught them to do.