I wonder if a useful approach might be to ask, not why they are afraid, but why they are concerned.
For a lot of people, admitting to being afraid is shameful. (And, for some men, an attack on their manhood.). But there's nothing wrong with being concerned. It might be a way to get the conversation to the place you want it to go. Without getting the reflexive rejection of the whole thing.
I'm pretty much happy to talk to anybody about whatever, but I more or less insist on sticking to reality. If folks insist on doubling down on stuff that is simply factually wrong, I excuse myself from the conversation.
What I take away from most of my fairly limited collection of conversations with MAGAs is that they feel threatened. They are afraid. I don't really understand why, and the reasons are probably different for different people. That is what I'd really like to talk to them about, but it's hard to steer the conversation in that direction.
Nobody likes to admit they're basically just afraid.
I was at a local ICE office yesterday for a protest and noticed that they've begun putting badging and insignia on their vehicles. Some of them, anyway, some are still unmarked.
One of the slogans on the vehicles reads "Defending the homeland". And it just kind of made me laugh. Defending the homeland from the guy who mows your lawn? Your waiter? The woman taking care of your grandmother in the nursing home? The people picking lettuce?
What's the threat?
The Stephen Millers Kristi Noems and Kash Patels of the world understand and work on that sense of threat by making absurd claims. 5% of the population of Chicago are violent antifa extremists! Tren de Agua has taken over downtown Portland!
It's risible, but it resonates with people who are already afraid. I want to understand why they're afraid. But it's hard to get the conversation to that point.
There's also the whole nativist / nationalist streak in American history and in our national character. It's been there from the get. The early English folks looked down on and were suspicious of the German immigrants. Then both were suspicious of the Irish. Then all of them were suspicious of the eastern and southern Europeans. Then the Hispanics. Everybody hated the Chinese until pretty recently. And everybody has always had issues with black people, who have been here longer than almost everyone else, and mostly had no choice about being here in the first place.
The endless argument about who is a "real American".
I'm still trying to understand WTF people are on about when they talk about "western civilization", which of course is yet another thing that is always on the verge of being subsumed by the latest wave of People Who Are Not Like Us.
It's all fear. Toxic, destructive fear.
I would like to talk to MAGAs about what the hell it is they are afraid of. What is that they think is going to happen. What precious thing are they going to lose.
I'm not sure how to get to that conversation. I sure as hell am tired to debating with them about crap like whether the Haitians are eating their pets, or whether blacks are roaming the streets looking for white people to assault. Or whether ICE are engaged in nightly hand to hand combat with the armies of antifa.
What's going on is too fraught right now to waste time on bullshit.
I'd say if it makes him happy and gets him to STFU about the whole thing, let him have the win. He may even deserve some credit, fair's fair.
My fear is that this is just gonna send his whole "I deserve a Nobel Peace Prize" thing into overdrive. Obama got one, so he has to have one. Sometimes I think his entire life for the last 15 years has been consumed by trying to out-do Obama.
Anything that black guy can do, I can do better! Just watch!!
And who knows, Kissinger got one, so anything's possible.
I hope this actually turns into some kind of path forward for Israel, and for the Palestinians. I don't trust Netanyahu or the jerks he surrounds himself with further than I can throw him, or them. And it would be good for somebody other than Hamas to be running things.
Actually, it would be good for Hamas to just go the hell away.
If there's a part of the world with a more unsettled history than the eastern Med, I'm not aware of it. Fingers crossed for something like peace for the folks there.
As an observation, for 80 years the pattern has been that from time to time Israel expands its borders somewhat, and from time to time it expels some of the non-Jewish population (for various values of expel). It seems to me unlikely that this is going to suddenly change.
The moment the hostages go free the yahoo from Netanja will de facto renege on the deal. And of course the operations in the West Bank will proceed and likely accelerate aiming for a violent reaction giving the pretense to go full Gaza on the areas where Palestinians live. Or maybe not full Gaza since the settlers would likely prefer to get all of it intact. Otherwise the current cabinet would break up because the two Nazis will resign and leave the yahoo without a majority which in turn is likely to finally make the corruption trial against him proceed and get him into jail. He would not like that.
What's amazing to me is how few commentators, explaining why Trump has so recently started putting real pressure on Netanyahu, are making the connection with a) Trump's fury with Israel attacking Qatar, his favourite gold-drenched plane donors, and b) what must be his growing understanding that the old automatic calculation that American presidents need to keep the US Jewish community sweet is changing, and has changed, as a result of Israel's extraordinarily disproportionate reaction to the admittedly horrific events of 10/7/23.
I don’t think it really matters that much if Trump is around to be the Dear Leader of MAGA or not. When he is gone, there will still be a whole Republican party that enabled him to the max and the hate/fear propaganda bubble will still be poisoning our political discourse.
I think it will matter. Here's why.
My distinct impression is that the vast majority of MAGAs are made, not born. For those that are born, they can get their dopamine hit from lots of places. They did pre-Trump and they will again when he's gone.
As for those who are made, Trump matters because he is, par excellence, a con man; a salesman for the radical right. Nobody else that they've got can hold a candle to him. When he's gone, there isn't anyone with a real chance of picking up the baton. (Lots who are convinced they can. But none who anybody else thinks can pull it off.)
The thing about the enablers is that they are, at heart, followers. No doubt they would like to keep the whole fear/hate coalition going. But I don't think they can pull it off. The folks around Trump are actually four or five groups with very different agendas, united only by their recognition that they can use Trump to move those agendas forward. And their increasing desperation as MAGAland fragments will only make it fragment faster.
The thing to remember about those groups is that their various agendas are seriously unpopular. Even with the other groups. Without Trump as a useful umbrella to (sort of) unite them, they will crumble.
The problem for those who want to roll on after Trump is the same one that has historically faced autocrats: how to guarantee the succession. The traditional approach, from monarchs throughout history to Kim Il Sung, is to go with the founder's children -- genetics as legitimacy. But Trump's children are jokes. And Trump's ego won't tolerate anybody else stealing his limelight to build a post-Trump coalition ahead of time. And there's really nobody else who can effectively unite them.
As for the question of how to jar the "made" ones back to reality, a few may jump ship as reality (economy tanking, etc.) starts to hit home. But for the rest, I think that, unfortunately, the best that can be done is to prepare the ground for the day when he passes from the scene. Then, but probably only then, can they be brought to see their objections to those who would follow after.
All of which is not to csay that the Democrats couldn't use a charismatic leader (or several) of their own. But so far, nobody has risen significantly above the throng.
Thank you, JP. As for messaging, the people of Portland are doing it right; the image of ICE teargassing a silly inflatable dinosaur is not what Cruelty Barbie and King Pussygrabber want. The NYT noticed and had an article to the effect that "Portland responds to ICE with whimsy" and this morning's Wall Street Journal, under the headline "What's really going on in Portland" details out from police logs that answer is "Not much at all." Maybe Walz has the smartest approach of all: "These people are nuts."
I actually agree with pretty much all of this, particularly with describing openly what much of the R/Trumpian project really does to ordinary people. I think it's particularly effective to expose the lies, call them lies, and provide clear proof. The fact that, on the shutdown, D messages on the loss of health care are cutting through is a good example. It seems obvious to me that the finer points of progressive ideological concerns do not cut through to the electorate, or move the Overton window (except in the wrong direction).
I put this as a comment so as not to distract. The post is wonkie's, but the image of a spade is what I found at Amazon.
I'm grateful for her guestpost and want to encourage others if they have something they want to say. I think I have demonstrated that posts don't need to be airtight. Just send them over the transom to libjpn@gmail.com.
Some might wonder what would happen if a submission came in that I and the powers behind the screen (Russell, janiem and wj) were vehemently opposed to. Well, we can burn that bridge when we come to it. So give it a try, what do you have to lose?
Without wishing to continue to pile on CharlesWT, I want to reach way back to the link he provided to one Brandi Kruse.
Here is Ms. Kruse from Trump's "round table" on antifa today. h/t Atrios (https://www.eschatonblog.com/2025/10/sure-why-not_8.html):
"This is one of the reasons I recovered from it. By the way, it’s much better to not have TDS. I’m happier, healthier, more successful. I even think I got a little more attractive after I got rid of my Trump Derangement System"
I'm happy for Ms. Kruse, and I'm glad she's feeling more attractive these days.
These really are the most trivial people on the planet.
Big thumbs up for Josh Johnson. It is astonishing to me that he can craft a bit that is structured and crafted, but sounds like someone telling a story at a party off the cuff to a bunch of friends. Pretty amazing.
Less power if you've got an OLED (or other emissive) display. If you've got older/cheaper tech, black pixels and white pixels all consume the same amount of power.
I'd be interested to see the corruption index. My sense is that Russia, for example, is at a whole different level from China.
I think it's possible to have a growing economy dispite widespread corruption. But much harder than without that corruption. Also, I'd argue that there is a point where corruption gets so bad that economic growth becomes impossible. Clearly China isn't there. But I'm not sure how close they might be to the limit.
Jim Gaffigan? Rats. Though I do have to say I don't find him nearly as funny as I used to. In fact, I can't remember the last time I watched him on YT, or anywhere else.
Are we recommending comedians? If so: Josh Johnson! He has a mighty YouTube presence. Some of his posts are for channel members only (which I am not) but most are free. He is my newest Favorite Comedian.
Listening to Trump's babblings, it seems that he genuinely believes that Portland is burning (in so far as he believes anything at all). Apparently he thinks Fox reports which (maliciously) recycle video from 2020 are showing current events.
Like Biden, he's not all there after sunset. Unlike Biden, he's surrounded himself with people who are unwilling to put him right when he's confused.
One constitutional amendment which could conceivably get bipartisan support would be an upper age limit for presidents and vice-presidents. I suggest 66 at the scheduled inauguration date, with a sitting president being allowed regardless to run for re-election for a second term .
Although, for those who have issues, white on black uses a lot less battery. My phone, at least, swaps to that automatically when the battery gets low.
LJ,
Frankly, it gives me the willies. Too funereal, too haunted-house-ish. Readable, but ... meh.
First time commenting from my phone, BTW. Let's see how it works.
--TP
Another tweak, wpDiscuz only allows the comment box at the top, so I've set the order for Newest to appear first, so anything you are replying to should appear immediately below the comment form box.
*Comment archive for non-registered commenters assembled by email address as provided.
On “Let’s start calling a thug a thug”
I wonder if a useful approach might be to ask, not why they are afraid, but why they are concerned.
For a lot of people, admitting to being afraid is shameful. (And, for some men, an attack on their manhood.). But there's nothing wrong with being concerned. It might be a way to get the conversation to the place you want it to go. Without getting the reflexive rejection of the whole thing.
Just a thought.
On “…..”
"Anything that black guy can do, I can do better! Just watch!!"
Anything that black guy WHO LAUGHED AT ME can do, I can do better! Just watch!!
Fixed that for you, including what was really the most infuriating for him.
On “Let’s start calling a thug a thug”
I'm pretty much happy to talk to anybody about whatever, but I more or less insist on sticking to reality. If folks insist on doubling down on stuff that is simply factually wrong, I excuse myself from the conversation.
What I take away from most of my fairly limited collection of conversations with MAGAs is that they feel threatened. They are afraid. I don't really understand why, and the reasons are probably different for different people. That is what I'd really like to talk to them about, but it's hard to steer the conversation in that direction.
Nobody likes to admit they're basically just afraid.
I was at a local ICE office yesterday for a protest and noticed that they've begun putting badging and insignia on their vehicles. Some of them, anyway, some are still unmarked.
One of the slogans on the vehicles reads "Defending the homeland". And it just kind of made me laugh. Defending the homeland from the guy who mows your lawn? Your waiter? The woman taking care of your grandmother in the nursing home? The people picking lettuce?
What's the threat?
The Stephen Millers Kristi Noems and Kash Patels of the world understand and work on that sense of threat by making absurd claims. 5% of the population of Chicago are violent antifa extremists! Tren de Agua has taken over downtown Portland!
It's risible, but it resonates with people who are already afraid. I want to understand why they're afraid. But it's hard to get the conversation to that point.
There's also the whole nativist / nationalist streak in American history and in our national character. It's been there from the get. The early English folks looked down on and were suspicious of the German immigrants. Then both were suspicious of the Irish. Then all of them were suspicious of the eastern and southern Europeans. Then the Hispanics. Everybody hated the Chinese until pretty recently. And everybody has always had issues with black people, who have been here longer than almost everyone else, and mostly had no choice about being here in the first place.
The endless argument about who is a "real American".
I'm still trying to understand WTF people are on about when they talk about "western civilization", which of course is yet another thing that is always on the verge of being subsumed by the latest wave of People Who Are Not Like Us.
It's all fear. Toxic, destructive fear.
I would like to talk to MAGAs about what the hell it is they are afraid of. What is that they think is going to happen. What precious thing are they going to lose.
I'm not sure how to get to that conversation. I sure as hell am tired to debating with them about crap like whether the Haitians are eating their pets, or whether blacks are roaming the streets looking for white people to assault. Or whether ICE are engaged in nightly hand to hand combat with the armies of antifa.
What's going on is too fraught right now to waste time on bullshit.
On “…..”
I'd say if it makes him happy and gets him to STFU about the whole thing, let him have the win. He may even deserve some credit, fair's fair.
My fear is that this is just gonna send his whole "I deserve a Nobel Peace Prize" thing into overdrive. Obama got one, so he has to have one. Sometimes I think his entire life for the last 15 years has been consumed by trying to out-do Obama.
Anything that black guy can do, I can do better! Just watch!!
And who knows, Kissinger got one, so anything's possible.
I hope this actually turns into some kind of path forward for Israel, and for the Palestinians. I don't trust Netanyahu or the jerks he surrounds himself with further than I can throw him, or them. And it would be good for somebody other than Hamas to be running things.
Actually, it would be good for Hamas to just go the hell away.
If there's a part of the world with a more unsettled history than the eastern Med, I'm not aware of it. Fingers crossed for something like peace for the folks there.
"
As an observation, for 80 years the pattern has been that from time to time Israel expands its borders somewhat, and from time to time it expels some of the non-Jewish population (for various values of expel). It seems to me unlikely that this is going to suddenly change.
"
The moment the hostages go free the yahoo from Netanja will de facto renege on the deal. And of course the operations in the West Bank will proceed and likely accelerate aiming for a violent reaction giving the pretense to go full Gaza on the areas where Palestinians live. Or maybe not full Gaza since the settlers would likely prefer to get all of it intact. Otherwise the current cabinet would break up because the two Nazis will resign and leave the yahoo without a majority which in turn is likely to finally make the corruption trial against him proceed and get him into jail. He would not like that.
"
What's amazing to me is how few commentators, explaining why Trump has so recently started putting real pressure on Netanyahu, are making the connection with a) Trump's fury with Israel attacking Qatar, his favourite gold-drenched plane donors, and b) what must be his growing understanding that the old automatic calculation that American presidents need to keep the US Jewish community sweet is changing, and has changed, as a result of Israel's extraordinarily disproportionate reaction to the admittedly horrific events of 10/7/23.
On “Let’s start calling a thug a thug”
I don’t think it really matters that much if Trump is around to be the Dear Leader of MAGA or not. When he is gone, there will still be a whole Republican party that enabled him to the max and the hate/fear propaganda bubble will still be poisoning our political discourse.
I think it will matter. Here's why.
My distinct impression is that the vast majority of MAGAs are made, not born. For those that are born, they can get their dopamine hit from lots of places. They did pre-Trump and they will again when he's gone.
As for those who are made, Trump matters because he is, par excellence, a con man; a salesman for the radical right. Nobody else that they've got can hold a candle to him. When he's gone, there isn't anyone with a real chance of picking up the baton. (Lots who are convinced they can. But none who anybody else thinks can pull it off.)
The thing about the enablers is that they are, at heart, followers. No doubt they would like to keep the whole fear/hate coalition going. But I don't think they can pull it off. The folks around Trump are actually four or five groups with very different agendas, united only by their recognition that they can use Trump to move those agendas forward. And their increasing desperation as MAGAland fragments will only make it fragment faster.
The thing to remember about those groups is that their various agendas are seriously unpopular. Even with the other groups. Without Trump as a useful umbrella to (sort of) unite them, they will crumble.
The problem for those who want to roll on after Trump is the same one that has historically faced autocrats: how to guarantee the succession. The traditional approach, from monarchs throughout history to Kim Il Sung, is to go with the founder's children -- genetics as legitimacy. But Trump's children are jokes. And Trump's ego won't tolerate anybody else stealing his limelight to build a post-Trump coalition ahead of time. And there's really nobody else who can effectively unite them.
As for the question of how to jar the "made" ones back to reality, a few may jump ship as reality (economy tanking, etc.) starts to hit home. But for the rest, I think that, unfortunately, the best that can be done is to prepare the ground for the day when he passes from the scene. Then, but probably only then, can they be brought to see their objections to those who would follow after.
All of which is not to csay that the Democrats couldn't use a charismatic leader (or several) of their own. But so far, nobody has risen significantly above the throng.
On “…..”
From what little I've seen, it appears that this is an achievement of the President of Egypt. Certainly far more his than Trump's.
If Trump deserves any credit at all, it is for being so utterly inconsistent, even on a day to day basis, that Bibi got nervous.
On “Let’s start calling a thug a thug”
Thank you, JP. As for messaging, the people of Portland are doing it right; the image of ICE teargassing a silly inflatable dinosaur is not what Cruelty Barbie and King Pussygrabber want. The NYT noticed and had an article to the effect that "Portland responds to ICE with whimsy" and this morning's Wall Street Journal, under the headline "What's really going on in Portland" details out from police logs that answer is "Not much at all." Maybe Walz has the smartest approach of all: "These people are nuts."
On “Chinese corruption”
[…] Obsidian Wings** – China’s Gilded Age (now with extra corruption!) […]
On “Let’s start calling a thug a thug”
I actually agree with pretty much all of this, particularly with describing openly what much of the R/Trumpian project really does to ordinary people. I think it's particularly effective to expose the lies, call them lies, and provide clear proof. The fact that, on the shutdown, D messages on the loss of health care are cutting through is a good example. It seems obvious to me that the finer points of progressive ideological concerns do not cut through to the electorate, or move the Overton window (except in the wrong direction).
"
I put this as a comment so as not to distract. The post is wonkie's, but the image of a spade is what I found at Amazon.
I'm grateful for her guestpost and want to encourage others if they have something they want to say. I think I have demonstrated that posts don't need to be airtight. Just send them over the transom to libjpn@gmail.com.
Some might wonder what would happen if a submission came in that I and the powers behind the screen (Russell, janiem and wj) were vehemently opposed to. Well, we can burn that bridge when we come to it. So give it a try, what do you have to lose?
On “Where are the 5 words?”
Comments about Trump Derangement Syndrome put me in mind of this old saw:
It's not paranoia if they really are out to get you.
Similarly, its not TDS to say that he's deranged. Not to mention demented and amoral and childish and vindictive and....
"
Without wishing to continue to pile on CharlesWT, I want to reach way back to the link he provided to one Brandi Kruse.
Here is Ms. Kruse from Trump's "round table" on antifa today. h/t Atrios (https://www.eschatonblog.com/2025/10/sure-why-not_8.html):
I'm happy for Ms. Kruse, and I'm glad she's feeling more attractive these days.
These really are the most trivial people on the planet.
On “Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk, nyuk”
Big thumbs up for Josh Johnson. It is astonishing to me that he can craft a bit that is structured and crafted, but sounds like someone telling a story at a party off the cuff to a bunch of friends. Pretty amazing.
His bit on Bad Bunny has some points that I want to use in a future post, but for now, just enjoy.
https://youtu.be/QU93N7saW_E?si=vJCj4XdfM9fEkjwM
On “Excelsior 2.1”
Less power if you've got an OLED (or other emissive) display. If you've got older/cheaper tech, black pixels and white pixels all consume the same amount of power.
On “Chinese corruption”
I'd be interested to see the corruption index. My sense is that Russia, for example, is at a whole different level from China.
I think it's possible to have a growing economy dispite widespread corruption. But much harder than without that corruption. Also, I'd argue that there is a point where corruption gets so bad that economic growth becomes impossible. Clearly China isn't there. But I'm not sure how close they might be to the limit.
On “Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk, nyuk”
Jim Gaffigan? Rats. Though I do have to say I don't find him nearly as funny as I used to. In fact, I can't remember the last time I watched him on YT, or anywhere else.
Are we recommending comedians? If so: Josh Johnson! He has a mighty YouTube presence. Some of his posts are for channel members only (which I am not) but most are free. He is my newest Favorite Comedian.
On “Where are the 5 words?”
Listening to Trump's babblings, it seems that he genuinely believes that Portland is burning (in so far as he believes anything at all). Apparently he thinks Fox reports which (maliciously) recycle video from 2020 are showing current events.
Like Biden, he's not all there after sunset. Unlike Biden, he's surrounded himself with people who are unwilling to put him right when he's confused.
One constitutional amendment which could conceivably get bipartisan support would be an upper age limit for presidents and vice-presidents. I suggest 66 at the scheduled inauguration date, with a sitting president being allowed regardless to run for re-election for a second term .
On “Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk, nyuk”
Well, I can start watching this guy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nb0Vd-XnlkU
On “Excelsior 2.1”
Although, for those who have issues, white on black uses a lot less battery. My phone, at least, swaps to that automatically when the battery gets low.
"
LJ,
Frankly, it gives me the willies. Too funereal, too haunted-house-ish. Readable, but ... meh.
First time commenting from my phone, BTW. Let's see how it works.
--TP
"
We've done dark writing on light media since at least the ancient Egyptians. For a variety of reasons, including how the human vision system works.
"
Another tweak, wpDiscuz only allows the comment box at the top, so I've set the order for Newest to appear first, so anything you are replying to should appear immediately below the comment form box.
*Comment archive for non-registered commenters assembled by email address as provided.