Reply to Crunchy MAGA: The New Right of the 2020s.

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[quote=Anonymous]OP back, appreciate the engagement, now addressing some counterpoints.

First, I understand criticism of the Democrats and agree with a lot of what people have to say. Just as I understand how opposing Biden and the Democrats is now the "cool, counterculture" position to be in. The Democratic Party leadership and the issues they get embroiled in are stale and uninspiring, and the big issues they campaign in like "preserving our democracy" (what happened to the voting rights bill?) "protecting women's right to choose" (why did we never codify Roe in congress when we could?) and all progressive economic proposals get watered down to nothing. What they have left is, get in line, beat Trump, I'm not Trump. So I can definitely see how the Democratic/liberal/left can be seen as uncool, stodgy, rigid, rule-followers.

What I don't get is how the right seems to uncritically follow Trump. If your ideology is based around being contrarian, being skeptical of government and authority, then why this creepy reverence of Trump? Why the cult following? Even if I didn't have any opinion on Trump it would still be weird. The closest anyone has come to explaining this to me is "we love him because you hate him!" Not exactly a sophisticated thought process. 
Likewise, if you hate Big Tech, then why does the right love Elon Musk? Because he trolls in their favor, that's it?
They think Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos and of course George Soros are the evil cabal of billionaires, but Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, and Trump are the good guys, the truthtellers, the heroes? Is this not cognitive dissonance at least? The way I see it: None of the billionaires care about you. Stop worshipping idols, on any side.

I wrote this post to show people how I'm trying to figure out the 2020s-era New Right. Out of pure curiosity to some extent, but also believe it or not, out of love. As I said I'm still best friends with this person I described. We have a lot more in common and we realize that. The main difference is she is just OVER government involvement in almost anything (she probably likes her local councilpeople who are Democrats, to a certain extent, except maybe not on zoning issues), and I still want to believe in good smart government, though it certainly needs an overhaul of its priorities. I would like a better say in how my tax dollars are being used, she would rather not pay any taxes and just take care of things herself. She supports Trump, even after being disgusted by him at first (said he was a narcissistic clown), she's not full-on cultish MAGA but gives him way more benefits of the doubt simply because the media tells her not to and she knows she distrusts the mainstream media and thinks they were too hysterical during his first term and never gave him a chance. I am probably voting for Biden if that's who we're stuck with, I can't stand Trump, but I don't love the Democrats either, I think the government has the potential to do a lot of good things but very few people in power are willing to do so. There are some things we just disagree on and that's fine. There are things I can understand where she's coming from, and there are things that just... don't make sense.

How can someone who values a critical eye, healthy skepticism, distrust of authority, support someone with such a mass uncritical cult following?
How can someone who loves beauty, peace, the natural world, caring for helpless living things, support someone who is so boorish, embodies the Ugly American stereotype, is so disrespectful to so many different kinds of people (especially women), and is just ugly and selfish?
How can someone have distrust in Big Corporations and love the environment, but also want to take away the regulations that are supposed to prevent big industry from releasing pollutants into our air and water and land? I understand opposing regulations from a small business point of view, and it would be great if we could reach some kind of agreement about smart environmental regulations for big corporations while giving small businesses more leeway. But the knee-jerk reaction to anything government gets in the way.

I wrote these long posts really because I want to understand people more. I wish a MAGA Trump supporter would engage in a similar dialogue. I know that not all Trump supporters are mouth-breathing confederate flag-waving gun-toting obese rednecks in coal-rolling pickuptrucks who eat red meat all day.  And I know you know that the left is not all Biden-worshipping "HOA Karen" types wearing pink pussyhats all day, nor are we all overweight screeching genderqueer pink-haired, tattooed, septum-pierced, crybabies wearing masks alone in the car. I am fully aware of the cultural realignment on the right. I'd like the right to know that there is plenty of cultural realignment on the left and that we agree on more than we think. Let's learn more about what we don't understand about each other.[/quote]

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