Another in my series of trying to find some plausible explanation for MAGA….

That has become the universal question….how can conservatives, of both parties, support a movement that assaults their lives on so many levels?

There has been a wealth of explanations/excuses for this devotion….and yet so far it has been an elusive answer.

But the people keep trying to make sense out of the chaos.

Below is an interesting take….

Why “Make America Great Again?” Don’t get my question wrong. I put “MAGA” and “Make America Great Again” in quotation marks because by them I refer to the movement, not the general hope of most Americans. Why the specific contemporary movement with Donald Trump at is head? Why are so many Americans passionate about it and so invested in it?

I have read and watched/listened to many attempted explanations. Most of them have part of the truth. Few capture all of it.

Of course, intelligent, reasonable MAGA partners, people associated with the movement, would say the reason for it is the general left-leaning drive of Democrats and others to make America weak, vulnerable, too inclusive, morally relative, and “woke.”

I think there is more to it than that.

As I study the MAGA mentality and movement I see people who are afraid of losing their status. What status? Privileged status in society. They hark back to a time when white men and women (mostly men) enjoyed a special privileged status in America. They fear they are losing that status; it is being taken away from them. Is that fear justified? Well, yes, to a certain extent. What I question is whether that fear justifies the reactions of MAGA and Trumpism. What reactions? Well, for one, hatred of “Mexicans,” especially Spanish-speaking undocumented immigrants from south of the border, especially Central America and Venezuela. Much MAGA fear and hate is focused on them. Not so much because disposing of them is believed to restore white, male (and female) privilege and status but because MAGA people are just angry and fed up and need a scapegoat. Drawing any kind of line from illegal immigrants to loss of status and privilege by white, lower and middle class men (and women) is extremely difficult.

Another reason for MAGA rage, however, is the sense of loss of American supremacy in the world. I believe it stems all the way back/from the dismal end of the Vietnam War. Up through the failure of America’s occupation and combination of Afghanistan. And our seeming helplessness to stop North Korea and other countries who call themselves our enemies and acquire or almost acquire weapons of mass destruction. America’s role as the world’s policeman and its role as the leader of a Pax Americana deeply discourages MAGA people. Who is to blame for it? Who stabbed America in the back? Liberals, of course.

Why “MAGA?”

Regardless of the damage that is done…..parts of the country have clung to MAGA for dear life…..this is another question that begs a descent answer….why does rural American cling to this chaos?

Tom Gish, the crusading editor of The Mountain Eagle in Whitesburg, Ky., — always insisted that if people had the right information, they would make rational decisions in their own best interests. Such optimism, we agreed, needs to be tempered in these times. But how do we explain the reasons for this behavior, such as how much of Appalachia went from heavily Democratic to MAGA-supporting in just a few decades? In fact, the question can also be asked of much of rural America. It takes some digging.

…

For generations, Appalachia existed as a kind of social and economic commons for the country, where promises of help — federal investment, job training, flood protection, health care access — were offered as communal sustenance. Each wave of politicians, agencies and even well-intentioned outsiders acted, in their own short-term interest, to make these promises — while securing votes, funding or moral satisfaction. But like herders adding one more cow, these promises were often poorly implemented, underfunded, quickly abandoned or designed more for political optics than lasting change. Over decades, this relentless “grazing” of pledges, without consistent, effective follow-through, degraded the shared resource of trust down to bare earth.

Why believe this promise of help, when the last dozen withered? The MAGA vote isn’t necessarily an endorsement of specific policies; it’s a desperate lunge toward any alternative, a grazing of the last bitter stubble of hope left in a field systematically exhausted by decades of unfulfilled commitments from both traditional political parties.

https://www.salon.com/2025/07/12/why-appalachia-and-rural-america-clings-to-trump/

Right information?

That is harder to find than hen’s teeth thanks to social media that spreads crap like a spreader.

I believe that Social media can be blamed for the chaos of the day….people too lazy to look for answers or use AI to reinforce their biases….until that is eliminated then we are in for a long period of continuing chaos.

Thoughts?

+++More doctors today starting at 0800 and continuing for god knows how long….I will try to get back once this ordeal is over…..thanx for your understanding and I apologize for the thin posting for today.+++

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