The Opinions - What Liberals Miss About the MAGA Movement

Episode Date: September 19, 2024

David French, a Times columnist, believes that to understand MAGA, we have to understand the joy and sense of belonging that the movement bestows upon its adherents. In this episode, he explains why Donald Trump’s most outrageous statements — such as the lie that Haitian immigrants are eating pets — appeal to his followers’ “sense of gleeful transgression.” Thoughts? Email us at [e-mail] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This is The Opinions, a show that brings you a mix of voices from New York Times opinion. You've heard the news. Here's what to make of it. I'm David French, and I'm a columnist for The New York Times. I live in a town called Franklin, Tennessee, that is south of Nashville, and it's a very red part of America. Most of my friends, the vast majority of my family, are all Trump supporters and have been Trump supporters from the beginning. I first started writing about the MAGA movement in late 2015.

Like a lot of people, I didn't initially take Trump seriously. But very quickly, I realized this was very serious. And he was absolutely resonating. And so I began talking to friends, to relatives. Why? What is it about Donald Trump that appeals to you so much? And that conversation has never really stopped for nine years. If you're on the outside, your experience with MAGA

is all of the anger projected outwards. So you see MAGA as almost entirely an angry movement. MAGA likes inflicting pain on its political enemies. It likes and enjoys creating these ridiculous and absurd memes. It loves to provoke people who are on the outside. It's part of the joy of this MAGA movement, which can include this extreme aggression online. One of the reasons why this has all been on my mind

is that an online rumor, an online lie, actually, that Haitian immigrants in Springfield were eating dogs and cats made it all the way to Donald Trump. And Donald Trump stated it very blatantly and explicitly in his presidential debate with Kamala Harris. In Springfield, they're eating the dogs, the people that came in. They're eating the cats. They're eating the pets of the people that live there. And this is what's happening in our country, and it's a shame. That took this issue and put it front and center with the American people, creating an immense amount of anger. And sadly, on the ground in Springfield, Ohio, it created real danger for the legal Haitian immigrants who are there as they began to

receive threats, acts of intimidation. And this is particularly toxic because absolutely nothing fires up his base like immigration. I knew that MAGA was going to take this and carry it as far as it possibly could. And they did it in that particular way that MAGA interacts with the larger world, with this sense of gleeful transgression. They have fun being outrageous. They have fun being provocative. They like to, quote, trigger the libs.

What MAGA is very good at doing is turning around back to its own people and saying, see, we struck a nerve. They'll use words like, if you're taking flack, it means you're over the target. And so they use the backlash almost as proof that they've hit a nerve. And all of this just creates an endless process of doubling down. And, you know, one thing that I think that liberals tend to miss about the MAGA movement is they miss its underlying sense of community and its joy. So there is a strong sense of belonging within MAGA, and they have a great time being MAGA. If you're on the outside, you see MAGA as almost entirely an angry movement.

And so this idea that it's also a lot of fun and fellowship, that is something you don't see it all. But if you're on the inside of it is one of its most dominant characteristics. The people are in on the joke. The core MAGA people are pushing the memes out. Look, if it's true, great. If it's not true, who cares. They're having a good time. Like imagine a frat boy kind of element where you're talking about.

We just had a rager and sure we overturned a police car and we trashed a neighbor's house. But hey, that was a party. It's kind of like a political version of that. I'm waiting for Merrick Garland to indict my father for being part of an assassination. That's what's next. It's a conspiracy. Nothing would surprise me at this point. They're trashing our body politic.

They're wrecking in many ways, the GOP. But they are having a good time. And hey, the people they're making mad, they don't like them anyway. And you might think for a minute that, well, wait, this can't go on forever. Surely, surely the majority of Republicans, when they know they've been had, when they know these are lies, will stop paying attention to these memes. they'll reject this method. And really sad answer is that the Republican response to January 6th and the big lie showed us the tolerance that Republicans have for dishonesty and for lying if it is directed against their hated Democratic enemies. So for example, right after January 6th, there was

favorability polling and there was one of the most chilling graphs I've ever seen. And it was measuring the favorability of Mitch McConnell, Mike Pence, and Donald Trump. amongst Republicans. And after January 6th, Mitch McConnell's ratings plunged, Mike Pence's ratings plunged, and Trump's barely budged. McConnell and Pence stopped the coup attempt on January 6th. Trump was pursuing it, and Republicans stuck with him and rejected the people who stood up for the Constitution on that day. And don't think for a minute that the larger MAGA influencer universe didn't see that understead. understand that. And the message was very clear. If you want to remain in good standing in the GOP, if you want to remain in good standing in the Republican Party, you go along with Trump, period, end of discussion. And so what you've seen is a social dynamic within the larger GOP,

where MAGA is united, MAGA has a purpose, MAGA has a community, and then everyone else is more fractured. This Springfield story will die down eventually. The memes will run out. MAGA will get bored of it. But watch out. We're moving into that time where mail-in ballots are going to start coming into state election officials.

And you're already beginning to see some of these election conspiracies bubbling up. And what we have found is that some of the voter rolls in the swing states are chock full of illegal aliens and other people who should not be on the voter roll.

You're already beginning to see doubts being cast on mail-in ballots again. We promise to show you the fraud. We're literally screen clipping out of the Secretary of State files. So buckle up. It's happening. You know, a lot of people are looking at these transparent lies, obvious falsehoods, baseless accusations, and saying, how is this happening again? Why are we here again? And one of the answers, quite frankly, is that MAGA has a lot of fun doing this. So watch out. We're just a few weeks away from some conspiracies regarding voting,

especially as Trump continues to trail in the polls. The explanation for that will be corruption. The explanation for that within MAGA will be fraud. And so you're going to see the big lie start bubbling up again very soon. If you like this show, follow it on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts. This show is produced by Derek Arthur, Sophia Alvarez Boyd, Vichaca, Fibylette, Christina Samuoski, and Jillian Weinberger. It's edited by Kari Pitkin, Alison Bruzek, and Annie Rose Strasser. Engineering, mixing, and original music by Isaac Jones, Sonia Herrero, Pat McCusker, Carol Saburo, and Afim Shapiro.

Additional music by Amin Sahota. The fact check team is Kate Sinclair, Mary Marge Locker, and Michelle Harris. Audience Strategy by Shannon Busta, Christina Samuelski, and Adrian Rivera. The executive producer of Times Opinion Audio is Annie Rose Dresser.