For my own sanity, I do my best to avoid MAGA friends, acquaintances and family. With family and friends, it just hurts that once (seemingly) sane, thoughtful people have gone to the dark side and will. not. even. consider. that what they are supporting and participating in is cruelty, denial of truth and fascism. And the ones who call themselves Christian while supporting crime and cruelty are the ones I just cannot bear. 10+ years ago, MAGA exposed who they really are as human beings and it breaks my heart. Any attempts at reparations are on THEM.
No, Mr. Olson, just no. Your wish that we all just need to get along is so wrong. MAGAs have decided to support a corrupt and evil regime, and that’s a litmus test of their values and character. Would you say that the German people in the 1930s-40s should have tried to get along with the Nazis? Especially the Jews? Of course not.
Do whatever you need to do to navigate the negative and enjoy your holiday season. Everyone has a right to be as happy as possible. None of us should be suffering under the nasty attitude or opinion of others. Find your peace. Find your joy. Find your center. Do what you need to do to have comfort in this environment. Happy Christmas to all! Blessings on the New Year!
I respectfully disagree with your assessment of the willingness or desire of MAGA members to engage in meaningful dialogue about the situation in our country today. In every instance, when I ask a simple question of a MAGA member, a question as simple as "Do you believe Trump won the 2020 election?". Their response?? "Everyone but you liberal wimps know he did!" Can't talk to them, engage with them in a civil discussion without being called a name. That includes family members. I will not be convinced that they know and clearly see that what is happening in this country is wrong. And the more you want to engage with them, the deeper they sink their heels.
I won't allow a true MAGA in my circle. I refuse to engage with a true MAGA. I refuse to respect someone who has no respect for anyone else or for the Constitution. Democrats are not 100% correct in their actions or beliefs but MAGAs just want to hurt people, or I should say they want to hurt Democrats. And they can't see that when they hurt people, they are hurting everyone, not just Democrats and in many cases, people in their own families. That, to me, is pure ignorance and evil. Can't and won't respect or accept that.
Such an important topic. The way we are responding to each other is a big part of the problem. A great organization to help with de-polarizing and learning to listen to those with whom you disagree is Braver Angels.
Thank you, Mr. Olson. This is an important essay. I feel that when djt ran the first time part of his message was that you no longer had to practice civility and the results of that were disorienting. In a country of more than 330,000,000 people, civility is a necessity. I know people who are good people on a one-on-one basis but support djt in all his amoral decadence. And, as a voter, if you were interested, you could know more about djt as a man than any other candidate in my lifetime. Nothing I know about djt redounds to his credit - absolutely nothing - and that frightens me. We are watching a man in steep decline mentally and physically run amok. I try to treat everyone as politely as I can. I confide in my friends and try to keep my opinions to myself among acquaintances. Part of me is heartened by djt’s poll numbers. They indicate to me that, aside from his almost total loss of independents, he is bleeding some of the maga/republicans. I think democracy is in danger because slightly less than half the voting public voted for a man with absolutely no morals. We have never had a perfect president but the presidents of my lifetime had some moral grounding. I realize, more than ever, the leader of a democracy must have some moral grounding.
There are many reasons people have fallen into the MAGA abyss, some I understand and many I deplore. There are many who have legitimate feelings of abandonment by the government they helped to elect. Those have been misinformed, used and abused. The others have other motives; power, greed, bigotry, hatred, or some perverse pleasure in seeing others suffer. The very government we have elected has turned against us. We are in the grips of violent oppression. It is coming from so many directions it is difficult to comprehend. That is strategic chaos. What comes next, violent upheaval, is dangerous but predictable. The authoritarian model requires violence to explain their violent repression. We are on that slippery slope. But, James Carville was correct back in February. This will have to play out. Once Trump is gone, we will see who the real masterminds are.
I must agree in large part with Stephen. I met with anger and screaming from my MAGA mother in the years before she died in 2023. One cannot speak rationally to an irrational cult member, it’s too threatening for them. They would rather burn the house down than listen. That’s what my mother did. She wouldn’t get her covid booster shots and she died from Covid while calling the hospice nurse a liar when told she had covid. MAGA and miserable to her death. I would rather use my energy getting democrats and independents out to vote against tyranny. It’s what I do.
While I appreciate Mr. Olson publishing this piece on Christmas Day, I respectfully disagree with him. The current period we are living through is not in any way typical in American history. It just isn't. What we are experiencing is a group of authoritarian creeps who have grabbed hold of tremendous political power, and are using it in an attempt to destroy American democracy. His three "Things You Can Do Today" are simply rehashes of points we have heard a hundred times before in the last decade, ever since Trump descended down his gaudy escalator. I do not hate those individuals who are part of the MAGA cult. When this Trumpian nightmare is finally over, I'm not going to ostracize anyone I've met who wore the red baseball cap. But in the meantime, if standing up for liberal democracy, and all it represents, offends someone's sensibilities, I don't care. I'm going to keep opposing everything Trump and his lickspittles represent. That is NOT "practicing the same all-or-nothing logic that broke us in the first place" as Mr. Olson writes.
We can reconnect once they learn how to re-alive people. Murder is not OK with me, I'm surprised it is OK with you.
For my own sanity, I do my best to avoid MAGA friends, acquaintances and family. With family and friends, it just hurts that once (seemingly) sane, thoughtful people have gone to the dark side and will. not. even. consider. that what they are supporting and participating in is cruelty, denial of truth and fascism. And the ones who call themselves Christian while supporting crime and cruelty are the ones I just cannot bear. 10+ years ago, MAGA exposed who they really are as human beings and it breaks my heart. Any attempts at reparations are on THEM.
No, Mr. Olson, just no. Your wish that we all just need to get along is so wrong. MAGAs have decided to support a corrupt and evil regime, and that’s a litmus test of their values and character. Would you say that the German people in the 1930s-40s should have tried to get along with the Nazis? Especially the Jews? Of course not.
Do whatever you need to do to navigate the negative and enjoy your holiday season. Everyone has a right to be as happy as possible. None of us should be suffering under the nasty attitude or opinion of others. Find your peace. Find your joy. Find your center. Do what you need to do to have comfort in this environment. Happy Christmas to all! Blessings on the New Year!
I respectfully disagree with your assessment of the willingness or desire of MAGA members to engage in meaningful dialogue about the situation in our country today. In every instance, when I ask a simple question of a MAGA member, a question as simple as "Do you believe Trump won the 2020 election?". Their response?? "Everyone but you liberal wimps know he did!" Can't talk to them, engage with them in a civil discussion without being called a name. That includes family members. I will not be convinced that they know and clearly see that what is happening in this country is wrong. And the more you want to engage with them, the deeper they sink their heels.
I won't allow a true MAGA in my circle. I refuse to engage with a true MAGA. I refuse to respect someone who has no respect for anyone else or for the Constitution. Democrats are not 100% correct in their actions or beliefs but MAGAs just want to hurt people, or I should say they want to hurt Democrats. And they can't see that when they hurt people, they are hurting everyone, not just Democrats and in many cases, people in their own families. That, to me, is pure ignorance and evil. Can't and won't respect or accept that.
Such an important topic. The way we are responding to each other is a big part of the problem. A great organization to help with de-polarizing and learning to listen to those with whom you disagree is Braver Angels.
Thank you, Mr. Olson. This is an important essay. I feel that when djt ran the first time part of his message was that you no longer had to practice civility and the results of that were disorienting. In a country of more than 330,000,000 people, civility is a necessity. I know people who are good people on a one-on-one basis but support djt in all his amoral decadence. And, as a voter, if you were interested, you could know more about djt as a man than any other candidate in my lifetime. Nothing I know about djt redounds to his credit - absolutely nothing - and that frightens me. We are watching a man in steep decline mentally and physically run amok. I try to treat everyone as politely as I can. I confide in my friends and try to keep my opinions to myself among acquaintances. Part of me is heartened by djt’s poll numbers. They indicate to me that, aside from his almost total loss of independents, he is bleeding some of the maga/republicans. I think democracy is in danger because slightly less than half the voting public voted for a man with absolutely no morals. We have never had a perfect president but the presidents of my lifetime had some moral grounding. I realize, more than ever, the leader of a democracy must have some moral grounding.
There are many reasons people have fallen into the MAGA abyss, some I understand and many I deplore. There are many who have legitimate feelings of abandonment by the government they helped to elect. Those have been misinformed, used and abused. The others have other motives; power, greed, bigotry, hatred, or some perverse pleasure in seeing others suffer. The very government we have elected has turned against us. We are in the grips of violent oppression. It is coming from so many directions it is difficult to comprehend. That is strategic chaos. What comes next, violent upheaval, is dangerous but predictable. The authoritarian model requires violence to explain their violent repression. We are on that slippery slope. But, James Carville was correct back in February. This will have to play out. Once Trump is gone, we will see who the real masterminds are.
I must agree in large part with Stephen. I met with anger and screaming from my MAGA mother in the years before she died in 2023. One cannot speak rationally to an irrational cult member, it’s too threatening for them. They would rather burn the house down than listen. That’s what my mother did. She wouldn’t get her covid booster shots and she died from Covid while calling the hospice nurse a liar when told she had covid. MAGA and miserable to her death. I would rather use my energy getting democrats and independents out to vote against tyranny. It’s what I do.
While I appreciate Mr. Olson publishing this piece on Christmas Day, I respectfully disagree with him. The current period we are living through is not in any way typical in American history. It just isn't. What we are experiencing is a group of authoritarian creeps who have grabbed hold of tremendous political power, and are using it in an attempt to destroy American democracy. His three "Things You Can Do Today" are simply rehashes of points we have heard a hundred times before in the last decade, ever since Trump descended down his gaudy escalator. I do not hate those individuals who are part of the MAGA cult. When this Trumpian nightmare is finally over, I'm not going to ostracize anyone I've met who wore the red baseball cap. But in the meantime, if standing up for liberal democracy, and all it represents, offends someone's sensibilities, I don't care. I'm going to keep opposing everything Trump and his lickspittles represent. That is NOT "practicing the same all-or-nothing logic that broke us in the first place" as Mr. Olson writes.