MAGA Nuttery: An Exercise in Gross Ignorance

 

By David Starr

 

Rather than “gross ignorance,” one could use the term, “utter stupidity,” in the title of this article. But the former is also appropriate for MAGA cult followers. Either way, the accusations and excuses coming from the right deserve strong criticism.

 

AOL published an article originally from the Atlantic magazine which goes into the virtual hopelessness of the rhetoric of hardline MAGA followers in worshipping Trump, their “god.” 

 

Elaine Godfrey is the author of the article, and she writes, “Earlier this month [April], after it became clear that the Trump [regime] would not be facilitating the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia from a Salvadoran mega-prison, I texted a close childhood friend. He’d voted for Donald Trump in each of the past three elections, and I asked for his evaluation. ‘Trump may be taking it too far, [b]ut then again, he’s a man of action and we wanted change.”’

 

Godfrey’s friend apparently didn’t do in-depth research about Trump. If he did, he would recognize how much of a fascist and criminal Trump is. It’s not really hard to learn this. Trump has made it obvious. But MAGA hardliners refuse to go in-depth to see the reality. Rather, they think the opposite of it: black is white and white is black. 

 

Godfrey did cover Trump’s declining “popularity,” writing, “Poll after poll has registered a drop-in overall support for Trump, with many voters citing economic uncertainty.” While the economy is important, there’s a series of various issues that should be understood that have been negatively affected by Trump’s tyranny; including, the threat to the degree of democracy the USA has, with Trump trying to put absolute power into the executive branch. But it appears that Trump followers don’t see this as a priority. 

 

Immigration, for example, is a hot issue with Trump followers, with “many Trump voters [seeing] the president’s handling of immigration as a highlight.” Like with other issues, those voters are grossly ignorant (putting it mildly) about immigration. They ignore root causes of immigration, which are poverty and violence in other countries. So, the undocumented experience a level of desperation in wanting to live in more stable conditions. And most are not criminals, with Trump followers taking a cue from their “god” that it’s the opposite with “millions” of “criminals” and “rapists” “invading” the USA.

 

Hardline supporters, thus, will accept anything that Trump does or says. It doesn’t matter whether something is true or false.  Godfrey writes, “Many of his voters are jubilant. For these happy millions, the first 100 days of Trump’s second presidency have been a procession of fulfilled campaign promises–and have brought the country not to the precipice of economic ruin or democratic collapse, but to an age of greatness.” 

 

What’s missing from the Trump fanatics’ attitudes is the fact that Trump blatantly lied about supporting Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. The economy has gotten worse under Trump, for the common folk anyway. The imperial insanity from Trump, his ilk – and corporate Democrats like Joe Biden as well – have made the USA look like the biggest threat worldwide; which it actually is, since the U.S. empire has been in the business of world imperialism for over 100 years. And now it’s showing its true colors.

 

Godfrey quotes Rich Thau, president of the research firm Engagious regarding the Trump followers’ views on Trump: “Even if they don’t agree with everything he’s doing, he’s doing something, and something is better than nothing.” It’s quantity over quality, i.e., not seeing the kinds of policies being implemented and the effect they have, but faithfully supporting a series of actions because it’s something.

 

Thau conducts focus groups of swing voters, and one of them named Mary (Thau only using her first name), said, “I see a lot of politicians that they run and say a lot of things they’re going to do, and don’t do any of them. But I see him [Trump] and approve.” An appropriate response to this simplistic view is that Trump promised to protect Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid and now is trying to do the opposite. Yeah, he’s doing something all right.

 

Right-wing media has made an impression with the MAGA crowd over the years, although it has historically been on the political fringes. Now, according to Diana Marszalek, writing in Provoke Media, “Newsmax viewership surged 50% in the first quarter of 2025, reaching 33.6 million total viewers – including 8 million who didn’t tune in to Fox [“News”] at all. Over the past five years, the network has grown by more than 1,000% in primetime viewership.

 

“In addition, a recent Global Strategy Group report found that many Americans now consume news passively through podcasts, independent creators, and social platforms – many which lean right.” But just because many U.S. citizens may view right-wing media, it doesn’t mean that the nation as a whole is supporting the right’s agenda. 

 

The MAGA cultists don’t seem to realize that listening to sources on the right, be it Trump or a political commentator, don’t have their class interests at heart. Looking at working class members adhering to the likes of an Ann Coulter, Michael Savage, Glenn Beck, Tucker Carlson etc., it can be concluded that the cultists have been sacrificing their own interests while both Republican and Democratic elitists have taken advantage of their (again putting it mildly) ignorance.

 

Marszalek writes that more and more U.S. citizens are skeptical, but, being singled-sourced with facts would make it hard to back up your assertions. While there are, however, a variety of sources to research, political divisions, nevertheless, continue to exist. There are those who would adhere to their political beliefs regardless of what’s happening in reality. This is especially true with the MAGA crowd.

 

Navigator Research conducted a series of polls that reveal what voters think of Trump in his first 100 days in office. Regarding his performance, the overall tally was 50% thinking that Trump has done more harm than good, as opposed to 35% who think the opposite. Breaking it down by party affiliation, 87% of Democrats feel that Trump has done more harm than good, while 49% of Independents think the same. For Republicans, 70% feel that Trump has done more good than bad, with 84% of MAGA Republicans polling at 84% (although they represented 27% of those polled).

 

In regretting or not regretting whether they voted for Trump, 11% of Republicans feel they regretted it, while 73% didn’t. MAGA Republicans of course polled higher, with 87% not regretting it. 

 

It’s the latter that have been the biggest threat in dragging most of us down with them, considering their faithful support for the Trump regime and the harm its policies have caused.

 

As for examples of the hopelessness of turning at least some hardline MAGA followers around, here are some quotes from them, first from Provoke Media:

 

“The left went way too far left. They got ridiculous. I think Trump has good ideas if he could just get out of his way…” This from a weak Democrat who would just as soon turn MAGA.

 

“I don’t have any regrets. I think it was better than the other option.” 

 

And this from The Guardian:

 

“The first 100 days have been fantastic. He’s gotten so much done in that amount of time, more than any other president for sure. [O]verall, as somebody who supported him, I think he’s spot on.”

 

“He done what he promised what he’d do in the campaign, which is far and away different from most politicians. Like it or not, he’s doing what he said he would do and that’s all anybody can ask for.”

 

“I trust him and I totally trust his cabinet. I totally believe he loves America. He loves us and he’s doing it.”

 

“The concerns about due process and deportations are coming from the political left and what I would consider to be judicial overreach and unnecessary injunctions.”

 

This about Trump being a dictator from a Vietnamese token: “How could people call him a dictator? Look at Mao Zedong from China. Look at Hitler and Fidel Castro. If people lived in a communist country then they would know what dictatorship is. I escaped communism and know what communism is like.” 

 

There are some necessary things to say about the above quote. First, this person is ignorant about what communism really is. One can’t totally say, since communism hasn’t really existed. There have been and are countries that have adopted various degrees of socialism. But since communism is an epoch, it would take more than 74 years –the time the Soviet Union existed – for it to be established and developed. 

 

Second, this person does sound like a MAGA hardliner. And the odds are she is.

 

So goes the asinine comments coming from MAGA cultists. The indoctrination by Trump and loyal Republicans have been complete, at least for those who are hopeless cases. Others, however, have woken up and are feeling betrayed…and angry.