MAGA Is Based on Fear, Not Reality

One of the biggest problems facing America is the willingness of a significant segment of the population - namely, the MAGA base of the Republican Party - to readily believe lies and untruths that run against reality. How does one explain this willful rejection of reality?  Personally, I believe that much of it comes (whether people will admit it or not) directly from racial animus, homophobia, and a terror of those who are different and who these MAGA adherents view as a threat either to their perceived white privilege  or their ability to impose their religious beliefs on the whole of society.  This animus generates a fear of the "other" which Fox News and similar propaganda outlets and almost every Republican politician is only too happy to stoke for political gain (one GOP congressman said migrants should be dropped from helicopters and killed).  Never mind that the fears are irrational be it on matters of the economy - the majority of Republicans say they are doing well financially even as they embrace politicians who tell them the economy is terrible - or matters of crime which has actually fallen, not that one would know this to listen to Fox News and GOP candidates and office holders.  The struggle ahead is how to return the nation to some form of unity when a large minority of Americans are rejecting objective data and reality and enthralled to an orange Jabba the Hutt.  A column in the New York Times looks at this situation.  Here are highlights: 

A few days ago, Kristi Noem, the Republican governor of South Dakota — a MAGA hard-liner sometimes mentioned as a potential running mate for Donald Trump — warned that President Biden is “remaking” America, turning us into Europe. My first thought was: So he’s going to raise our life expectancy by five or six years? In context, however, it was clear that Noem believes, or expects her audience to believe, that Europe is a scene of havoc wrought by hordes of immigrants.

As it happens, I spent a fair bit of time walking around various European cities last year, and none of them were hellscapes. Yes, broadly speaking, Europe has been having problems dealing with migrants, and immigration has become a hot political issue. And yes, Europe’s economic recovery has lagged that of the United States. But visions of a continent devastated by immigration are fantasies.

Yet such fantasies are now the common currency of politics on the American right. Remember the days when pundits solemnly declared that Trumpism was caused by economic anxiety? . . . But the anxiety driving MAGA isn’t driven by reality. It is, instead, driven by dystopian visions unrelated to real experience.

That is, at this point, Republican political strategy depends largely on frightening voters who are personally doing relatively well not just according to official statistics but also by their own accounts, by telling them that terrible things are happening to other people.

This is most obvious when it comes to the U.S. economy, which had a very good — indeed, almost miraculously good — 2023. Economic growth not only defied widespread predictions of an imminent recession but also hugely exceeded expectations; inflation has plunged and is more or less where the Federal Reserve wants it to be. And people are feeling it in their lives: 63 percent of surveyed Americans said that their financial situation is good or very good.

Yet out on the stump a few days ago, Nikki Haley declared that “we’ve got an economy in shambles and inflation that’s out of control.” And it’s likely that the Republicans who heard her believed her.

Again, this negative verdict doesn’t reflect personal experience. In December, YouGov asked Americans to evaluate 2023 in general. Republicans said it was awful for the nation, with 76 percent saying the year was bad or terrible. Strange to say, however, 69 percent of Republicans — close to the same number — said that the year was OK, good or great for them personally.

[C]rime declined significantly in 2023, which in a rational world would have added to the good economy by fostering a sense that things are improving.

But the world — especially MAGAworld — isn’t rational. And it’s a longstanding observation that Americans tend to say that national crime is rising even when it’s falling and even when they concede that it’s falling where they live.

Again, these misperceptions are strongly associated with partisanship, with a startling willingness of Republicans to believe things that aren’t true.

Falsely believing that Europe is a continent on the brink of ruin is one thing (although millions of Americans visit Europe and so get the chance to see for themselves each year). It’s much harder to excuse the belief that New York — one of the safest big cities in America — is some kind of urban wasteland. . . . only 22 percent of Republicans say that the city is safe to visit or live in.

The trashing of New York raises the question of the extent to which MAGA supporters are willing to disregard the evidence of their own eyes. People buy gas all the time; when Trump says “gasoline prices are now $5, $6, $7 and even $8 a gallon,” around twice the price plainly displayed on big signs all around the country, do his followers believe him?

And then, of course, there’s the Covid pandemic, wherein the MAGA politicization of vaccines appears to have contributed to higher death rates among Republicans.

What does this say about the future of America? It can’t be good. A large segment of our body politic has, in effect, joined a cult of personality whose beliefs are nearly impervious to reality.