A sampling of authoritarian radical right reality & thinking

Dissident Politics is exposed to too little MAGA reality and thinking. To broaden our horizons a bit, here is some heavy duty MAGA-ology:

Progressives Thrive on Deceit

To remake America, progressives have centered on a strategy of rewriting history, distorting current events, changing language, and using false allegations of disinformation, malinformation (facts progressives believe are presented out of context), and racism to censor and suppress centrists and conservatives.

By undermining confidence in American values, progressives have considerably advanced their efforts. They have controlled the White House and at least one House of Congress for 12 of the last 16 years, and the Supreme Court for nearly all of the last 70 years. Almost all major media outlets and reporters are in lockstep with progressive goals, lies, and omissions. Most report only about events and views that benefit the progressive agenda, and mischaracterize or suppress news, information, and opinions that may impede it. Progressives also control most federal agencies, many state agencies, leading universities, school boards, professional organizations such as the American Medical Association and the American Bar Association, most leading think tanks, and many corporate boards.

As the COVID pandemic raged, progressives spoke hopefully of a new world order in which experts would tell us how to live. Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, along with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, often refer to this chaos as the “rules-based international order.” They and other progressives, including Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, see the U.S. as just one among many countries. That is why they oppose immigration controls, support global compacts, subordinate the United States to the United Nations, and believe the U.S. can use economic or military power only when supported by an international coalition.

In a recent article for RealClearPolicy[1] about progressives’ crude ad hominem attacks on conservatives, it is explained that progressive dogma is a fierce,
culturally Marxist philosophy that:
(1) demands all policies, resources, and opportunities be allocated in accordance with a benighted view of oppressors and victims centered on race, sex, and sexual orientation;
(2) believes children are wards of the state to be indoctrinated by educators, while physically cared for by parents;
(3) represses religion for being what Karl Marx described as “the opium of the people;” and
(4) places a green agenda, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), and the rights of criminals above free speech and assembly, the judicial process, and rights of petition. Progressives deny that ISIS and Hamas are terrorists, oppose Israel’s right of defense because Jews are “oppressors,” and believe children may select irreversible gender reassignment surgery without parental consent.

Eliminating or distorting teaching about Western civilization, American exceptionalism, and liberty leaves students uninformed about America’s unique story. An Echelon Insights poll highlights the cumulative impact of this indoctrination. Sixty-six percent of high schoolers viewed the U.S. as exceptional and unique, compared to 47% of college students; 63% of high-schoolers were proud of the U.S., compared to 40% of college students; and 58% of high-schoolers were patriotic, compared to just 35% of college students.

Concurrently, progressives are remaking the acceptable lexicon. They corrupt language and norms to deprive us of the ability to express nuance and understand distinctions.

Leading institutions, including government agencies, professional organizations, and universities, proclaim that our language is replete with hidden racism and genderism that must be cleansed with a new vocabulary featuring ideologically-laden phrases. Among the words that trouble the American Medical Association are “disadvantaged,” “equality,” and “disparities.” The politically acceptable terms are “historically and intentionally excluded,” “equity,” and “inequities.” Similarly, “ex-con” or “felon” are to be replaced with “returning citizen” or “persons with a history of incarceration,” and “fairness” with “social justice.”

“Illegal alien,” the term used in federal law for those who enter the U.S. without proper visas or overstay their visas, first became “undocumented alien” and then “non-citizens,” who somehow deserve all benefits to which citizens are entitled.

As progressives erase and change language, history, and values to create a foundation to change America’s way of life, they also corruptly fabricate, suppress, and misrepresent recent and current events to confuse voters, shield accountability for their failures, and disparage their opponents. The following is a list of recent political hoaxes promoted by progressive elected officials, bureaucrats, and major national media (my thanks to Breitbart News for identifying many of these):

Russia Collusion Hoax
Hunter Biden’s Laptop Is Russian Disinformation Hoax
Biden Is Not Cognitively Impaired Hoax
The Biden-Harris Administration Is Not Censoring Social Media Hoax
Biden Is Not a Crook Hoax
Project 2025 Hoax
Hands Up, Don’t Shoot Hoax
Jussie Smollett Hoax
Covington KKK Kids Hoax
Very Fine People Hoax
Drinking Bleach Hoax
Seven-Hour Gap Hoax
Russian Bounties to Taliban Hoax
Trump Trashes Troops Hoax
Policemen Killed on January 6 Protest Hoax
Rittenhouse Hoax
Eating While Black Hoax
Border Agents Whipping Illegals Hoax
NASCAR Noose Hoax
The Georgia Jim Crow 2.0 Hoax
COVID Lab Leak Theory Is Racist Hoax
Biden Will Never Ban Gas Stoves Hoax
COVID Deaths are Overcounted Is a Conspiracy Theory Hoax
Mass Graves of Native Children in Canada Hoax
Hamas Hospital Hoax
The Alfa Bank Hoax

Hiding Biden’s cognitive impairment took dozens, if not hundreds, of staff, family, elected officials, and reporters. That hoax was revealed only when replacing Biden became imperative to defeat Trump. In lockstep, the progressive media complex abandoned its cover-up of Biden’s impairment and called for his replacement.

Harris’s and Tim Walz’s campaign became the second act of this hoax. With few exceptions, they refuse to discuss their records or beliefs, and falsely claim to have changed both. They willfully misstate Trump’s positions and falsely attribute to him sponsorship of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 (yet another hoax, as even USA Today and CNN have acknowledged).

From what I can tell, that is very likely very close how most of MAGA sees the situation. In all of that, one can see some nuggets of truth, along with some other things. For example, one could consider Dem elites hiding Biden's cognitive situation a hoax. I do, but that does not lead me to support DJT or his corrupt authoritarianism. Despite labeling the bad guys here progressives, this is probably how most of the MAGA rank and file sees most everyone other than themselves. Centrists, the center-right, independents, pragmatic rationalists and other non-MAGA, but anti-MAGA folk seem to be either implicitly lumped in, or ignored. The undeniable authoritarianism and staggering corruption of DJT and his MAGA are flat out denied or ignored.

With that kind of "reality" and "reasoning", it is easy to see why so many minds stay trapped in MAGA's version of reality and reason. There is no good will in it. No accounting for disagreement. Can you feel the pull of persuasion in it if you just let go and ride the emotional appeal, the facts be damned? I can definitely feel it.

Qs: Is it good or at least useful to be occasionally exposed to how MAGA presents its version of reality and reason, e.g., so that the power and appeal of its dark free speech can be felt in one's guts? Or, are Germaine's guts full of crappage and there is little or nothing one can feel in, or learn from, how the radical right authoritarian propaganda Leviathan presents its arguments, reasoning and alleged facts?

Footnote:

1.  The RCP article referred to above includes these comments:

Both parties are guilty of incivility, hyperbole, hubris, and engendering turmoil. But, there is a binary choice in what this election means for freedom, prosperity, and security.

To deflect from their autocratic dogma and failures, including massive illegal immigration, compounding inflation, lawless prosecutors, spiraling crime, a two-tiered justice system, rampant racism, and international wars, progressives falsely attack Trump as an existential threat to democracy.

The faux Russian collusion conspiracy, defunding police, delegitimizing conservative justices, and claims that Republicans are threats to democracy is the sophistry of leftists who despise traditional values, family, faith, equal opportunity, individual rights, Western culture, industriousness, and performance. As the ultimate centralization of authority, the far left intelligentsia seeks a liberal, rules-based international order that overrides national sovereignty.

The RCP article equates the far left intelligentsia with the mostly center to center-right politics and policy of dominant mainstream Democratic politics. In the real world, the far left is socialist, not centrist to center-right capitalist. Support for abortion and reasonable gun safety laws is centrist, and maybe also socialist, but that does not negate the possibility that centrism or even center rightism and socialism sometimes overlap. What decades of radical right dark free speech has successfully done is drag the Overton Window so far to the right that most of the MAGA rank and file now think of the center right and center as far left progressives, i.e., socialists or communists. That's the power of dark free speech.

Overton Window