Context
A trickle of Trump supporters are waking up and starting to seeing the magnitude of their mistakes. As one can easily imagine, the awakening and transition from MAGAland can be quite unpleasant for a person. Social science indicates that the best way to help people transition away from Trump and MAGA is to not attack and go for revenge. Instead, the converts from the dark need a reasonably safe, reasonably esteem/identity-supporting off-ramp. One can respectfully point out the insults, harms and fears of threats from Trump and years of MAGA demagoguery. They caused serious hurt and anger in people who opposed Trump and MAGA authoritarianism. But the impulse to scold, "I told you so", however tempting it is, is one of the most counterproductive responses possible when someone is inching toward an exit from sticky extremism like MAGA.
Apparently, shame is the main reason that MAGA doubters stay silent and stay put. Cult-recovery experts and deradicalization researchers find that some warmth, curiosity, and good questions work much better than evidence-dumps or triumphalism. Helping someone convert is not about winning an argument. It's about keeping the exit process safe and intact for the defector long enough to be effective for when they're ready to bug out.
Science says: Help yourself first, MAGA converts second
But what about targeted groups and us in the opposition? What about our feelings and needs? Trump, MAGA demagoguery and more than a few of the rank & file routinely call political opponents a slew of nasty false things. There are many MAGA insults hurled at opposition to Trump and corrupt MAGA authoritarianism.
People opposed to Trump and MAGA corruption, moral rot and authoritarianism have been insulted, threatened, and treated like subhuman crap. That treatment comes from vulgar, arrogant MAGA liars, slanderers, creeps, crooks, and crackpots. People in opposition to Trump and MAGA politics are completely justified to feel rage, anger, fear, hurt, resentment, exhaustion, insult, disgust and moral outrage.
Accumulating peer-reviewed research confirms that many Trump opponents carry a documented and measurable mental health burden from living under democratic backsliding. Depression, anxiety, and what researchers call "political grief" are part of the burden forced on us by what Trump and MAGA politics have done to us. Research indicates that before someone tries to help anyone else, dealing with your own psychological health is a precondition for effectiveness, not a distraction.
Also, protect yourself. Sustained engagement with someone in a contentious political environment carries the same secondary trauma risks documented in social workers and first responders. Research-backed strategies include self-compassion practices. It helps to (1) distribute personal efforts burden across community rather than carrying it alone, and (2) process your own bad feelings like grief and anger away from the person you're trying to reach.
Moral framing & incremental progress
The conservative moral frame: A tricky part of helping deradicalization is using the right moral framing. Conservatives tend to react badly to arguments grounded in fairness or harm. Those arguments appeal much more to moderates and liberals than to conservatives. Unfairness and harm to us or other groups that MAGA demagoguery targeted usually do not resonate much or at all with conservatives. In general, arguments that appeal most to MAGA defectors are grounded in loyalty and betrayal, e.g., "Trump used you", "Trump deceived and betrayed you", "MAGA lied to you", "MAGA is using you", etc.
Incrementalism: A meta-analysis of 77 interventions found that no single conversation reliably produces lasting change. One measures success by planting seeds, staying present and staying calm and respectful. Success in deradicalization rarely happens as a dramatic turning point. Incremental progress is usually invisible. Invisible change is not defeat. It's how change usually works for radicals seeking recovery to normalcy.
Q: Can you begin to see why it is generally helpful, even if incrementally so, to stay calm, respectful, non-threatening and speaking in the moral frames that most likely appeal to most Trump/MAGA supporters who might at least consider defecting from Trump and MAGA authoritarianism?
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