I think a lot of people overemphasize the importance of converting a MAGA enthusiast into an ally. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for accepting people who recognize the error of their ways. But there’s realistically not much return to be had there. The important conversions are:
- Low-information Trump voters/casual supporters -> Anti-Trump
It’s estimated that around 25% of people who voted for Trump in 2024 fall into this category. People who voted for Trump but don’t consider themselves MAGA. These are the “price of eggs” voters. Maybe some gen z bros who wanted their crypto to go up and got convinced by right coded pod casters that Trump wasn’t a monster. We want to convert them into voters that vote against MAGA or stay home.
- Anti-Trump observers -> Anti-Trump activists
All movements have people who are ideologically aligned but do not actively participate. It’s no small thing for someone to decide that they want or need to take an active role.
- People who didn’t vote -> Anti-trump voters
In a recent poll, 89% of people who didn’t vote said they disapproved of Trump’s job performance. The way to overcome their apathy and get them out to vote is to support candidates with progressive agendas that they feel will have a material impact on improving their lives. The “hey, at least we’re better than those assholes” strategy might win Dems some races in the short term but long term success means actually bringing about positive economic change. This also means tapping into anti-establishment feelings that run deep within society.
All the arguments in the OP are true and are worth stating. They will help people with lower exposure to politics see the forest for the trees. However no one drinking the MAGA kool-aid is gonna say “Yeah this lib who is talking down to me, they’re right and everything I believe is wrong”.
So many democrats don’t understand how someone could possibly be stupid/blind enough to vote for Trump.
If those same people were switched at birth with the Republicans they look down on them they would probably be voting Republican.
It is always worth trying to understand where other people are coming from. If you didn’t have the education that you got, if you were raised in the environment they were raised in and heard the messages they heard and suffered through whatever types of challenges they suffered (instead of the ones you did) then you would have a different world view. You would. That is a fact.
I am surrounded by democrats and they all think republican voters are low class idiots. If I were a republican then why would I want to vote for a party of people who obviously think I’m a low class idiot?
I feel bad for them, sure.
They still need to take responsibility.
They need to first be in a position to experience the consequences of their behavior in order to even be introspective about themselves.
The prosecution of the January 6 rioters was a wake up call for many of them, and that’s what it takes: FAFO.
Until they were all pardoned. A big part of the lesson for many became; We get away with it if we win.
I think that’s an excuse, if anything the left has been overly tame and tolerant of maga/Republicans/conservatives under the guise of free speech. The idea of them being low class idiots came from their flavor of insanity of voting against their own interests with every single round of trickle down economics.
If anything they’re being too nice with their description.
So why are they idiots do you think? Like are you just naturally and inherently superior to all of them?
Or maybe they were raised differently than you were and taught different things than you were. Exposed to different ideas. Maybe they lack knowledge because they went to a shitty school rather than because they are inferior.
Or that is just an excuse because I don’t want to admit that they are idiots. Idiots who strangely enough don’t want to vote for people who are convinced they are idiots.
If anything they’re being too nice with their description.
Honestly? Trump is the only reason I even vote Democrat at all. Democrats spent too many years telling me I’m “toxic” and “privileged”, wagging their finger at me for stupid shit like using the word “lame”(apparently it’s “ableist” to say that nowadays) and treating me as if I’m a problem to be dealt with rather than a human being, for me to trust Democrats.
You can go ahead give “not being nice” a try if you want, but that’s only going to make people like me feel more unwelcome among Democrats than we already do - And you can insult me or yell at me for saying that if you want, and I’ll just grit my teeth and bear it and vote Democrat anyways in 2026 because you’re the “lesser of two evils”… But just know that there are DEFINITELY other voters out there who will be driven right away by that type of approach.
Nah, I was raised Republican and just didn’t buy into the obvious hate slop. This kind of political and ideological determinism is just as harmful. Stop making excuses for these people.
I’d also mention that the Dems are profoundly unpopular right now. I can’t tell you many Trump voters I’ve talked to the past few weeks that have a short circuit when I tell them that I hate the Dems too, probably more than they do. Many Trump voters (and non-voters for that matter) are as Anti-Dem as they are Pro-Trump, if not moreso.
I’m not sure how to convince these people to vote for a Democrat in the short term. Even if in the long term the goal is a new party or a radical restructuring of the current one.
You are absolutely right.
I don’t know how we reach the non voters. This has been a problem since I’ve been alive. If everyone voted, the Republican party would cease to exist in two cycles. Their bullshit is deeply unpopular.
I hate to sound defeatist, it’s just that I’ve been listening to “if only more people voted…,” if only the old generation died… “,” if only young people got involved… " for over 4 decades and nothing has changed.
I also love OPs post, it’s also 100% true, but again, those that need to hear it won’t.
