Why is MAGA so hateful? (best concise explanation I've seen)

[Nevilledog]

Why is MAGA so hateful?

I get asked this a lot. The short answer is: because hate is the point. But let me break it down.

Grievance as identity

MAGA isn't a political movement built on policy. It's built on resentment. The core message has always been "you've been wronged" — by elites, by immigrants, by cities, by universities, by the media, by women, by minorities, by anyone who isn't you.

This isn't a coalition that comes together to BUILD something. It comes together to tear things down. Hate isn't a byproduct of the movement. It's the fuel.

Zero-sum thinking

They genuinely believe that if someone else gains, they lose. Rights for gay people? That's an attack on Christians. Immigrants succeeding? They must be stealing from "real Americans." A Black president? He must be illegitimate.

There's no concept of shared prosperity or expanding opportunity. Just winners and losers. And they're terrified of losing.

The dominance hierarchy

A lot of MAGA is rooted in evangelical and authoritarian psychology. There's supposed to be a natural order: white at the top, Christian at the top, male at the top, straight at the top.

When you've been at the top of a hierarchy your whole life, equality feels like oppression. Giving others a seat at the table feels like theft.

The media ecosystem

Fox News → OANN → Newsmax → podcasts → Twitter/X. It's a 24/7 rage machine. Every algorithm rewards outrage. Every host competes to be more extreme than the last.

These people are literally addicted to anger. Neurologically. They get dopamine hits from feeling righteous fury. They wake up and immediately check their phones to find out what they should be mad about today.

Turn it off for a week and they go through withdrawal.

Economic anxiety — weaponized

Here's the thing: a lot of the underlying pain is real. Deindustrialization gutted their towns. Opioids killed their families. Wages stagnated while costs exploded. The American Dream stopped working for them.

But instead of blaming the corporations that shipped jobs overseas, or the billionaires that rigged the economy, or the politicians that deregulated everything — they're taught to blame immigrants. To blame welfare recipients. To blame Black people in cities. To blame trans kids.

Classic fascist playbook: take legitimate economic anger and redirect it at the vulnerable.

The permission structure

Trump didn't create the hate. He just gave it permission.

For decades, these people were told to keep the quiet part quiet. Be polite. Use dog whistles. Then Trump came along and said the loud part loud — and nothing happened. No consequences.

He showed them they could be openly racist, openly cruel, openly contemptuous of democracy — and not only survive, but win.

"He fights" doesn't mean he fights for them. It means he's mean to people they don't like. The cruelty is the point.

Community built on enemies

This is the part people miss: MAGA is a community. For a lot of these people — especially older, rural, isolated Americans — it's their entire social world. Their friends are MAGA. Their family is MAGA. Their church is MAGA.

The hate is the membership card. The shared enemies are what bind them together. Leaving the movement doesn't just mean changing your politics. It means losing everyone you know.

So they double down. And double down again. Because the alternative is being alone.

The bottom line

Why is MAGA so hateful?

Because scared people + relentless propaganda + permission to be cruel + community built on shared enemies = hate as a lifestyle.

They're not going to be reasoned out of it. They weren't reasoned into it.

The only thing that works is making it socially and politically costly to be part of it. Outvoting them. Out-organizing them. And building something better that gives people a different place to belong.


Source:

Link to tweet

[RockRaven]

1. One important thing to understand about this analysis:

It means these hateful sacks of crap aren't going anywhere and aren't going to change when The Dotard finally kicks the bucket. They will still be a problem to deal with after that.

[Nevilledog]

2. Or.....they will turn en masse whilst claiming they never supported Trump.

[pandr32]

40. Either way--we blow past them.

They are obstacles and hazards.

[progressoid]

3. Exactly.

They used to be a minority in the shadows but Trump and a sycophantic media has helped them come out and multiply.

[paleotn]

12. But they're still a minority. The true believers.

[Intractable]

25. The worst thing about the internet/social media is that it gives the assholes ways to find each other.

They used to be isolated.

[pandr32]

42. Good point.

They reinforce each other, and algorithms keep them insulated from opposing viewpoints. Their chosen news sources keep reality away.
And then there are the bots giving the impression that their MAGA numbers are huge.

[yellow dahlia]

50. In 2016 as I saw all of the reptiles coming out from under their rocks,

I said - now that they're out I doubt they will ever go back.

They were given permission to be their latent socially and morally and intellectually unacceptable selves.

[anti-repub]

35. maga hate

This article hits the nail right on its head. The only thing I would add is the tv bloviators always seem to give the magas a pass for their disgusting comments by their automatic bothsiderism of false equivalences. Last night (early morning ) on morning joe, scarborough denounced trumps vile depiction of the Obamas followed a round of criticism of George Soros by joe's terrible guest, David Drucker. There was nothing George Soros did or was referenced to have done, just a demented need to partake in bothsiderism by a beltway bloviator.

[anti-repub]

36. maga hate

Correction: trump's vile depiction of the Obamas followed BY a round of criticism of George Soros

[Lanius]

47. And they'll get louder and more extreme as they shrink as a demographic going foward.

[Chemical Bill]

56. There isn't another Trump.

There isn't another person who they will rally behind. That's the good news. You have stated the bad news well.

[progressoid]

4. This part is important:

They're not going to be reasoned out of it. They weren't reasoned into it.

A lot of Democrats and media talking heads need to wake up to the reality that these aren't people to be reasoned with.

[durablend]

7. There's some people here that need to wake up and smell the coffee as well.

[purr-rat beauty]

5. Collective Trauma response...

...like Stockholm syndrome. These are people who have been hurt in the past, they easily acquiesce when battered repeatedly psychologically.

[lame54]

6. The entire Trump/Miller doctrine is...

We're bullies who are bigger than you so give us your lunch money

[Johonny]

8. Most were raised by bigoted people

They were taught to devalue education, and over value group identity. This group vaguely includes race, religion, political party. They were primed to be in a cult since they were born.

[AverageOldGuy]

9. Doc Holliday had the answer

From the movie “Tombstone:”

Wyatt Earp: What makes a man like Ringo, Doc? What makes him do the things he does?
Doc Holliday: A man like Ringo has got a great big hole, right in the middle of him. He can never kill enough, or steal enough, or inflict enough pain to ever fill it.
Wyatt Earp: What does he need?
Doc Holliday: Revenge.
Wyatt Earp: For what?
Doc Holliday: Bein' born.

[kimbutgar]

10. I have a maga brother in law and he fits the descriptions to a tee

He had an awful father who was cruel to him. And he had a job he loved and came in one day and was fired because of a merger. He never got a good paying job again. Worked in the Amazon factory, supermarket and now a postal carrier. And he blames his problems on DEI and minorities because he can’t find a good paying job.

[hedda_foil]

30. It's just so terribly sad. Our culture, our civilization leaves so many damaged like h

It's not their fault, but someone must be blamed for their pain of repeated trauma and failure. American society has become too unstable and corrupted and these people are caught in the trap.

[WiVoter]

11. This Helps Me To Understand

Thank you! Excellent post.

[Uncle Joe]

13. There is a Michael Wolff thread floating around here about

*rump having "information phobia," I think to a lesser degree many of his followers do as well.

Thanks for the thread Nevilledog

[markodochartaigh]

20. Trump is extraordinarily unusual

for someone of his class and wealth in his lack of curiosity about the world in which we live. But having grown up in an extremely religious, red area I would say that the percentage of conservative religious people who had a real curiosity about a broad range of subjects is less than 10%. To me it almost seems to be a distinguishing feature, I've never met people from any other population so fiercely obstinate in their ignorance. Even trying to engage them with "God created nature so we owe it to God to appreciate it through studying it" fell on deaf ears.

[AverageOldGuy]

24. Curiosity of the rest of the world

I would say that the percentage of conservative religious people who had a real curiosity about a broad range of subjects is less than 10%

True story -- wife is from a small town in Alabama. Back in 2019, a few months after Notre Dame cathedral burned, there was a death in her family. We went down for a week -- funeral, visit friends, etc.

We visited a couple, she had grown up with the two of them. Both college grads. He served a few terms in the Alabama state legislature.

Wife told them our daughter was in France and had visited the ruins of Notre Dame. THEY DID NOT KNOW NOTRE DAME HAD BURNED. HAD NO IDEA. IN FACT, AT FIRST THEY THOUGHT THE FIRE WAS AT NOTRE DAME UNIVERSITY. What was worse, after she told them, they showed no interest in the fire and no interest in what our daughter was doing in France. They quickly took the conversation back to their problems with their rose garden and some goings-on at their church.

After we left, my wife was speechless at, as she put it, "How did they get so stupid??? No wonder people make fun of us A;abama natives!!"

[Seinan Sensei]

48. George W Bush was another who was exceedingly un-curious

[yellow dahlia]

51. The grifter's family had money that was made form nefarious and seedy means.

They were not of "a class".

He is not of a class. And he has no class. He was shunned by the true elite of NY society, and that always bothered him.

[markodochartaigh]

54. Sure, he was shunned by old money, the intellegentsia, and probably

even the "working" upper class of doctors, lawyers, etc. But there is a class across the country of power hungry elites whose only criteria for inclusion are money and power. They have hate for the working class rather than disdain like the other elite classes have. This elite class exists across the country.

[Chemical Bill]

55. I wonder about the definition of "class".

There is an organized faction of people who crave money and power above all else. I don't use the word class to describe them as a group, or personally.

There are other people who have money, more money than Trump, but they don't want the cruelty and destruction of Theil, Musk, et al.

I know people who have money, but worked in the family business starting at the bottom, and were never told that they were better than the people they worked with, who later worked for them.

Perhaps our definitions diverge.

[yellow dahlia]

58. The Grifter is a Frankenstein's monster. He doesn't actually belong to any class,

genus, or phylum. He may be the first of his species and hopefully the last. That is how I see him.

There is not a group to which he actually belongs. He has money because he is a criminal. He is surrounded by other people with money of many different stripes only because they are transactional with each other.

He is able to engage in all the destruction and vile behavior because he lacks key integral human traits. He is completely lacking in morality and empathy. He is a deranged narcissistic sociopath, He is violent and sadistic. AND he is emotionally underdeveloped. AND most importantly he has never had any constraints on his behavior. A bunch of variables came together to create a unique Frankenstein's monster.

He is lacking in ALL social graces and decorum. He doesn't fit into a group. Being such a social and moral outcast has exacerbated the rest of his vile and destructive tendencies.

Even gangsters have some kind of "code" of behavior. The Grifter has no code.

He does not represent a "class" of other people. He happens to have money because of the legacy of criminality in his family, and his boundless and innate ability to grift. He has power because of the people who promoted the narcissistic evil that is him, such as Mark Burnett at NBC. The Grifter is not normal. He is a freak of nature. He does not belong anywhere. He does not belong to the elite classes, as you refer to them.

Meanwhile, I feel I need to point out that not all (or a majority of) people of the elite classes, as you refer to them, have hatred or disdain for the working class. That is an "us and them" myth.

[justsomeguy01]

59. raised ...

Authoritarian. You don't question the church, you don't question your parents. (you don't question the GOP). And completely surrounded by other people that have that same value system & trauma. The complete opposite of "The unexamined life is not worth living".

[MagickMuffin]

14. I was just talking about this, They wake up to hate

And it brews all day long. It’s sad that is all they crave. It feeds their lost souls.

There is an intolerant “preacher” who has been following the Walk for Peace, since GA. He has a loud speaker and signs like the Westbrook kooks he carries as well. He is extremely rude, disrespectful of the Venerable Monks. The Spiritual Leader Pannakara does not engage with him, even though he has tried. Pannakara has even offered him a flower and he will not accept it.

But the Venerable Monks are drawing 10s of thousands of people to greet them on their journey, during sub freezing conditions. The roads are lined with people all walks of life, offering flowers, hand warmers, lip balm, etc. The Enforcers have been providing escorts throughout the south on their journey to DC.

[Buddyzbuddy]

15. The MAGA movement, Q Anon,Tea Party, racists and masoginists and the religious right

were and are a convenient tool for the billionaire class to use and support in order to gain and retain more power and wealth.

It worked especially well for Foreign billionaires because they never bought into what America truly means which is diversity and freedom for all.

Our domestic self made billionaires for the most part didn't start off this way, save for the Koch Brothers and a few others.

[FakeNoose]

16. If Faux Noise had flopped back in the 1990's, there would be no others

OANN, Newsmax, Xwitter would have never existed.

But Faux Noise didn't flop, they made boatloads of money for doing practically nothing but spewing hatred 24/7/365. I blame them for everything, and I blame hate-radio like Rush Limbaugh and his imitators.

Oh my God, they have ruined our country!

[kwolf68]

32. Limbaugh was the nexus of it all

Every stupid fucking Maga is the living embodiment of Rush Limbaugh. Cruelty counts with these people and the absolute insistence you are right about every single thing, including shit you don't even understand.

The thing is these people's irony meter is shot to hell. Limbaugh literally said anti-smoking science was "the left" trying to control you and smoking was pretty much safe. What happens? Dude dies of fucking lung cancer. And no one on that side thinks, "shit he was really wrong about that one, what else was he full of shit about?"

It's how I got away from that movement. I started catching Limbaugh lying about shit. Yea at the time it felt good to "blame the left", but when he was spouting off shit I simply knew to be lies I lost all faith and confidence in him. That said he is arguably one of the most influential people in American history. The misery fascist shit show we see today can be laid directly at his feet.

[Martin68]

38. Limbaugh, Gingrich, McConnell, Nixon, Reagan, W - no movement consists of one person, no matter how dysfunctional

it is. that said, when I moved back to the US from Japan in 1998 after 23 years abroad, it was Limbaugh that horrified me. So calmly lying and stoking hatred and fear.

[yellow dahlia]

53. Agreed.

The hatred and lies and propaganda and brainwashing spewed to the audiences of fauxnews and notnewsmax on a daily/nightly basis is dangerous. It should be regulated somehow - perhaps a banner along the bottom of the screen explaining that this is not fact or news, but is entertainment.

[LoisB]

17. Excellent. Thanks for posting.

[B.See]

18. A pretty good synopsis of what

I would've said (and have said, in various ways on occasions past) though I'd probably add that they're angry because, not only have they been DUPED, but they willingly, eagerly SUBMITTED to being duped. Angry because they KNOW they've been duped.

And not by those they love to demonize - that minority, immigrant 'other' they love to blame for their own shortcomings, for allowing themselves to be duped

but DUPED by Trump and those representatives they REPEATEDLY vote for and place trust in.

And (as suggested above) rather than admit to it by turning on those they KNOW have been rear ending them for DECADES, they double down... via asshole rationalizations, alternate realities, and denialism. The kind of inane, batshitery that pours from their mouths at every interview.

But they don't mind spewing bullshit and coming off like lunatics. Because better to hate on mythological BOOGIEMEN than to admit to knowingly and wilfully being PLAYED (by their billionaire class) as "suckers and losers" their entire fkng LIVES.

[Permanut]

19. Spot on.

K & R

[ThreeNoSeep]

21. ChatGPT writes well.

The author should disclose when they use it.

[hunter]

60. I wonder how a prompt from opposite-world would turn out.

"Why are Liberals so hateful?"

I'll bet the results would be highly mockable.

Reality has a liberal bias.

I'm not going to try it. I don't go anywhere near the site formerly known as twitter or ChatGPT.

[CTyankee]

22. The Religiously Insane are a part of it. They are not resentful as much as they are in the thrall of a religion that

insists on having society fashioned the way they are convinced they should be. God commands it. Abortion is forbidden from conception onward. Theirs is the True Religion and must be strictly forced on all. Only men can lead so a woman cannot be President of the United States.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

23. MAGA is like the logo for Disaster Capitalism

"The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism is a 2007 book by Canadian author and social activist Naomi Klein. In the book, Klein argues that neoliberal economic policies promoted by Milton Friedman and the Chicago school of economics have risen to global prominence because of a deliberate strategy she calls "disaster capitalism". In this strategy, political actors exploit the chaos of natural disasters, wars, and other crises to push through unpopular policies such as deregulation and privatization. This economic "shock therapy" favors corporate interests while disadvantaging and disenfranchising citizens when they are too distracted and overwhelmed to respond or resist effectively."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shock_Doctrine?wprov=sfla1

[c-rational]

26. Because hate is one of the most powerful emotions and hate sells.

[proud patriot]

27. excellent post

[RainCaster]

28. In a word: compensation

When you have such a small penis, you have few options.

[Grins]

29. Yes. "...if someone else gains, they lose."

Not just MAGA.

Professor Corey Robin wrote about it years ago; the one animating philosophy of conservatism: “if he gets something then I get less.”

Everything. And that includes voting. If more get the vote - then his vote means less.

[Marcuse]

31. The triangulation of hate, greed and fear.

[debm55]

33. Excellent summary of MAGA.

[Torchlight]

34. This captures a lot of dynamics I've struggled to put into words myself.

The framework helps explain patterns and behaviors that have felt confusing to me and hard to articulate.

[Martin68]

37. this the best and most complete analysis I've seen. I agree 100%.

[CaptainTruth]

39. Brilliantly written! Thanks for pointing it.

This deserves to be shared far & wide.

[Initech]

41. 45 years of brainwashing propaganda brought us here.

It started with televangelism. Jimmy Swaggart led to Rush Limbaugh, who led to Fox News, who led to Infowars, who led to TPUSA, Daily Wire, and so on. It's just the same round of talking points, bullshit, and hatred wrapped in a new package for a younger audience to consume.

[Upthevibe]

43. Thank u-saving 2 read-why mag so hateful

[MW67]

44. Exactly

Why do you think Trump released the racist video , last week , gin up the base

[gfarber]

45. MAGA Fuel

There once was a movement named “Great,”
That thrived less on plans than on hate.
Its cry wasn’t “build,”
But “they’ve robbed us and lied,”
And someone else caused your bad fate.

They gathered not aiming to grow,
But eager to torch what they know.
It isn’t a flaw—
The rage is the law,
The fuel that keeps MAGA aglow.

If someone else wins, they must lose—
That’s the lens through which they peruse.
Gay rights are an “attack,”
A Black president? “Whack!”
And immigrants clearly abuse.

No vision of shared prosperity,
Just fear dressed as moral sincerity.
In their zero-sum play,
If you rise, they must pay—
Equality feels like austerity.

They cling to a ladder so steep,
With straight, white, and Christian on keep.
When you’ve lived on top,
Letting others climb up
Feels like being shoved in too deep.

From Fox through the feeds every day,
The rage gets its hourly play.
Outrage earns clicks,
So they up the old tricks—
More fury, less truth on display.

Their brains get a hit from the fight,
Righteous anger feels chemically right.
Skip news for a week,
They grow restless and bleak—
Withdrawal by Tuesday at night.

Now pain underneath this is real:
Lost towns, lost jobs, wounded appeal.
But instead of the rich,
Or the systems that stitch,
They’re taught weaker targets to feel.

Trump didn’t invent all the spite,
He just flipped on the stadium light.
Said the quiet part loud,
Got applause from the crowd—
And cruelty turned into might.

“He fights!” doesn’t mean for their pay,
Just mean to folks they disdain.
Being mean is the draw,
That’s the core of the law—
The point isn’t winning, it’s pain.

And here’s what’s most hard to escape:
For many, it’s not just a take.
It’s their friends, church, kin,
Every place they’re let in—
The hate is the pass to the gate.

So why is MAGA so cruel?
It’s fear turned into a rule.
Add lies, add a tribe,
Give permission to bribe—
And hate becomes lifestyle and fuel.

[Ping Tung]

46. Belief in a cruel God makes a cruel man. Thomas Paine

[Wild blueberry]

49. Excellent summary

Thank you.

[bucolic_frolic]

52. Disagree. MAGA are the unwitting tools of Billionaires rigging everything

Every point mentioned begins with mega-rich elite creating ideology to benefit themselves. They believe in an economic world without restraint - for them. 1700s capitalism, pre-rules, pre-taxes, pre-environmentalism. A world where you can mine, buy and sell people, empower global trading companies to carry out your exploitation for you. No risk to you, other than the money you put up. Profits to you. Everyone else in the system was paid already.

[TygrBright]

57. Short version: They hate because it is the only thing they can do with their terrible fear. n/t