I’ve been pondering over a puzzle presented by a fellow blogger Keith who writes under “musingsofanoldfart.com.” Here’s the title: “In the mind of a MAGA fan.“

Understanding this puzzle becomes important for those who’d like to figure out a way to talk to MAGA voters in an attempt to reach them. Most of us have figured out that logic, facts, truth, reality does nothing to move the needle from their cult-like affection for the authoritarian GOP MAGA ex-president who faces 91 criminal indictments, who has a history for sexual assaults and misogyny, who led a failed coup against the USA on January 6, 2021, who’s an avowed Russian apologist, etc.

Here’s my commentary:

How one becomes a MAGA constituent does baffle most of us.

It’s my belief that MAGA supporters love to listen to him rant and rave against the elite, various systems, the deep state, those who pass judgment on him where he falls short. He’s reflecting their anger of feeling mistreated, being knocked down unfairly by life events, the feeling that others (pick the minority) who are different and who are taking away whatever they value or have, etc. Their attachment to the ex-president is based on an emotional connection, often anger, which has nothing to do with facts, truth, reality, etc.

Here’s reality! It’s the GOP MAGA ex-president’s loyal, ardent MAGA voters who’re keeping him lifted up and who are able to exert oversized power despite numbers indicating that they are a minority. This is because all the republican party elected officials know that they cannot win any election without the Trump Maga voters. This is why we are witnessing republican congressional representatives kowtowing to the GOP MAGA ex-president, despite many knowing better. Even the ex-president’s opponent, Nikki Haley, competing for the republican party’s presidential nomination is just starting to do more than tiptoeing around the tulips when confronting him, as she’s afraid of angering the MAGA voters.

See: “Biden Campaign Ad Spikes Football On “Confused” Trump Mixing Up Nikki Haley and Nancy Pelosi/ Real Politics

In the January 29, 2024 Guardian, George Monbiot addresses the puzzle of the MAGA mind in his opinion piece, “To beat Trump, we need to know why Americans keep voting for him. Psychologists may have the answer:“

Excerpts:

“Many explanations are proposed for the continued rise of Donald Trump, and the steadfastness of his support, even as the outrages and criminal charges pile up. Some of these explanations are powerful. But there is one I have seen mentioned nowhere, which could, I believe, be the most important: Trump is king of the extrinsics.”

“Some psychologists believe our values tend to cluster around certain poles, described as “intrinsic” and “extrinsic”. People with a strong set of intrinsic values are inclined towards empathy, intimacy and self-acceptance. They tend to be open to challenge and change, interested in universal rights and equality, and protective of other people and the living world.”

“People at the extrinsic end of the spectrum are more attracted to prestige, status, image, fame, power and wealth. They are strongly motivated by the prospect of individual reward and praise. They are more likely to objectify and exploit other people, to behave rudely and aggressively and to dismiss social and environmental impacts. They have little interest in cooperation or community. People with a strong set of extrinsic values are more likely to suffer from frustration, dissatisfaction, stress, anxiety, anger and compulsive behaviour.”

“Trump exemplifies extrinsic values. From the tower bearing his name in gold letters to his gross overstatements of his wealth; from his endless ranting about “winners” and “losers” to his reported habit of cheating at golf; from his extreme objectification of women, including his own daughter, to his obsession with the size of his hands; from his rejection of public service, human rights and environmental protection to his extreme dissatisfaction and fury, undiminished even when he was president of the US, Trump, perhaps more than any other public figure in recent history, is a walking, talking monument to extrinsic values.”

“We are not born with our values. They are shaped by the cues and responses we receive from other people and the prevailing mores of our society. They are also moulded by the political environment we inhabit. If people live under a cruel and grasping political system, they tend to normalize and internalize it, absorbing its dominant claims and translating them into extrinsic values. This, in turn, permits an even crueler and more grasping political system to develop.”

“If, by contrast, people live in a country in which no one becomes destitute, in which social norms are characterized by kindness, empathy, community and freedom from want and fear, their values are likely to shift towards the intrinsic end. This process is known as policy feedback, or the “values ratchet”. The values ratchet operates at the societal and the individual level: a strong set of extrinsic values often develops as a result of insecurity and unfulfilled needs. These extrinsic values then generate further insecurity and unfulfilled needs.”

“Ever since Ronald Reagan came to power, on a platform that ensured society became sharply divided into “winners” and “losers”, and ever more people, lacking public provision, were allowed to fall through the cracks, US politics has become fertile soil for extrinsic values. As Democratic presidents, following Reagan, embraced most of the principles of neoliberalism, the ratchet was scarcely reversed. The appeal to extrinsic values by the Democrats, Labour and other once-progressive parties is always self-defeating. Research shows that the further towards the extrinsic end of the spectrum people travel, the more likely they are to vote for a rightwing party.”

“We talk about society’s rightward journey. We talk about polarization and division. We talk about isolation and the mental health crisis. But what underlies these trends is a shift in values. This is the cause of many of our dysfunctions; the rest are symptoms.”

“When a society valorises status, money, power and dominance, it is bound to generate frustration. It is mathematically impossible for everyone to be number one. The more the economic elites grab, the more everyone else must lose. Someone must be blamed for the ensuing disappointment. In a culture that worships winners, it can’t be them. It must be those evil people pursuing a kinder world, in which wealth is distributed, no one is forgotten and communities and the living planet are protected. Those who have developed a strong set of extrinsic values will vote for the person who represents them, the person who has what they want. Trump.”

“Trump might well win again – God help us if he does. If so, his victory will be due not only to the racial resentment of ageing white men, or to his weaponisation of culture wars or to algorithms and echo chambers, important as these factors are. It will also be the result of values embedded so deeply that we forget they are there.”

See: POTUS Biden Is Working to Lift Up All Including GOP MAGAs/ ALEC Explained(2020)