One of the lawyers that defended a handful of J6 insurrectionists said they would give them a reading list to help them understand on a general level what any of the legal charges they faced concerned or what the consequences could be, or just how government worked, and because this was ''you need to read this before trial so you can ACTUALLY have a chance of getting a plea deal or even a dismissal if you can actually convince a judge you now grasp what you did and how bad it was, and you're super duper sorry'' some actually read them. And they came out of it going ''oh... I've been lied to and manipulated into doing very illegal shit by a political party that knows it can no longer win elections and needs to do very illegal shit to retain any level of power'' and similar thoughts.

But yes. If they instead acquired a smidge of curiosity and interest in worthwhile pursuits they would probably stop being garbage ass people. Maybe we need to make reading cool? Possible dinosaurs reading on posters. That's what got me reading.

And the main reason they're not happy is that they got left behind by the evil fucks they keep voting for. It's beyond maddening.

They don't like to read

I argue that's the issue right there.

Reading only headlines will get you there quickly. But headlines are click bait and insufficient.

I recall seeing a study on the demographics of who actually reads articles and MAGAs were among the most that did not read.

I'm never happy and it didn't turn me into a MAGA dipshit. I don't think I'm even an asshole most of the time or at least I try not to be.

MAGA is popular for the same reason other nationalist, fascist movements have risen over the course of modern history: as a response to Capitalist decay. MAGA isn't popular for genetic reasons, intellectual inferiority, or other reasons like that, but as a common class interest. All of the descriptors in the OP are consequences of the driving factor of class interests, not the drivers themselves.

Fascism is most often represented as an alliance between the Petite Bourgeoisie and Bourgeoisie proper, driven by the Petite Bourgeoisie, as monopolization of Capital results in competition becoming more and more difficult, and the Petite Bourgeoisie faces Proletarianization. To prevent the Petite Bourgeoisie from joining the Proletariat in solidarity, the Bourgeoisie proper turns their hatred against the Proletariat and Lumpenproletariat.

What does this all mean, in practical, American terms? Small business owners, landlords, ie the "middle class," is shrinking in power, so the Small Business Owners are aligning with billionaires like Musk and Bezos against immigrants, workers, unhoused peopled, gender/sexual minorities, women, ethnic minorities, and more.

How do we fix this? Grow the Petite Bourgeoisie and restore their position? Absolutely not! That's when fascism is established. Trying to "turn the clock back to the good old days" results in dramatic reductions in worker rights and a solidification of power.

What we need to do is establish Socialism. A victory of the Proletariat, a folding of the large monopolist syndicates into the public sector so they can be centrally planned for the public good, rather than privately planned for profit, is the way forward. This is the way to escape fascism's rise. This is the way to defeat MAGA.

I recommend reading the book Blackshirts and Reds, fascism's irrationality has rational, material origins, that can be understood and defeated, and it isn't in the "marketplace of ideas."

Sounds like a basket of deplorables to me.

You're not wrong.

These are the same people onsite who never take responsibility.

Also, they're willing to listen to children. Literally saw one yesterday comment on Facebook repeating the "kamala," nonsense.

Seriously, they act like children.. Their dictator is literally a child, and no body in high school even would act this way

Weird shitheads.

My daughter calls them trumpy grumpies and I thought it was a good name.

i appreciate that you held on to that naive but optimistic assumption, Vivian.