(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . I'm An Ex-MAGA Activist. The GOP Can't Be Saved, and Everyone Needs to Cease Pretending It Can Be. [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-10-31 Note: A version of this story has appeared elsewhere. I do my best to respond to all comments, but the best way to send me a note is Rich@PerfectOurUnion.Us. Thank you. Rich Logis The Republican Party is terminally ill, and I suspect the party knows it. Now, we need more within the national media an pundit class, and our fellow countrymen and women, to realize it. Taking a pre-mortem liberty with the five stages of grief, from Elisabeth Kübler-Ross' "On Death and Dying" — denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance — what one will notice about Republican voters, pundits and elected officials is that they currently, and confusedly, occupy numerous stages. Yes, we will continue to see Republican candidates, who will cite heroic dead presidents (but no living ones), and will prattle on with their usual myths (which I'll get to in a moment). But the GOP is a soon-to-be spectral political party. What rendered the party sickly beyond cure? Its illness are its politically traumatizing mythologies, as old as our country itself. As a former devout MAGA activist, I succumbed to adherence to so many of the below mythologies; with an attitude of gratitude, I give thanks, daily, that I escaped from the abyss of MAGA. The Republican Political Traumatization Mythologies Meter is as follows; there's some overlap from one phase to another, but differences may be overt, rather than implied. The higher a Republican politician is on the meter, the more politically traumatizing he/she is: 1-2: Garden-variety partisanship; standard-fare fear-mongering; 3-4: Utilization of trigger words and phrases, such as, but not limited to: "culture," "values" and "parental rights"; these are often incorporated into rhetoric about sex, LGBTQ and "states' rights"; 5-6: Overt yearning for when America was "great," i.e. the 1950s or early '60s, when the ruling class was Caucasian, heterosexual (at least outwardly), male and Christian; undermining the value of education and science, especially from the Ivy League-educated; 7-8: Whites are being replaced by brown and Black foreigners; law enforcement is weaponized against Republicans; Big Tech "censors" Republicans; teachers are making our kids gay; Democrats are coming for our guns; citing of Barack Obama by name; 9-10: Elections are rigged, unless won by Republicans; political violence is legitimate political discourse, warranted when Republicans lose; use of guns, as the preferred holy war weapon, to intimidate; Christian theocracy and nationalism; and the will of God. What GOP candidate embodies 1-10? You know the answer. No Republican can win 270 electoral votes without moderate (levels 3-6), to heavy (7 and above) traumatizing; and the number of states a Republican running for statewide office can win is likely shrinking with each passing election cycle — hence the GOP's worsening hostility to democracy. Most MAGA voters disdain the GOP nearly as much as they do the Democratic Party; some even more. As a former devout MAGA activist, I succumbed to adherence to so many of the below mythologies; with an attitude of gratitude, I give thanks, daily, that I escaped from the abyss of MAGA. Unprepared for death Given that around 44 percent of voting-age Americans voted in the 2022 midterms — with Democrats doing well both federally, and in numerous gubernatorial and state legislative races — many Republicans, perhaps even most, have undoubtedly further realized that the market for the politically traumatizing mythological product has indefinitely dwindled; this is probably the depression stage for many of them. The irrefutable fact is: the Republican Party appealed (habitually, I talk of the party in the past tense) to those who think moving backward is moving forward. Whether that means looking to an imaginary version of 1776, the "Lost Cause" of the Confederacy, the 1950s as America's apogee of greatness or relitigating the 2020 election, the entire GOP product is backward-facing. I know this oh so well, having been politically traumatized myself, by the GOP's offering; and having spent considerable time, for years, amongst similarly traumatized fellow Republicans, convinced I was one of the "real Americans" prepared to water the trees of liberty with the blood of my mortal enemies. Everyone had better understand what "make America great again" really means. The GOP, of course, has withheld the diagnosis of its terminal political illness from its voters; you may debate among yourselves when the irreversible malignancy metastasized within the GOP. I am of the belief that it accelerated fatefully with the election of Obama, and reached the irreversible stage with Donald Trump. Never in our history were successive presidents as starkly contrasting as Obama and Trump, whether as leaders or as decent human beings. Lots of pundits are now getting around to recognizing the complete MAGA-fication of the GOP; yes, better late than never, but the party has been MAGA-fied for many years. Republican voters are mostly unprepared for the imminent death of their party; most are probably stuck in the Purgatory between denial and anger. Republican politicians are scattered across the bargaining, depression and acceptance stages. Many Republicans, perhaps even most, have undoubtedly further realized that the market for the politically traumatizing mythological product has indefinitely dwindled. Bring good news to the afflicted The GOP has been neither an active nor proactive political force for years. It is reactive and reactionary — it adopted the politically traumatizing, hysterical and paranoid mythologies disseminated throughout the right-wing infotainment system, often crafted in the deepest and darkest bowels of the rabbit-holed internet, and then regurgitated them. Though I will not excuse ignorance, politically traumatized Republicans have themselves been failed by the liars, grifters, carnival barkers, faux-constitutionalists and insurrectionary apologists they've supported — all because they were convinced that any Republican is always preferable to any Democrat. What a pathetic political life to lead; again, I once led such a life, enraptured by make-believe bogeymen, and can attest to its dehumanizing misery. I find no pleasure in all this morbidity; and I don't want a single-party political party system. I much prefer the candid, pragmatic optimism and stout leadership of Obama to the apocalyptic dystopia of the GOP. A goal of eliminating right-wing, politically traumatizing mythologies is impossible. Possible, however, is reducing sycophancy to them. The Book of Isaiah instructs us to bring good news to the afflicted; and the Book of Romans instructs us to be patient in affliction. When I was a MAGA activist, so many who could have given up on me didn’t; for those with loved ones, friends, etc., who remain in the enchanted thrall of MAGA, I implore you: despite your guaranteed frustrations, please do not give up on them. Building diverse, democratic (lower-case d) alliances, and telling original, inspiring and challenging stories about our national mythologies (the aspirational and inspirational, and nefarious, ones) can begin to heal our nation's political traumatization. All of us have a stake in the future of our nation. And all of us can do our part to lead a national reconciliation. The continued perfection of our Union demands it. 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