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MAGA and the Language of Abuse [1]

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Date: 2024-06-01  

A good chunk of what I’ve been hearing and reading since twelve New Yorkers unanimously found the Orangeführer (or, perhaps now, the Felonführer) guilty as charged on 34 felony counts under section 175.10 of the New York Penal Law, falls along two related lines:

“Congratulations, libtards, you just guaranteed that Trump will be President.” “I never liked/voted for Trump, but I would crawl through hot coals to vote for him now.”

The second one (and its corollary, viz., that the writer/speaker’s neighbor or mother or whoever told them something similar) is obviously bullshit, so we’ll leave that aside for now. The first one is what piques my curiosity, in part because it’s an obvious contradiction; apparently, being charged, prosecuted, and convicted in a court of law of multiple felonies guarantees electoral victory. One wonders, inter alia, what MAGAs and Republicans are so upset about, since they’ve just been handed a guaranteed win in November, and additionally, why Republican (or for that matter, Democratic) politicians aren’t lining up outside DAs’ and USAs’ offices nationwide to confess to crimes and demand to be prosecuted since, again, being charged, prosecuted and convicted — including, indeed especially, of crimes one did not actually commit — guarantees electoral victory.

Of course, the one thing we’re not hearing amid the cacophony of what a Horrible Disgrace this Rigged Corrupt Political Witch Hunt® is and how This Is a Sad Day For America™ and so forth, is that the Felonführer did not actually commit the crime with which he was charged. What we’re hearing instead is that he should not have been charged, prosecuted, or found guilty — i.e., he should have been allowed to get away with it — because charging, prosecuting, convicting and/or jailing Your Political Opponents is Bad. Laying aside the whole “Lock Her Up!” being the central theme of the 2016 Republican National Convention thing, it never seems to occur to anyone that not charging, prosecuting, convicting or jailing Your Political Opponent because he is Your Political Opponent ... that would be “political”.

But that’s not what I’m here to talk about today.

Everyone knows that Donald Trump is an abuser. His Party and his supporters are in an abusive codependent relationship with him, and have become abusers themselves. I say that because this idea that somehow he shouldn’t be prosecuted, held accountable for his malfeasance, or even investigated or criticized, because doing so only makes him more popular, makes “moderate”/”swing”/”independent”/&c. voters more likely to vote for him, or “guarantees” that he will win the presidency again — that is the language of abuse, and of abusers.

I’m not a psychologist, or a counselor, and have been fortunate to not experience domestic abuse as an adult. But I recognize the language of abuse and of abusers when I hear it, or read it. “Daddy won’t hit us if we don’t make him mad.” “See what you made me do?” “I wouldn’t have had to do that if you hadn’t pissed me off.” This language that MAGA has adopted (and that we’re hearing from the Both Sides® media as well) in defense of their beloved (and perpetually-victimized) Führer has all the earmarks of emotional abuse; the whole country is in an abusive relationship with these people. “Hey libtards, if you investigate Trump, you’ll regret it!” “Hey libtards, if you prosecute Trump, you’ll only make him more popular, and then you’ll really be sorry!!” “Congratulations, libtards, you just guaranteed that Trump will be the next president, so you deserve whatever you get!!”

There are a lot of other dimensions to this, starting with the fact that the Felonführer himself is quite possibly the single worst person on the planet. It’d be something else if they were defending a decent, honorable, well-meaning, chivalrous, modest, kind, upright, mature and responsible person, or someone with other recognizably-human redeeming characteristics of this kind, but they’re not. Forget the “media” or what anyone says about him; watching or listening to him first-hand, unfiltered, it is impossible to detect anything resembling decency, honesty, modesty, kindness, maturity, empathy, or humanity. The man is a veritable firehose of toxicity and viciousness, capable of expressing only three things: self-praise, self-pity, and malice. Every campaign “promise” he makes is a threat .

And that’s what his supporters admire, enable, and emulate. It is painfully obvious that he doesn’t actually care for, empathize with, or have any real feelings for them; they love him, but he certainly doesn’t love them, indeed it’s hard to imagine that he has ever actually loved anyone or anything in his life. Except selfishly, of course, which is not love. I really think this is, or resembles, an abusive codependent relationship; anyone with clinical experience or knowledge can correct me, of course, but this cult-like devotion to a vulgar, selfish, cruel, demented racist gangster is hard to explain any other way.

What that has led to, in my view, is a cycle of abuse that Republicans and MAGA are trying to inflict on the rest of us, using the language of abuse and of abusers to get what they want, to serve the Führer and keep him out of harm’s way, and to shame and threaten everyone outside the cult into standing aside and clearing their path to power. Even that bullshit about how “I’m a lifelong Democrat but I’m voting for Trump because of this” or “My neighbor/mother/co-worker/&c. hated Trump but now hates the Democrats” is a form of, and attempt at, emotional abuse and manipulation. Even if no one believes it, even if it would be thoroughly irrational to do that, even if it makes no sense at all. I’ve even been told — and not by a MAGA — that if the Democrats had just left Trump alone and not brought these cases and charges against him, he would not even be running for President. Which is obviously absurd, but an equally-obvious deployment of the unmistakable language of abuse and abusers.

That, to me, is the most depressing thing about all of this, and why I found it so hard to celebrate or be gratified when the verdict came down the other day. Maybe I need to get off Xitter; that’s probably obvious. But when even friends and loved ones are using the language of abuse and abusers to defend and DARVO their beloved Führer, it fills me with sadness and dread. Our country is in an abusive relationship with a monster. And I don’t know how the cycle ends.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/6/1/2244133/-MAGA-and-the-Language-of-Abuse?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web

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