"They" are trying to kill us, and other fictions: MAGAReport 9/21/25
The strength of victimhood within the MAGA movement
I hate what Jimmy Kimmel said. I am thrilled that he was fired. But let me tell you: If the government gets in the business of saying, “We don’t like what you, the media, have said. We’re going to ban you from the airwaves if you don’t say what we like,” that will end up bad for conservatives.
He called the FCC’s tactics “unbelievably dangerous” and “mafioso”.
Unsurprisingly, this did not go down well with the hard core MAGA crowd. They celebrate anything that looks like Trump beating those who defy him.
Looking at the discussion about this story on the MAGA forums is really informative about the attitudes within the movement.
Consider these representative comments posted in response to the Cruz comments:
So, they shot Trump, murdered Kirk, jailed Trump friends, held J6 without trials, brought in an army of illegals, let criminals walk free, lawfared everyone they could...and you're worried about this pos losing his job for slander? Fuck off, shill.
They also kicked Trump off Twitter. Forced Twitter to pull Hunter laptop info down in order to help Biden win. Not to mention, Obama had journalists arrested after exposing Acorn. This goes way back and now they care about free speech?
Released a plague to destroy everyone's lives steal an election and mandate death shots.
Everyone involved should hang
Don’t forget about releasing Covid, burning down American cities, killing Trump supporters and killing police.
They censored me on every platform. My civil rights are a complete fiction in California - anyone can revoke them by screaming Racist or You support Trump?! There is no justice system for protection of my life and property. FUCK YOU AND YOUR FUCKING LAWS TED CRUZ.
Move to Israel and be done with it. Smart as he is, he sure is a retard.
There are a few things worth calling out here. First, “THEY” is doing a lot of work. The MAGA crowd talks often about the bad things “They” are doing without defining who “They” is.
If we allow “They” to just be everyone who is not loyal to Trump, the next thing to note is that most of the litany of offenses here are factually untrue. J6ers weren’t held without trial, no one “unleashed” a plague, covid shots were not death shots, American cities were not burned down, no one brought in an “army of illegals”, and on and on.
The other thing to note is the overtones of victimhood here. This is a running theme throughout the MAGA movement.
The rejection of truth in favor of pro-Trump narratives and the victim narrative are both so fundamental to fascist politics that each has its own chapter in Jason Stanley’s truly outstanding book, “How Fascism Works” (which, if I may put on my professor hat, is required reading for all of you).
In Chapter 4: Unreality, Stanley describes the twisting of truth that is common to fascist politics across time and governments:
When propaganda succeeds at twisting ideals against themselves and universities are undermined and condemned as sources of bias, reality itself is cast into doubt. We can’t agree on truth. Fascist politics replaces reasoned debate with fear and anger. When it is successful, its audience is left with a destabilized sense of loss, and a well of mistrust and anger against those who it has been told are responsible for this loss.
In Chapter 6: Victimhood, he writes:
The exploitation of the feeling of victimization by dominant groups at the prospect of sharing citizenship and power with minorities is a universal element of contemporary international fascist politics.
I point this out not to demonize MAGA as fascists, but rather because we need to recognize that fascist politics are a weapon against democracy and equality. Whether it is intentional or not, the hard core MAGA movement’s narratives about the state of the country align perfectly with what a fascist political environment would dictate. To engage with the current political moment, we need to do so with the understanding of the tactics they are using.
And Give Jason Stanley’s book a read. Being attuned to the patterns of fascist politics adds so much clarity to current events that seem nonsensical in the context of “normal” American politics.
If for some reason you want to know more about what’s happening in these extreme online spaces, I did an interview on ABC’s Full Measure this week - it’s available here:
So wait - liberals/lefties/"us" are responsible for Covid and not the Chinese? Also if that dude has no civil rights in CA how is he posting? Did he use a VPN? I'm kinda lost. OR they're the kind of stupid that I don't and never will understand....
I bought that book on your recommendation. I’ll read it now that it’s assigned.