Obsessed With Revenge

If one has to choose a single defining characteristic of the MAGA world it would have to be their thirst for revenge.  Trump is the avenger-in-chief, but vengeance and retribution are the animating impulses throughout the cult.

But why this mania for revenge?  Why does the MAGA world feel so aggrieved and vengeful?  What are the underlying causes and how did we get to the point where much of Trump’s world revels in the outright mocking cruelty that he, Musk and others employ in pursuing the Project 2025 agenda?

 

The first cause that comes to mind is resentment of the intellectual elites.  The MAGA world is primarily, though certainly not entirely, composed of people with less education.  Education level does not necessarily correlate with intelligence, but there is definitely a predisposition in society to associate the two.  Over time, people with less education may feel demeaned or underestimated, even if not specifically ridiculed by those with more education.  And certainly,  in the partisan battles of the last several decades there has been a tendency of the educated left to speak condescendingly of the less-educated right.

 

The second cause is an angry lashing out at the implication that the right has no compassion or conscience. The right’s positions on social services, extreme income inequality, immigration, incarceration and other ‘issues of conscience’ are often characterized as lacking compassion or empathy.  Being labeled in this way is particularly galling for people who consider themselves to be the moral and religious compass of society.  The secret guilt of rejecting the very fundamental teachings of the Jesus that they claim to follow is transformed into an indignant and angry outrage.

 

The third cause is the ‘woke culture’ obsession and backlash.  Confronted with multiple themes of a changing society – sexual freedom, the decline of religious affiliation, reproductive freedom, immigration, gay marriage, gender concepts and transsexuality, racial reconciliation, new definitions of patriotism and reassessments of US history – the MAGA world has felt overwhelmed and alienated.  Finding themselves labelled as backward or unable to adapt, the reaction has been one of fury and self-righteousness.  Rather than rationally discuss or attempt to find compromises to the woke cultural changes, the goal has become the complete negation of them and a furious attempt to punish any and all who endorsed them.

 

And a fourth cause is the shock and pain of having MAGA disinformation debunked and their glorious leader indicted for multiple different crimes.  The fact that no court in the land has ever legitimized the claims of a stolen 2020 election or that a jury of regular citizens found Trump liable for sexual assault and defamation, or that over 1500 people were convicted by juries of their peers of crimes associated with the January 6^th riots have created an insatiable hunger for vengeance.  This is another example of the furiously aggressive reaction that people with guilty consciences have to perceived slights.

 

Seeking revenge is not the act of any leader or movement with integrity.  It is the classic ploy of a tyrant and his henchmen.  Trump has brought the entire MAGA cult down to his level, and whipped up Orwellian doublespeak versions of reality:  that they are the persecuted, that they have lost their freedom of religion and speech, that the USA is being exploited by other countries.  And thus they seek retribution, indulging in a cathartic orgy of cruel and petty acts, with Trump as their mighty sword of vengeance.