Excellent post. I believe that the maga base revels in cruelty. I’m not sure it’s a product. Rather, many of the people who are drawn to maga have a deep seated hatred of black or brown people and anyone who is not like them. Not sure where it comes from. Obviously some of it is old fashioned racism. Much of it misdirected resentment. Regardless, it leads to the enjoyment of cruelty.
I wish I knew what percentage of Americans share these traits. If it is the numerical majority, this is a country that is not worth saving. Who wants to live in a place where the majority lacks empathy? This is the question that is always in the back of my mind when I wonder whether resistance is worth it.
My personal experiences inform me that the majority of Americans are not like the maga base. Hope I am not naive. My decision to participate in protests, boycotts and support for those who are similarly inclined, relies on this belief.
Still I find the cruelty shocking. These are the same people who shout that they are christians. The hypocrisy is jarring.
I am not in America, but I firmly believe that most Americans are NOT fine with this, but they just don’t know what to do - try to stay strong and keep protesting, this is not the time to give up - fear paralyzes but the more people who stand up the more courage is amplified and respected and will build a collective - you can all do this, build your momentum and you will win - there are examples in east Europe that have succeeded and we are all watching and believing in ordinary Americans to do the right thing
I lived on the family farm for 64 years. I loved the farm, this country and my countrymen, but I do not want to live in a place where the majority lacks empathy. Maga are rampant here, and very vocal, hateful and cruel. I pray the reasonable majority of Americans can weather the battle and turn this descent into evil around. Thanks for your post. It was clarifying for me.
In a patriarchy, "othering" is necessary to maintain the hierarchy. This regime is remarkable because he has managed to corral the worst of the worst and make cruelty an actual policy.
Yes, I agree with your analysis. As a kid we had a saying, that if you point a finger at somebody else, four fingers are pointing back at you. That's the case with this USA administration, the word "scumbags" so apt.
That video of Marco Rubio is disturbing, especially since he is a first generation American, son of Cuban immigrants seeking asylum from the Castro regime. He is now benefiting from the same legal immigration policies that he is now taking away from others.
The other thing is that he views the “rights” of inanimate objects more than those of human beings. Not to mention that these students are taking part in a guaranteed right to protest. 99% of the people who are being detained and losing their visas were not vandalizing property, but speaking up for the innocent people of Gaza.
Thank you - I hear your honest, raw pain inside the analysis and it hurts to read the terrible things happening - from the outside I can only encourage you to find the strength to keep going - the rule of law is the only way out of this - Americans have to stand up for the rule of law and support each other to defend the rule of law and demand that their political representatives stay inside the law - how can they do that?? I don’t know, but there must be a “force” inside the USA that can d Manx the rule of law be followed ?? If you fail in the US we all fail, please stay strong and know you are respected and acknowledged.
This is how the Roman Emperors used the Coliseum. Entertain the people by appealing to their basest instincts and keep them diverted so they don’t resist the government. It’s textbook.
This is the kind of writing that makes you sit up straighter. Not just because it’s true, but because it names what so much media is too timid to confront: cruelty as spectacle, governance as humiliation, and propaganda repackaged as memes.
The line “cruelty isn’t just the point — it’s the product” should be carved into the walls of every newsroom. It’s devastating. And it’s exactly what we’re living through: the State treating its citizens not as people, but as content.
What hits hardest is the historic framing — the contrast between today’s meme-ready contempt and the calculated, coded language of past atrocities. That distinction isn’t just academic. It shows how far we’ve fallen. From systemic dehumanization to performative degradation — and somehow, the performance stings worse.
Thank you for this. This wasn’t a memo. It was an indictment.
Policy debates aside, yeah, this is unsettling. Combine this uncivilized, bullying behavior with the recent news of the arrest of a foreign student going to school in America for expressing the opinion that a certain country shouldn't receive any more American funding. I feel as though we're in a roller coaster car being slowly ratcheted up that first huge hill, getting our first peek over the top, knowing that the rails have been tampered with on the other side, like we'll be free-falling into tyranny any minute now.
I love that you took time to make these distinctions. The truly horrifying fact is that DJ T.) is treating all of us exactly the way his father treated him. We have to remove him from the White House as quickly as possible. The damage being done to innocent people while children watch is unfathomable.
I love that you took time to make these distinctions. The truly horrifying fact is that DJT is treating all of us exactly the way his father treated him. We have to remove him from the White House as quickly as possible. The damage being done to innocent people while children watch is unfathomable.
Bone chilling. I see trauma, 'leaders' traumatized from patriarchy, military, capitalism. They are so hurt and disconnected they can only keep hurting others, with no empathy.
I wonder if white intellectuals are waking up to that the US was not only founded on principles of democracy (from the Haudenosaunee nations) and liberal rights, but also founded on stealing Indigenous land, destroying Nature, and slavery.
The Trump administration is so destructive. And part of that is in all of us, a collective trauma of modern society, the story of separation. Professor Vanessa Andreotti calls it modernity and suggests it needs to be hospiced. Professor Emerica Darcia Narvaez talks about American trauma inducing child raising.
Let's keep our vision not just emergency fight or flight narrow on Trumps disasters, but a polyvagal, peripheral view on what Collective healing is called for and what more beautiful world is possible. Check out Thomas Hübl. Trump wants us in that viral, adrenaline reactive state. Thank you for speaking up, and let's keep wise and curious about the complexity of this predicament. Grieve. Organize. Rest.
Firstly, he's not my leader. I was fortunate to be born Canadian 😁 Secondly, I was a small arms instructor/coach in the Canadian Forces. Thirdly, yes, I hold strong feelings of disgust for the Trump administration, Mr Vance's cosplay, and America itself, more generally speaking.
Excellent post. I believe that the maga base revels in cruelty. I’m not sure it’s a product. Rather, many of the people who are drawn to maga have a deep seated hatred of black or brown people and anyone who is not like them. Not sure where it comes from. Obviously some of it is old fashioned racism. Much of it misdirected resentment. Regardless, it leads to the enjoyment of cruelty.
I wish I knew what percentage of Americans share these traits. If it is the numerical majority, this is a country that is not worth saving. Who wants to live in a place where the majority lacks empathy? This is the question that is always in the back of my mind when I wonder whether resistance is worth it.
My personal experiences inform me that the majority of Americans are not like the maga base. Hope I am not naive. My decision to participate in protests, boycotts and support for those who are similarly inclined, relies on this belief.
Still I find the cruelty shocking. These are the same people who shout that they are christians. The hypocrisy is jarring.
I am not in America, but I firmly believe that most Americans are NOT fine with this, but they just don’t know what to do - try to stay strong and keep protesting, this is not the time to give up - fear paralyzes but the more people who stand up the more courage is amplified and respected and will build a collective - you can all do this, build your momentum and you will win - there are examples in east Europe that have succeeded and we are all watching and believing in ordinary Americans to do the right thing
Mary, thank you.
I lived on the family farm for 64 years. I loved the farm, this country and my countrymen, but I do not want to live in a place where the majority lacks empathy. Maga are rampant here, and very vocal, hateful and cruel. I pray the reasonable majority of Americans can weather the battle and turn this descent into evil around. Thanks for your post. It was clarifying for me.
In a patriarchy, "othering" is necessary to maintain the hierarchy. This regime is remarkable because he has managed to corral the worst of the worst and make cruelty an actual policy.
Isn't it tyranny per se -- any tyranny, all tyranny, regardless of gender -- that requires "othering" in order to maintain the hierarchy?
Yes, I agree with your analysis. As a kid we had a saying, that if you point a finger at somebody else, four fingers are pointing back at you. That's the case with this USA administration, the word "scumbags" so apt.
That video of Marco Rubio is disturbing, especially since he is a first generation American, son of Cuban immigrants seeking asylum from the Castro regime. He is now benefiting from the same legal immigration policies that he is now taking away from others.
The other thing is that he views the “rights” of inanimate objects more than those of human beings. Not to mention that these students are taking part in a guaranteed right to protest. 99% of the people who are being detained and losing their visas were not vandalizing property, but speaking up for the innocent people of Gaza.
Thank you - I hear your honest, raw pain inside the analysis and it hurts to read the terrible things happening - from the outside I can only encourage you to find the strength to keep going - the rule of law is the only way out of this - Americans have to stand up for the rule of law and support each other to defend the rule of law and demand that their political representatives stay inside the law - how can they do that?? I don’t know, but there must be a “force” inside the USA that can d Manx the rule of law be followed ?? If you fail in the US we all fail, please stay strong and know you are respected and acknowledged.
Organisms are born, live and then die. America is at that 3rd stage. We don't have to like it but there it is, before our eyes.
This is how the Roman Emperors used the Coliseum. Entertain the people by appealing to their basest instincts and keep them diverted so they don’t resist the government. It’s textbook.
This is the kind of writing that makes you sit up straighter. Not just because it’s true, but because it names what so much media is too timid to confront: cruelty as spectacle, governance as humiliation, and propaganda repackaged as memes.
The line “cruelty isn’t just the point — it’s the product” should be carved into the walls of every newsroom. It’s devastating. And it’s exactly what we’re living through: the State treating its citizens not as people, but as content.
What hits hardest is the historic framing — the contrast between today’s meme-ready contempt and the calculated, coded language of past atrocities. That distinction isn’t just academic. It shows how far we’ve fallen. From systemic dehumanization to performative degradation — and somehow, the performance stings worse.
Thank you for this. This wasn’t a memo. It was an indictment.
Thank you for this post - your words always help my brain and heart cohere.
As a 33yrs old American and 63yrs Bulgarian, i am trying to integrate the experience of America, now ..
Yea, this Caligula style of supreme office discourse..(and so tasteless, omg..)
This need for supremacy and sadism to feel content..
It can’t be dismissed as clinical pathology anymore ( wondering where AMA, ACP and APsA are …)
But is it only American?
It’s human nature phenomenon.
Of course, there are reasons for why it’s happening in America, now
May be, if we study better :
Functional connectivity signatures of political ideology | PNAS Nexus | Oxford Academic https://academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/article/1/3/pgac066/6590843
we’ll find a way to revolt in a nonviolent way and to transform.
Otherwise, it already erodes human health.
As Bill Plotkin say,”it’s possible only if massive number of souls initiate transformation at the same time ..”
How many are ready?
It may turn our lives upside down but to evolve is imperative.
Together.
Policy debates aside, yeah, this is unsettling. Combine this uncivilized, bullying behavior with the recent news of the arrest of a foreign student going to school in America for expressing the opinion that a certain country shouldn't receive any more American funding. I feel as though we're in a roller coaster car being slowly ratcheted up that first huge hill, getting our first peek over the top, knowing that the rails have been tampered with on the other side, like we'll be free-falling into tyranny any minute now.
I love that you took time to make these distinctions. The truly horrifying fact is that DJ T.) is treating all of us exactly the way his father treated him. We have to remove him from the White House as quickly as possible. The damage being done to innocent people while children watch is unfathomable.
I love that you took time to make these distinctions. The truly horrifying fact is that DJT is treating all of us exactly the way his father treated him. We have to remove him from the White House as quickly as possible. The damage being done to innocent people while children watch is unfathomable.
Bone chilling. I see trauma, 'leaders' traumatized from patriarchy, military, capitalism. They are so hurt and disconnected they can only keep hurting others, with no empathy.
I wonder if white intellectuals are waking up to that the US was not only founded on principles of democracy (from the Haudenosaunee nations) and liberal rights, but also founded on stealing Indigenous land, destroying Nature, and slavery.
The Trump administration is so destructive. And part of that is in all of us, a collective trauma of modern society, the story of separation. Professor Vanessa Andreotti calls it modernity and suggests it needs to be hospiced. Professor Emerica Darcia Narvaez talks about American trauma inducing child raising.
Let's keep our vision not just emergency fight or flight narrow on Trumps disasters, but a polyvagal, peripheral view on what Collective healing is called for and what more beautiful world is possible. Check out Thomas Hübl. Trump wants us in that viral, adrenaline reactive state. Thank you for speaking up, and let's keep wise and curious about the complexity of this predicament. Grieve. Organize. Rest.
Stay kind and warm hearted!
The level of cruelty and sadism paraded in front of our eyes ever day is making me physically sick!
I can feel your pain and shock in every word.
This mixture of sadism, incompetence and hate to anyone who is better than a maga reminds how the Cambodian Genocide started.
I personally believe that many magas are really that bad.
Unfortunately, history teaches us that the Nazis only became aware of what they were doing when the Allies arrived in Berlin.
All I see is that JD Vance can't shoot from a standing position without a crutch. Feeble.
I hear some strong feelings, disgust or anger maybe? I wonder about your experience of shooting.
I would like to model the empathy so lacking in these leaders. Walk my talk of my values. And find a healthy way to express the rage.
Firstly, he's not my leader. I was fortunate to be born Canadian 😁 Secondly, I was a small arms instructor/coach in the Canadian Forces. Thirdly, yes, I hold strong feelings of disgust for the Trump administration, Mr Vance's cosplay, and America itself, more generally speaking.
What a horror…