This crushing truth will have MAGA survivors fleeing Trump

There is nothing like spending well over a decade of life satiating the Left's unending "id" only to then corner fast and navigate having to talk politics "nicely," a duty one undertakes when doing consulting for candidates that somehow have to retain every Democrat in a district, while also reaching out to that 15-20% that voted for Trump but ah... isn't happy.

There is great news to be had in that the 20% exists, and they've never been unhappier. The bad news is that, like many victims of traumatic abuse, even though they "see" the objective landscape, they've absorbed so much of their abuser's personality that the dynamic is now one more of "identity" than a set of beliefs, more feel than fact, less character than it is a culture.

Take a dare. Have a friend or co-worker approach you and say, "But they said 'America-First' and that they'd bring costs down... " And try not to respond by screaming some variation of "The fact that he campaigned alongside Elon Musk didn't tip you off at all? The fact that Trump's made his fortune ripping people off didn't... Did you recently hit your head, you stupid piece of... "

It is really, really, hard.

But before you pat yourself on the back for being so sophisticated as to have seen all this coming, I would like you to list the top three to four biggest K-pop songs ever, or name the best second baseman in baseball, take a shot at telling us why someone was robbed of a Nobel prize recently. Yes, national politics should and does transcend most niche cultural ecosystems, but not by a lot, and — again, we're only talking about 10 to 20 percent of the people out there. Oh, and our group has never attended a rally, doesn't scoff at red hats, or know Trump is making a boatload of money for himself. Sadly, never doubt, they do watch Fox News because, of course, they do.

My point is, a lot of these people are cops, coaches, nurses, farmers, the type that sits beside you at a football game and isn't the worst person on earth. They live around you and are not horrible or lost, no matter how much of your entire situational awareness overlaps with knowing just how horrible and lost their votes have been. This is not the hat-wearing crowd.

So where do you even begin? Well, first, throw Donald Trump aside entirely because he's irrelevant at this point; no, that's not said facetiously, nor with a hint of smugness. Yes, Trump can still oust a Massie or Cornyn in red state primaries, that's fine — that's the section of committed MAGA voters that we cannot reach. On a broader, more practical landscape, with moderates, we're long past individual issues, even individual names, one being Trump. We're now doing nothing more than traversing the red to blue voting spectrum, picking up survivors along the way.

One has to give them permission for "being taken advantage of and being lied to," not just because it's good politics and that saves them from being lectured to, but it also happens to be the truth. To someone without robust political experience and sophistication, especially if the media is all funneled appropriately, it was a lie and well-told.

So who lied? Again, don't just simply point to Donald Trump and Mike Johnson because then you're back to that voter's "identity" in some sense, and that's still a sore spot. It is much easier to simply note, "Same as it always was, the billionaires controlled it from the beginning. No one, and I mean no one, has ever had it better than the globe's billionaires." That will get a knowing nod. Even Fox News can't hide that reality.

You just established a beachhead. Without regard to literally anything else in the world, neither you nor the voter is a billionaire — an objective fact. Just as obvious, the billionaire has more overwhelming political power than ever. Moving forward on the "non-billionaire" platform, note that the price of gas has taken a significant slash out of our coach-nurse-cop's disposable income. That extra $25 to fill the gas tank is the difference between takeout and frozen in a lot of people's lives, something that matters, so turn and ask, "When was the last time a billionaire looked at a gas gauge, never mind prices?"

Eyes wide.

Now you're really moving because your moderate voter has a better chance of dancing to K-pop than actually envisioning life as a billionaire. "So, if a person sets aside 'what things cost' as a concern on any level, don't you see how something like a world shortage of oil might look as less of a concern for those in power? " (Resist it, resist it, it's right about there where you're going to feel a strong urge again to just start beating down on someone that just saved a life in the ER.)

Because a world without consequences to one's lifestyle is a vastly different world than that of you and me. It is the only world in which a red congresscritter like mine can literally write the AI Deregulation bill and vote to support Trump's tariffs, despite the fact that such votes destroy the folks back home. It makes billionaires happy, and when billionaires are happy, the very, very few people around them — like MAGA pols — are happy, too.

At some point, your voter is going to become acutely aware of a major problem, having once thought it was kinda cool that Elon was on their side for once, and grab for what they "know" to be true, "But you can't have boys playing girls' sports, I mean, come on... "

Trouble.

Self-evident as it seems to you that this is just a civil rights and medical issue for people whose lives are so much harder than your voters', you're still getting launched off that beachhead fast without some quick thinking because their world has likely never known a kid transitioning. In their world, a person can more easily float than have gender issues and "decide to be a boy," and this is not the time and place for you to be "teaching" or informing. These issues are meant to divide, and without a lot of education and enlightenment, isn't changing. It is stuff for which there's no time, not now, because only winning now saves that transitioning kid, and this ain't the conversation that will do it.

Turning fast, back to the beach. "Well, for whatever else we know, we know that you and that transitioning young adult both have a harder time filling up a tank of gas to even get to that practice in the first place, and if we spend all our time here arguing the merits of that, it only allows the precious few without cost consequences to simply mow us down." (Please remember, you're not talking to someone hateful — those in the "quarter" that aren't spoken to at all — you're with someone who only knows that something isn't right and they're pretty upset.)

Speaking of which.

For the love of God, just because you have to talk nice and take a moderate stance, don't for a second believe that it means you must play nice. Indeed, this is a time when candidates 'better bring it. Surveys show people saying they "want less politics, more answers." Fine. Except it's not, because while people tend to say such things, this time they actually want more politics because they most certainly do sense something is off, and even moderates are looking for a fight. Great — find the one against the billionaire. Math still works, we still outnumber them, but only when you have that teacher's vote.

You are well on your way, so say something funny and endearing. "Did you see that MAGA's campaign site? A "movement ready to grow" — what does that even mean? Did they get that out of Aladdin?" Get a chuckle, pat them on the back. "We actually do disagree on so many things, for sure. But it's pretty sad that we don't even have the luxury of fighting about that stuff, not when we're the ones just trying to survive."

Bang.

Because that guy really does hate you if you open up to all you believe, and the more you push this person into Fox News World, the more you will find yourself increasingly antagonistic to that cop, wanting to beat some sense into him, and, just trust me on this, it's a bad idea to fight cops. Just like with elections, you pick the wrong fight, and you will lose, and there will be consequences.

So stick to the consequences that you share, rather than those that divide. If nothing else, reach for "balance," say it's really time to balance things out, because "if you give either side unbridled raw power, you're going to see some craziness." Better — that'll get a nod because he knows he's going to see boys playing girls basketball if the stars align for the Left, meanwhile, both you know that something far more insane goes on when it's his side with all the power. You get new wars in the Middle East, data centers on playgrounds, and an who cares? attitude toward prices and salaries, and that's a world they do see, even though they voted for it.

Good luck, but please engage because this is the only way. It doesn't matter what country, what time in history, there comes a point where even the values of three-quarters of a nation become meaningless, and you're at the last chance to peacefully take power back. Never forget, in the late 1920s and early 1930s, Germany was the most sophisticated, well-educated, stable country on earth, from music, to physics, to infrastructure, Germany dominated the globe, and at no point would even one-quarter of Germans have "voted" for the consequences to come. This election, maybe the next, these are the last grasps of all we have left of "voting" things back to sanity, and you need that coach's vote to do it. We will have an election in 2030, but so will Russia. This is real.

And yes, it is on you. And me. All of us. Being sophisticated and educated enough to "see" things for what they really are does no good if not applied to the neighborhood, city, or county in which we live. There is no way to get there from here without these conversations. I am sorry for that. It shouldn't be this way. We should be out defending that boy, screaming about ICE dragging people off streets, noting that MAGA just disenfranchised Blacks out of the South at one man's behest, all of it. We just can't.

That sucks. It does. But living in the real world, seeing how things really are, includes a duty to realize that you really do share one fundamental truth with that voter: neither of you is a billionaire god, small nations to ourselves, instead things hurt, something isn't right, and nothing is changing until most of us come together. Indeed, things are so wrong that you're willing to smile and backslap someone who voted for Trump. Not too hard.

But it is a fight.

Jason Miciak is a Rawstory columnist, former Editor at Occupy Democrats, an author, political consultant, and single parent girldad. Follow on Bluesky, and contact jasonmiciak@gmail.com