As more MAGA "influencers" wake up, the more it will snowball. And I do think we will be seeing more of them waking up. We must be on the look out for recovering MAGA people and find ways to engage and give them a voice within the pro-democracy coalition.
People who have "seen the light" are by far to most effective messengers. They are the ones who reach those who are still in darkness. This is true on a multitude of issues. And whatever we think about how wrongheaded these people have been -- and probably still are on so many things --- I think it is critical that we lay off the blaming and shaming, extend some grace, find areas of common ground. If we don't, we're just going to drive them back to the demented, reactionary right-wing world where they feel accepted.
The only way we are going to build a truly majority pro-democracy coalition -- a true "big tent -- is if we are willing to bring in with people who, at their core, care about basic fairness, economic justice, revitalizing the major pillars of our constitutional framework, and restoring the Western Alliance and rules-based international order that has been the foundation on which we have been able to make serious progress toward a secure and prosperous world committed to advancing the four freedoms. Those people don't have to be "on board" with the entire platform. They may even hold many views that many of us find repugnant. We don't have to like all our coalition partners, but if they are turning against the reactionary right insanity on some things, that's a start. It's a place from which we can see if we can find ways to join forces and move forward on those areas on which we can find common ground. But if we are too caught up in our anger, and blame and shame, I fear we will doom ourselves.
There is a great New Yorker Radio New Yorker Radio Hour interview with Sarah McBride, the first trans Congressperson that echoes these points.
Excerpt:
This country is still at a trans 101 spot... Leaders should always be out front of public opinion, but in order to foster change in public opinion we've got to be within arms distance of the public, so we can pull the along with us. If we get too out ahead of it we lose our grip and are unable to pull the public along with us... There is a space for diversity of messengers, and a diversity of message... What we do know is that as the movement for marriage equality moved forward, the most effective messengers for marriage were not same sex couples, were not parents of same sex couples or kids of same sex couples, the most effective messengers for marriage equality were those that evolved. They were effective because they gave a permission structure for people who had not yet gotten there that it was ok to be uncomfortable, it was ok to be on the other side of the issue. You were not a bad person, you weren't wrong. And by giving people permission to be wrong, it created the space and grace for people to grow. We need more grace in our politics if we want people to actually grow...
We are shooting ourselves in the foot as people who believe in progress when we create no incentive for people to grow because they perceive they will be permanently guilty for having been wrong. We create no space for them to grow by extending no grace for them to walk there...
One of the reasons you see people pushed into their respective corners -- you say something that's deemed problematic. And you are immediately hounded by one side and immediately embraced by the other side. Human nature is -- when faced with that degree of extreme binary reactions is to go to the people who are validating you instantaneously. So we unintentionally push people further and further into their own corners and into their negative opinion by responding with a degree of condemnation and vitriol that creates no incentive or space for them to
grow.
And, the Bulwark highlighted some recovering MAGA people in an excellent interview with Adam Kinzinger a couple days ago (provides some great insights on a number of topics, not just the winds going against 47):
" target="_blank">Donald Trump LOSES Support in ONLY 70 DAYS | The Bulwark Podcast
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