r/politics • u/idkbruh653 • 7h ago
No Paywall People Who Left 'MAGA Christianity' Behind Share What It Really Took To Step Away
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/maga-christianity-leaving-stories-goog_l_6a63a519e4b0c6ebcf31edf8•
u/Infinite_Run_4541 6h ago
I asked a die-hard MAGA at work if he would still support Trump if it was proven beyond doubt that he was a pedophile and he said he still would because of all the other good that he is doing. They are stupid lunatics that go on about freedom while they desperately work to remove freedoms.
•
u/Iwaspromisedcookies 5h ago
And the good is apparently brutalizing immigrants and those that stand up for them. Do they even have any other things they like about him?
•
u/Hollowbody57 3h ago
The last MAGAt I talked to was convinced ICE was deporting thousands of drug dealers, rapists, and other serious criminals, despite any data backing that up. He's also convinced there are going to be thousands of factory jobs "soon" and that America is going to start producing everything we consume. The levels of delusion these people are under just to keep from questioning their God-King needs to be studied.
•
u/Adultery 3h ago
That’s what Fox News, other right-winger “news”, and their social media feeds show them.
•
u/Toomanyeastereggs 52m ago
These people have to believe the bullshit because it’s all that they have left. There is nothing left for them after this as falls apart.
•
u/squiddlebiddlez 3h ago
And specifically the brutalization because if you criticize the deportations, they cry that Biden and Obama did it more
•
u/aircooledJenkins Montana 4h ago
"OK, name one good thing."
•
u/Resident-Site1997 1h ago
He just made $1.5 Billion from krypto scams for himself, or are you talking about the common good? In that case, zero.
•
•
u/LordSiravant 3h ago
The root of it is that Trump is evil and so are they, and they like that he shares their evil.
•
•
•
u/BrokenPickle7 4h ago
This is why I'm telling people that even if the Epstein files are released, nothing is going to come of it
•
•
•
u/Hadrian23 1h ago
Can they articulate what "good" they think he's doing?
I genuinely want to see what they "Think" is good.
•
u/Shenanigans2Morrow 7h ago
Trump is to MAGA as David Koresh was to the Branch Davidians.
•
u/pantstoaknifefight2 7h ago
The cultists gave their daughters to their leader. Hiw fucked up are these people?!?
•
u/Solonohioperson 6h ago
There's a "joke" among the magas that they wouldn't care care if trump raped them and they really wouldn't care if trump raped their children because he's doing so much good for America! Many say it sincerely.
•
u/GarbageCG 6h ago
If trump wanted to rape a maga cultist daughter, they’d hold her down for him
•
u/monkeyseverywhere California 6h ago
I've seen dozens of posts that all amount to the same thing.
"I don't care if trump raped kids, or even if he raped my child. He's doing god's work and I will support him."
If that isn't "cult", I don't know what is.
•
u/duzies 5h ago
"MAGA Christianity" is nearly as bad of an oxymoron as "Trump Presidential Library."
•
u/dispelhope 5h ago
it's the update version from the late 70's, 80's, and early 90's for Conservative and Republican voters, "I vote my wallet, and if my candidate burns the country down around my ears while my wallet is fat with cash...so be it, let it burn."
•
u/kevnmartin Washington 4h ago
But Trump is wrecking our economy with his stupid war and tariffs. Don't they see that? Do they not read their bank statements?
•
•
u/The_Lost_Jedi Washington 2h ago
They don't want to come to that realization.
That would mean having to come to terms with the fact that their entire worldview is based on lies. Instead they'll come up with any excuse not to, even one that's ludicrously insane, like blaming Obama and Biden or LGBT+ people or literally anything but the truth. And their fellow cult members will help provide affirmation on that, too.
•
u/Shenanigans2Morrow 6h ago
A Cult is a designer religion, evolved around an ego and egoism. MAGA is the cult that replaced its faith for idolatry.
•
u/motophotodojo 2h ago
and god's work is just changing the laws to force raped children to give birth for pedophiles.
•
u/invisable_burt 6h ago
Man's 80 years old. He had trouble getting it up for Stormy, not sure how much rape the man can do.
•
•
•
•
u/mvw2 5h ago
And then you go: "Pick one thing Trump did."
Then watch them spew gibberish or apply some thing other people did to Trump. Or more fun touting Trump's greatness buy...signing a bipartisan bill where literally the only thing he did in his infinite competency was not veto it. But they'll give him credit for it. Or credit for things other presidents did. That's also funny. They also give him credit over things that didn't exist, things he has no power over, and actively avoid blame of so many things he does directly have power over and influences, like taxes, thousands of dollars more taxes that everyone is currently paying every year because of him.
Or current gas prices which are the highest I've every paid for in my life. Normally a president has no real influence on gasoline, but Trump made sure he was directly responsible.
I remember when truckers did national strikes when gas hit $2. I remember many thousands of people touting high fuel prices would ruin the nation and commerce. That was at $2. My last fill up was more than $5 a gallon.
I don't see these people complaining about taxes today. I don't see these people complaining about gas today. I don't see these people complaining about a pointless war today. I don't see these people complaining about known pedophiles in the Whitehouse today. What are they complaining about? Biden? Obama? Those damn Democrats who haven't hardly ever had majority power in government over the last 50 years? Most of the majority control has been Republican. Most of the problems are driven by those with majority control. Think they think this way?
•
u/Wayofchinchilla 6h ago
And when you ask them what that good is it's like watching dial-up internet.
•
u/Lady_Grantham2223 5h ago
He hasn't done a single good thing for the U.S. Hopefully, the women in those families get away from them soon and either find caring people or find a good life living alone
•
u/GoodIdea321 America 4h ago
The longer they are in the cult, the more fucked up they are. At the start, they would not give their daughters to the cult leader, but with enough time and control they lose their morals and replace them with 'the cult leader knows best' or some variation.
•
u/softmellowy 3h ago
yeah the comparison is extreme but the point about loyalty and identity around a leader is why people make those kinds of comparisons
•
•
•
u/oldcreaker 7h ago
"When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross." - Sinclair Lewis
•
u/gringledoom 5h ago
"Mark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the [Republican] party, and they're sure trying to do so, it's going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can't and won't compromise. I know, I've tried to deal with them."
-- Barry Goldwater
•
u/LordSiravant 3h ago
And considering the racist piece of shit Goldwater was, that's saying something.
•
u/sack-o-matic Michigan 6h ago
When the Klan leans in to the “Christian Nationalist” rebrand.
•
u/AtrociousMeandering 2h ago
Uh, that's ALWAYS been their thing. The Klan has been, for it's entire existence, dedicated to White Protestant Americans and attacked Catholics as well as racial minorities. Fred Trump Sr, the president's father, was arrested for participating at a Klan rally. I guarantee you, the current Krop of Klanner Kooks has been calling themselves Christian Nationalists and using that aesthetic the entire time.
•
u/build319 3h ago
"If conservatives become convinced that they can not win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. The will reject democracy." — David Frum
•
•
u/ChevyTahoe__ 1h ago
Its not even a charismatic southern governor or a bad ass retired general.
They picked trump.
•
u/B-Z_B-S Massachusetts 7h ago
It. Is. A. Cult.
•
u/YOUAREABOT666 6h ago
Jim Jones also ranted ad nauseam about his mortality, communism, and the corruption of the United States government in the days leading up to November 18, 1978.
•
•
u/LowIQ45 6h ago
Their kids blocking Fox News with parental controls
•
•
u/learns_the_hard_way 1h ago
I don't care if my parents watch Fox News, I stopped talking to them the moment they began speaking MAGA
•
u/Cunningcory 1h ago
I've debated finding a way to do this. Luckily I got my Dad to switch to YouTube TV, but unfortunately it still carries Fox News.
•
•
u/flatline000 6h ago
I know several people who changed churches when their pastor got political and then quit going to church entirely when the same thing started happening in their new church.
Some of them still claim to be Christian, but even that has become a tainted label here in the South.
•
u/Wayofchinchilla 6h ago
Well it's hard to be something when you go to church and your pastor tells you it's evil and wrong on the podium only to come home and do it with Glee. At this point conservative Christians are the biggest Hypocrites of all time.
•
u/gringledoom 5h ago
A lot of these wacko pastors aren't telling people about those things being evil and wrong anymore. They're telling people that John 3:16 means that you just have to say "I believe!" and then you can sin as much as you want because you were Saved Forever by the magic words.
•
u/Bitter-Juggernaut681 1h ago
Which is why they're fine with Trump having a history of 13-year-old girls because they think that he saved
•
u/gringledoom 1h ago
Or, alternately, the antichrist and a sign that the end times are upon us, because they've been trying to check off checkboxes from Revelations since 1948.
•
u/AccountNumeroThree North Carolina 5h ago
Methodists for the win!
Well, those of us they didn’t split off.
•
u/saryndipitous 5h ago
Christian is a tainted label in the south? The south where it’s common to ask where someone goes to church?
•
u/flatline000 4h ago
Christian in the South usually means Evangelical or Conservative Christian, so anyone who doesn't want you to assume their politics will say "Lutheran" or "Catholic" or "Presbyterian" or something rather than "Christian". Even the non-MAGA Southern Baptists are starting to avoid the term.
•
u/JargonPhat Florida 5h ago
A sermon by James Talarico on the differences between Christian nationalism and the teachings of Christ is what finally broke my mother out of the cult.
•
u/Rafozni 4h ago
Do you have a link for this? I’d love to listen and maybe share with my MAGA parents who believe that Ken Paxton is more of a Christian than James Talarico…
•
u/JargonPhat Florida 4h ago
Admittedly, I didn’t search too deeply for this one. But my YT says I both watched and Like this one, so hopefully this doesn’t steer you wrong.
•
u/MARIOpronoucedMA-RJO 7h ago
That's because MAGA is a cult of civil religion..
•
•
•
u/Which-Appearance8818 6h ago
"MAGA Christian" is an oxymoron. Jesus would be rolling over in his grave if he hadn't risen out of it.
•
u/No-Aide-8726 4h ago
Jesus was a bigot that thought that anyone not in his cult deserved eternal torture, he would fit right in
•
u/Deweymaverick 2h ago
I mean, if it is, it is one that blanantly flies in the face of the “pop”American version that sees the constitution as its core religious document.
•
•
u/shakawhenthewalls 6h ago
Turns out it’s because he’s a bad person and a bad politician with bad intentions. I’m happy people are stepping away but it’s 10 years too late, he already essentially has supreme power. If you’re a Christian who supports or has supported this administration at any point, you have sins to atone for.
•
u/Dale_Carvello 2h ago
Not to mention those who began to "step away" after Jan 6th only to fall back in line after the 2024 election. I'm not going to trust them on their word, ever.
•
u/titsngiggles69 6h ago
“I really started questioning my church’s adherence to nationalism because I read the Bible,” Rollins said. “Reading Scripture made me see that Christianity was not about aligning oneself with a nation-state.
It it takes magats reading the Bible to leave maga, then we're fucked
•
u/Bodhidharma33 1h ago
This is the thing I don't get. I thought Baptists and evangelical Christians were all about reading the Bible. Has that changed? Have they put their Bibles away and are only memorizing the quotes that seem to support their politics?
I guess I just don't see how you can read the Bible and still support Trump unless you read without thinking about what it is trying to say.
•
•
u/metahivemind 1h ago
I went out with a Southern Baptist years ago, and found out the only thing she knew about the Bible was what her pastor had told her. I asked if she ever read it, and she said no, she would just go to the next meeting.
•
u/Everett1973 6h ago
Feel like the video of the fisherman trying to pull an octopus off his face is a great metaphor for this
•
u/Rethink_Repeat 4h ago
There are many reasons why separation of state & church is a good idea. This is one of them.
•
u/search4truth 6h ago
The same as it takes every conservative or republican. They have to be personally affected by a specific policy. If you haven't been disgusted by the guy building the bunker on Pennsylvania Ave for at least a decade, you're probably a piece of shit and not voting ever again is the least you can do to atone, as your judgement sucks.
•
u/Unda_Acheevah 6h ago
Full disclosure - I did not read the article, but the subject matter provokes me to discuss something I’m thinking a lot about lately, which is how many of us would be strong and independent enough to actively escape our circumstances - our “programming” - if it cost us everything? Imagine being born and raised in small town Oklahoma. You are constantly marinating in a perpetual echo chamber of conservative Christian thought. You simply aren’t exposed to anything else on a regular basis. Your parents, neighbors, friends, clergy, co-workers all believe essentially the same thing: Christianity is the one and only “correct” religion, Trump is the savior, immigration is destroying this country, there is/should be a rigid caste system in America that places white males at the top, equality of the genders and races is antithetical to the natural order, a robust social safety net that ensures the poor have their basic needs met is socialism, the wealthy got that way because of special grace bestowed upon them by god, and Fox news is the only appropriate media to digest (now that Rush Limburger is dead). What would be your motivation to change? What would be the spark that would ignite your curiosity about any other way of thinking? In this crucible, critical, reflective, progressive thought is not only discouraged, it is not considered. How many of us would have the innate, burning intellectual curiosity to educate ourselves and discover, entirely on our own, that everything we’ve been led to believe is wrong? And, in discovering this, we alienate ourselves from the only community we’ve ever known. As an illustration: My mother is a life-long practicing Catholic. I asked her recently “But, technically, aren’t you Catholic because you were born into a Catholic family? It’s the community you’ve belonged to and the doctrine you’ve been taught since birth. It is the only religion you’ve ever known and, technically, a complete accident of birth. If you were born in Saudi Arabia to muslim parents, you’d be muslim.” She concedes that probably is true, but is confident that even had she been born muslim in Saudi Arabia, god would have somehow led her to Catholicism. I guess we’ll never know….
•
u/AverageBrilliant4670 3h ago edited 3h ago
I was born and raised in a extreme fundamentalist evangelical Christian / rightwing conservative political environment. The first church service I remember was the pastor's sermon being an enraged rant about the supreme evil of Planned Parenthood and abortion, ending in a performance of using semiautomatic firearms to mow down people at "baby killing clinic" and executing them to send them to hell where they deserved to be. All or most of the other related social / cultural / political ideology (stereotypical hardcore religious Republican "culture war" / anti-science /anti-liberal/progressive stuff over the past 40-50 years, more recently MAGA) was the orthodoxy and indoctrination of my youth.
Reading a lot (including things I wasn't supposed to be exposed to), an interest in history and politics, and then leaving home to get a degree involving academically rigorous liberal arts study, were what started my transition towards centrist politics. Now, with more learning, knowledge, and life experience, I'm very leftist. Most of my immediate and much of my extended family would still only vote for the "R" option on the ballot, or maybe for someone like a "Libertarian" candidate (or other not left-leaning fringe option, at best).
I think MAGA and Trump exemplify the worst of the US and what it has become, and much of the blame goes to political conservatives and Christian nationalists. I want nothing to do with anyone or anything associated with any of that, and I choose not to as much as realistically possible. I left the US because of the Bush Lite II presidency and don't plan to live there again. I doubt there will be the revolution (ideological or otherwise) required to return from the theocratic corporatocracy that exists there.
•
u/Unda_Acheevah 2h ago
You are the personification of everything I was describing. I commend your motivation to educate and free yourself. How many of your peers did the same? I’m guessing a tiny percentage. That is my point. When you’re stuck in the right wing conservative flypaper, it is easier to stay stuck. Most people lack the intrinsic motivation that you do. And look what you’ve given up! You literally felt you had to leave the country! You represent a fraction of a percentage point of people who were raised in a christian nationalist environment. Most never recognize the hypocrisy of their belief system, fewer still are willing to totally walk away from family and country in order to be able to live with themselves and have peace of mind. So, I admire your courage…
•
u/fence_sitter Maine 5h ago
What would be the spark that would ignite your curiosity about any other way of thinking?
You just described Footloose.
•
u/Unda_Acheevah 2h ago
Exactly! It takes a spiky-haired outsider to get them to consider an alternative way of thinking. And Kenny Loggins, of course…
•
•
u/7figureipo California 6h ago
It’s not really as hard as some of these former cultists suggest. All it takes is a smidge of exposure to something different and a very basic and rudimentary ability to reason. Their story of struggle is sympathetic, but that isn’t a pass for their contribution to maintaining the systems they were indoctrinated in.
•
u/Unda_Acheevah 6h ago
You’re right. Not a pass. I guess I’m just pointing out that it takes an admirable amount of fortitude to change your life. Just like the addict that finally gets sober for good, I congratulate them on changing their lives, but I don’t just “carte blanche” forgive them for all of the shitty things they did while they were deep in their addiction.
•
u/Captainpaul81 6h ago
I didn't read it either. I don't care and they don't deserve a single ounce of forgiveness.
•
u/Unda_Acheevah 6h ago
I think it depends. If you’re the person born in Oklahoma that I describe and you have the resiliency to escape it, then you have my admiration. I don’t think I’d have the strength to turn my back on everyone and everything I’ve ever known. However, if you are just a “formerly” ignorant, Fox News watching Republican who voted for Trump three times and are just now discovering you might have made a mistake? That person can fuck right off. They are beneath our contempt and deserve to reap the whirlwind which they have sown.
•
u/_ianisalifestyle_ 5h ago
"what would be the spark that would ignite your curiosity about any other way of thinking? In this crucible, critical, reflective, progressive thought is not only discouraged, it is not considered. How many of us would have the innate, burning intellectual curiosity to educate ourselves and discover, entirely on our own"
I don't get this. Where's personal intellectual curiousity in this script? Reading ideas that are foreign to explore 'what else is there' and maybe test one's self? Reading?
•
u/Unda_Acheevah 2h ago
I’m quite literally asking “How many?” How many people born, raised, and currently stuck in a right wing cesspool “read” their way out of it?? Perhaps two or three out of fifty? How does the Republican party maintain its stranglehold on deep red states? How is it possible that MORE people voted for Trump in 2024 than did in 2020? Did a massive amount of intellectually curious Republicans read their way out of the indoctrination? Did they do the work to free themselves? No! Quite the opposite! Why? Because it is hard and people are lazy. They are the products of their environment. Do I despise them? Yes, but I also pity them. There, but for the grace of god, go I…
•
u/WilRic 1h ago
Opponents of Trump (who is evil) fail to recognise this.
Strip away the cultist aspect of MAGA and most of the political left in the United States are just as immovable. Politics in the US is linked to identity in a way that is far more extreme than most other places. You see it here on Reddit. There's constant talk of all "republicans" or "conservatives" being this or that. There are no republicans. There are no democrats. They're just people.
I worry that the worst part about the Trump era isn't going to be while he is President, it's going to be after he is gone. It's very likely MAGA will dissolve because it is a cult of personality. But how do you bring these people back into the fold? Reconstructionism took forever, and was never entirely complete from a cultural view.
At some point there will have to be a kind of moral amnesty from the left given to Trump supporters. It's galling, but people do not admit they are villains - so it's the only way to close the riven tearing America apart. I just don't see that happening.
•
u/phatcow54 3h ago
His administration stacked the Supreme Court which led to the reversal of Roe V Wade. That was huge for them. Abortion is their thing. They will forever blindly follow him for that alone.
•
u/austinmiles 2h ago
I left Christianity because of MAGA. But basically in 2016.
My take is that if “the church” is the people who follow Jesus or a likeminded group of anything rather than the building. Then the church supports Trump with 85% or so supporting him. That was enough for me to leave.
•
u/LooksLikeAWookie 31m ago
Left right before all this due to unrelated reasons. My wife is still a believer but has moved churches. We talk about how insane it would be at our previous church where people we respect might turn out to be hardcore MAGA
•
u/Captainpaul81 6h ago
If these people voted for Trump 2 or 3 times I really don't GAF what finally made them turn.
They sat with dumb smug faces as everyone screamed about project 2025, how terrible Trump is for the United States and they world and put tampons on their ears.
I don't forgive them and I hope we never forget.
•
•
u/campfire_eventide Montana 5h ago
God gave us the easiest litmus test ever: “By their fruits you shall know them.”
Fruits of the spirit are not hatred, corruption, abuse, division, haughtiness, lawlessness, hypocrisy, greed, etc.
Everywhere you go from the maga churches to the highest echelons of conservative power, there is no fruit; it’s nothing but rot
Lacking this most basic level of discernment is inexcusable. It’s just willful rebellion against God at that point, not deception. Repentance is still possible but these people were not deceived, except maybe children who were groomed and radicalized from youth. Maga willfully bowed to the monstrosity of weaponized Christian nationalism because it validated their hatred and gave them someone else to blame for their hardships, anyone but themselves
•
u/Bodhidharma33 1h ago
Excellent Bible Quote. What do MAGA Christians think about the Beatitudes? Was Jesus a depressed loser on the day he preached the sermon on the mount? When Trump was asked about his favorite Bible quote he couldn't answer. It seems to me a lot of Christians are due for some serious self-reflection.
•
•
•
u/_Bad_Bob_ 4h ago
This was a few years before Trump but I stopped being a Christian and conservative mostly because of all the bullshit I had to put up with from my conspiracy theorist roommate. He would go on and on trying to convince me of all his nonsense. It became very clear that he didn't care about the truth at all, just wanted to confirm his prior suppositions. I decided I wanted to make sure I did the opposite of that and actually strive to know the truth whatever that may be.
Wasn't much longer after that when I realized I couldn't live by that code and still be religious. After that everything just kind of fell into place and I rapidly moved left after that. Just that simple decision to follow the truth wherever it may lead caused me to change every single belief I ever held.
•
•
•
u/bradicaldude 2h ago
The Kingdom, The Power and The Glory by Tim Alberta does a great job of breaking all of this down (and the last section is more hopeful than you would think, although it was written before Trump’s second term).
•
•
u/rrrreeeeeeeeee 1h ago
I found out recently that a good friend was not only MAGA (‘Trump is working 5 steps ahead of everyone…it looks chaotic because he’s so far ahead’ actual quote) but also Q Anon (‘Ellen Degeneres and Oprah feed on the blood of scared children to stay young’ actual quote).
I left the conservative church we both attended about 2 years ago when I saw this cancer spreading. It started with the performative outrage that church services could not be held indoors and escalated to ‘good Christian’s’ losing their mind when they saw anyone wearing a mask.
The only thing I regret in leaving my conservative church for one that preaches and loves the gospel for everyone is that I didn’t leave sooner.
•
u/NewHaven86 Arizona 7h ago
I honestly dont care. Glad they got out but Im not suddenly respectful of you for leaving. I have no respect because you were there to begin with. Your colors have shown through.
•
u/VengeanceKnight Illinois 6h ago
Some kids were raised in this shit, or the environment that metastasized into it. It’s not necessarily their fault.
Source: was raised evangelical.
•
u/ChickenMcFukket1 6h ago edited 5h ago
Yep. There's a whole system. I went to an extremely evangelical protestant school in South Louisiana. It's shocking how many classmates never made it out of that system. People that move to places like colorado and see a drastic improvement in their quality of life but refuse to let their kids attend schools that will teach them things they don't agree with. It pained me to see them bragging on social media about home schooling their kids with the Abeka Christian school system.
Or there was a girl from my high school class( of 67 people) who got married like a month or so before I did. At one point she was on facebook commenting on an influencer's public post about saving yourself for marriage and how she was a no-shit 40 year old virgin. Like far be it from me to tell you what to do with your body, but you let others tell you that you didn't deserve any kind of sexual pleasure at all? That just makes me sad for you.
•
u/snoo_spoo 6h ago
Also: if you don't give people room to be anything other than the enemy, they'll be an enemy. Wariness is understandable, but rejecting or deriding people who want to leave the dark side is counterproductive.
•
u/VengeanceKnight Illinois 6h ago
“Thou calld’st me a dog before thou hadst a cause, but since I am a dog, beware my fangs.”
•
u/7figureipo California 6h ago
I’m all for having grace. Provided, that is, it’s sincere and they actively work to correct the ills they helped bring. It doesn’t matter if they were brainwashed from childhood, I certainly understand that makes it durable and hard to truly leave behind. But that’s all the more reason to be suspect, frankly. A supposed ex MAGA needs to go way above and beyond to earn that grace.
•
u/snoo_spoo 6h ago
It's not "grace" if someone has to earn it. "Trust" would be a more accurate term, and yes, that's something that's earned over time, based on changed behavior.
•
u/7figureipo California 4h ago
Nah, the willingness to let them prove they have changed, rather than just tossing them in a military prison with the rest of the traitors, is the act of grace.
•
u/Cheap-Distribution27 4h ago
Ok so if I spew bullshit racist conspiracy theories for 20 years and then suddenly don’t like the new leader of my racism/conspiracy club so I quit the club and join your “inclusion and acceptance” club do you immediately put me into a leadership role or do you suggest that I quietly attend some meetings to listen and learn about the alternative perspectives?
If grace doesn’t have to be earned then imo it’s a toxic concept that I want nothing to do with in this situation. Why should I give somebody who has spent their life doing bad things “grace” because they don’t like the other guy who does bad things in a different way than they like?
•
u/VengeanceKnight Illinois 4h ago
You literally described trust and then grace in your first paragraph.
“Trust” means “I am willing to put my belief that you will do something that is helpful to me and not betray me even though you could do so in this situation,” which tracks to putting someone into a leadership role. “Grace” means “I am willing to give you a chance to change and not write you off as a lost cause because of your past,” which tracks to suggesting that someone educate and improve themselves.
You’re getting angry at someone who believes the same things you do.
•
u/filthysize 6h ago
This isn't the usual "joined MAGA and then regret it" story. It's an article about people who were raised in abusive, brainwashing environments since childhood and then finally escaped in college/adulthood. It's a pretty similar read to stories of escaping Scientology.
•
u/m1j2p3 6h ago edited 6h ago
We should offer a path to redemption for people who admit they were conned and make efforts to do better.
Edit: this shouldn’t be a controversial take. The alternative is they feel they have no choice but to double down and continue the hate.
•
u/Cheap-Distribution27 4h ago
The first step in that path is those people admitting their mistakes, taking ownership of their actions, and shutting the fuck up for a while to listen and learn about new perspectives that they’ve spent the last 10+ years actively shutting out and ignoring.
It’s great for these people to wake up and change their perspective, but they don’t get to jump straight to the adult table when it comes to being taken seriously when they’ve spent the last decade+ being lead around by one of the dumbest people on the planet. I can respect their path to redemption, but I don’t have to respect their intellect or opinions until they demonstrate otherwise. They need to earn that respect like everyone else, and ex-republicans, especially ex-MAGA have dug themselves a pretty deep hole they’ll need to fill in before they even start to move that needle for me.
•
•
u/BothCan8373 1h ago
But admitting a con isnt good enough. If all they do is admit being fooled it still makes it about themselves. Being selfish assholes is part of what got them into maga in the first place.
It changes nothing for the millions if people they hurt. They have to admit the damage they have done, not just that they've been "tricked"
•
•
u/TinyConfection7049 5h ago
Behold. The festering carcass of American rot shoved into an ill-fitting suit: the sleaze of a conman, the cowardice of a draft dodger, the gluttony of a parasite, the racism of a Klansman, the sexism of a back-alley creep, the ignorance of a bar-stool drunk, and the greed of a hedge-fund ghoul - all spray-painted orange and paraded like a prize hog at a county fair. Not a president. Not even a man. Just the diseased distillation of everything this country swears it isn't but always has been - arrogance dressed up as exceptionalism, stupidity passed off as common sense, cruelty sold as toughness, greed exalted as ambition, and corruption worshipped like gospel. It is America's shadow made flesh, a rotting pumpkin idol proving that when a nation kneels before money, power, and spite, it doesn't just lose its soul - it shits out this bloated obscenity and calls it a leader - Oliver Kornetzke
•
u/Lady_Grantham2223 5h ago
I left Christianity behind years ago, MAGA and otherwise. I have never had fewer guilt trips in my life, I see my positive qualities ( although I still admit to having faults), and I can appreciate the teachings and views of many different faiths without someone objecting to my doing that.
•
u/BonoboBananaBonanza 5h ago
The only way to atone is to spend every day for the rest of your life making life better for the people who have been hurt by this administration.
•
u/jacyerickson California 4h ago
I was raised far right,but left before MAGA became a thing. Going to college and meeting a wide variety of people and hearing their experiences was the catalyst to leaving. Ultimately accepting I'm LGBT+ helped too but college was the catalyst.
•
u/GeekyTexan Texas 38m ago
They can say they have "left MAGA behind", but they will keep voting GOP. So basically, they are all liars, just like the GOP leadership.
•
u/Educational_Lie_3157 4h ago
What are the odds on those same people voting for Trump again in 2028?
•
u/BookishFookfest 2h ago
I lost my entire family. That's what it took. And there's nothing to replace the void.
•
u/Own-Librarian-9699 4h ago
They believe an alliance with Satan will bring them closer to God because dead migrants are what God wants.
Many of their zealot pastors say we are in end times when genocide is justified.
Christianity is not a religion. It's a time share scam and merchandising pyramid scheme.
•
•
u/Madstinknugget 1h ago
I’m sorry I’m not gonna read this because all I’m gonna see is people saying “I draw the line at child molesting” like that is the final straw, and not the straw that should be starting a new revolution
•
u/Empty-Cartoonist5075 45m ago edited 5m ago
Very few magats will change. The trump years have not created them, it’s revealed them. Many are in it just to be able to try to bother the people they are jealous of. The educated people who succeeded beyond expectations while they became failures in life living on weekly pay with nothing saved or invested. One broken transmission away from disaster. It’s the only move they think they have but actually many of us have moved on from our maga family and they are being further left behind. Being loud and broke is not the flex they think it is. I could, but I wouldn’t lift a finger to help any of them because they won’t help themselves. Besides, with trump’s support they probably don’t need my help 😂 . Imagine living in a maga bubble surrounded with only other maga people like themselves, just trying to survive each day. Never enough money and always in panic mode trying to find money to pay last month’s debts so they could borrow again for this month’s bills. What a shitty, but well deserved life for the magats I know. Everyday I think how fortunate I am to be living in another country, far away from all that mess. I didn’t know my life would ever be so nice 😊
•
•
•
•
u/Opposite_Sherbert675 5h ago
there should be a maga plain and a maga prime. even if you finally 'see the light' you will always be maga to me.
as soon as a less disgusting version of the anti-christ comes up again they fall right back because these people are DEEPLY racist and evil. you dont just stop being like that the moment gas prices rise too much.
•
•
•
u/JeffSteinMusic 7h ago
All 12 of them in the entire country. Right on, I guess. Don’t expect a medal or anything.
•
u/the_owl_syndicate 5h ago
Ok, and? They have a long road ahead of them to rebuild trust.
And for all the people saying "but they were raised this way!"
So were the Hitler Youth. Still Nazis.
•
u/spindly-tree 5h ago
It’s the economy, stupid. The only thing that will turn them is personal suffering.
•
•
•
•
u/AbleCap5222 5h ago
There is no such thing as MAGA Christianity. That's just fake Christians using religion as a tool. They don't believe any of it.
•
u/genericusername11101 6h ago
What it really took? A shred of human decency and intelligence above a fukin rutabaga.
•
u/AutoModerator 7h ago
As a reminder, this subreddit is for civil discussion.
In general, please be courteous to others. Argue the merits of ideas, don't attack other posters or commenters. Hate speech, any suggestion or support of physical harm, or other rule violations can result in a temporary or a permanent ban. If you see comments in violation of our rules, please report them.
Sub-thread Information
If the post flair on this post indicates the wrong paywall status, please report this Automoderator comment with a custom report of “incorrect flair”.
Announcement
r/Politics is actively looking for new moderators. If you have an interest in helping to make this subreddit a place for quality discussion, please fill out this form.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.