MAGA - The White Nationalist Movement
February 10, 2025
This has truly been a gut-wrenching week full of horrific assaults on our constitution and our basic security, carried out by nazi-sympathizer Apartheid Elon under the approval of his puppet Trump. It’s been a dizzying and exhausting barrage of illegal and immoral attacks by design. We’re meant to lose focus.
With all that’s going on, this post about Democratic messaging may seem trivial. And maybe it is. But it’s a small thing that we all CAN do, and something that I wish Democratic leaders/tv pundits, etc. would do. Democrats should employ the disciplined messaging tactics that Republicans have successfully used to set the average American’s perceptions of the two parties.
Here are the three messages I’d like to see repeated consistently:
“The White Nationalist MAGA movement.” Never mention MAGA, or the slate of policies they’re trying to implement without saying “white nationalist” at least once. Because it is.
“The Racist Right.” When talking about the Proud Boys, Oathkeepers, and other far-right groups the Trump/Musk regime is trying to whip up into a frenzy of enthusiasm with their hateful policies, make sure to identify that their rhetoric and policies are designed to appeal to the “racist right.” The far-right of today’s Republican party should always be identified as racist. Because it is.
“Nazi sympathizer Elon Musk.” Honestly, any mention of “Nazi” will do while referencing Musk…it could be a standalone, or "Nazi nepo baby" as Representative Aryanna Pressley said so eloquently and accurately. Or Space Nazi, as Jeff Tiedrich refers to him. “Nazi sympathizer” can be used by those who may be held to a higher and more literal journalistic standard. Even though the neo-Nazi AfD party in Germany that Musk enthusiastically endorses probably doesn’t technically call itself Nazi, it’s hard to argue that Elon is not at least sympathetic to Nazis. Plus, in using the word “sympathizer,” the speaker may come across as more reserved and impartial, and will be less likely to be accused of Godwin's Law hyperbole.
And if a Republican on a political round-table discussion should take issue with a Democrat referring to “Nazi sympathizer Elon Musk,” I’d LOVE to see the Democrat respond, “You really think he’s not sympathetic to Nazis? Bless your heart! My heart…” (pointing at their own heart with their middle finger, and then extending said middle finger outward to point it toward the pearl-clutching Republican) “…goes out to you.”
The majority of Americans prefer Democratic policies. But through their relentless, consistent messaging, Republicans have set the branding for the Democratic party so effectively that many people who like Democratic policies can’t bring themselves to vote for Democrats because they think the party is too “radical.” And of course, it’s not even TRUE—the most liberal members of our party are just fighting for the benefits and standards of life that other first-world countries have enjoyed for decades. Meanwhile, today’s MAGA party IS racist. And misogynist. And homophobic. I think it’s everyone’s duty to make sure that no one can forget that. We need to use language to start making it uncomfortable for average people to want to identify themselves as MAGA/Republican.
To do this, “White nationalist MAGA movement,” “The Racist Right,” and “Nazi sympathizer Elon Musk,” shouldn’t be said as insults—just mentioned matter-of-factly no matter what topic is being discussed. And yes, this kind of (accurate) language may come across as hyper-partisan, especially at first. But repetition is key. Republicans use that technique successfully every time they hammer home their disciplined messaging that Democrats are the “Radical Left,” “Communist” “Marxist,” etc. as if they’re just stating facts (even though they clearly aren’t) and it works for them—they manage to use language to create their own version of reality. Meanwhile Democrats are trying to fight a clearly racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic movement, and many of us shy away from using the correct words to identify it as such. We help Republicans to bury the reality of what they stand for by refusing to name it for what it is out of an abundance of outdated, obsolete decorum.
Think of all of the pre-election ads against Kamala Harris that labeled her again and again as the “Border Czar,” even though her role in the Biden administration had nothing to do with border security. This messaging was hammered home over and over by Republican talking heads on political talk shows on mainstream media networks with little to no pushback. Republicans were able to spread a false message in two little words that would take sentences of wonky explanation to refute.
We need to use the same tactics. I’d love for us all to start putting white nationalist MAGA supporters on the defensive—force them to try to explain how the movement they support ISN’T a white nationalist one. Let them try to explain how a government on a crusade against diversity and equity and inclusion isn’t trying to further entrench white hetero “Christian” male power. Sure, some will roll their eyes and mention the token minorities who support the Republican party. But hammer home the white nationalist message anyway, because, unlike the “Border Czar” label, it’s actually true.
Most of the people who voted for Trump and continue to support him, don’t consider themselves racists or bigots or Nazis. And they’re OFFENDED that anyone should dare call them out as such. Most of them don’t really have HATE in their hearts, and therefore they genuinely believe that they should be able to vote for a racist rapist felon with an overtly white male supremacist agenda while being spared from being called out on the inherent bigotry of their vote. They hide behind dog whistles and pretend they only voted for Trump because of inflation, or to go back to some idyllic “conservative” (i.e. white patriarchal) time. They don’t like being thought of as racist/sexist. It’s uncomfortable for them. Let’s USE that.
Without potentially chasing them away by using a blanket statement to disparage Trump supporters themselves as racists/Nazis, let’s identify the movement they support as the racist movement it is and let them put two and two together. We need to start making the MAGA brand toxic, not just to us, but to everyone. Make the “good” Republican voters who don’t consider themselves racist feel the cognitive dissonance of siding with a movement that is consistently and correctly labeled as a white nationalist movement.
And then, if/when some Trump voters try to come back into our fold (probably when DOGE’s “waste-cutting” policies start to directly hurt them), claiming, “I didn’t REALIZE that was a racist movement. I just wanted cheaper eggs!” we can have the grace to welcome them back. But if we continue to NOT identify the MAGA movement for what it is, we’re allowing these same non-hateful people to bury their heads in the sand and ignore the fact that the Trump/Musk regime is only “helping” billionaires and bigots, and the only thing it has really offered them is a sense of superiority over people of different ethnicities and orientations.
If we’re going to survive this assault on Democracy, we’re going to need more people—including people who voted for Trump—to join us in our outrage at everything the Trump/Musk white nationalist regime is trying to destroy. We need to make it very clear which side is on the right side of history. As the harm caused by the billionaire regime’s cutting of “waste” creates real life hardships for ordinary Americans, we need to give these Americans more incentive to abandon MAGA.
I believe that using the correct language consistently may help. It may seem like a small thing, but I think it’s important to try to take control of the MAGA/Republican brand and help ordinary people see the movement for the hateful thing that it is.
