Has The Time Come To Forgive The MAGA Republicans In Your Life? [View all]

[Celerity]

While you’re thinking about forgiving your MAGA relative, they’re thinking about Great Replacement Theory, QAnon’s new Blood Libel, and how many people need to be publicly executed to “save America.”

https://thebanter.substack.com/p/has-the-time-come-to-forgive-the



This Thanksgiving, you may find your Republican relatives somewhat grumpier than usual. To be fair, they have an awful lot not to be thankful for. They blew their shot at retaking the Senate. They lost almost every single governor’s race. Democrats flipped multiple state legislative chambers while Republicans flipped none. Even the usually ignored Secretary of State races went badly for Republicans and they were really counting on those to, ahem, “protect the vote” in the 2024 presidential election. As they wallow in bitterness and misery, you, a liberal filled with empathy and compassion, might feel the urge to feel bad for them. Stop that. Do not spare an ounce of pity for the Republicans in your life.

F*ck your feelings

I’m going to skip right past the, “They would have been god-awful to you if they’d won” part. This is true, but irrelevant. I’m not saying you can’t be petty, lord knows I am the Mayor of Pettysville, but the absolute contempt you should still have for the MAGA Republicans in your life goes well beyond that. This is, and will always be, about what they are, right now, trying to do to this nation, even if it’s not going so well at the moment. When you sit down at Thanksgiving to pass the gravy to your MAGA relative, never forget that this is not someone who made a simple error in judgment. They didn’t vote for Republican economic policies. Republicans do not have a coherent economic policy beyond “Give more money to billionaires.” They didn’t vote for Republican foreign policy. Republicans do not have a coherent foreign policy beyond “China bad, Russia good, do the opposite of what Democrats say.”

The scowling Republicans breaking bread with you voted for the sweet sweet bigotry and hate they crave. Hate for Latinos. Hate for Blacks. Hate for women. Hate for Jews. Hate for the LGBTQ community. They knew what they were doing and they have spent the last seven years escalating that hate. There were countless off-ramps. When Trump banned Muslims, your MAGA relatives could have walked away. But they didn’t. When Trump tortured children, they could have walked away. But they didn’t. When Republicans staged a violent coup. When they stripped women of their rights. When they went all-in on fascism. When they openly embraced virulent anti-Semitism. At any time, MAGA Republicans could have walked away and instead chose to cling ever more tightly to their party of horrors. Do not forgive them. Have some wine if you need help getting in the right mood.



Why forgiveness is dangerous

I, personally, hold grudges pretty much forever. It’s in the DNA of the Rosario clan. But this is not about holding a grudge any more than it is about being petty. Forgiving Republicans is an extremely bad idea on a practical level, not least because they rely on it. One of our greatest strengths as human beings is our ability to adapt to any and all circumstances. This is why you can find people living in the most inhospitable environments on Earth, all the way from scorching deserts to frozen tundras. In the same vein, we’re capable of mentally adapting to extreme events, as well. War, brutal poverty, natural disasters, massive social upheaval, etc. We recoil, adapt, and then keep going. Humans have been doing this since we climbed down from the trees. That ability to adapt is also a tremendous weakness, one often exploited by authoritarians just like Donald Trump and the Republican Party. It has allowed them to wage an almost constant war against democracy and civil society for generations with few consequences.

snip