Trump’s Vision of Government: Members Only

With Trump’s criminal syndicate running the show, the out-groups are various: liberals, Black people, single women, strong women, the LGBTQ+ community, undocumented immigrants, most other immigrant groups, environmentalists, and anyone who doesn’t drink at the Fountain of Trump. The president has no intention whatsoever of representing these people, even if they make up relatively half of the country. His goal, instead, is to elevate MAGA members above them.

Most of those members will stay with him, he’s realized, even if he takes away vital government services they need, such as Medicaid and protections against hazardous foods and unrestrained monopolies, because he has empowered them. Critically, he has given them the very commodity they desperately crave: social status and a feeling of belonging. Democrats are a nuisance because they make people reflect upon things; Trump makes them part of the in-group, in on the joke and entitled to special consideration.

Because the gospel of the MAGA Club must remain whole and cannot be challenged, universities and journalists (the ones outside of the right-wing propaganda network) will always be enemies of the Magaverse as well. For all their faults, the overwhelming majority of universities still practice the scientific method and value objective observation and free discussion, even if they may falter in the execution of both from time to time. And those journalists who cannot be quelled into subservience will always be the bane of liars, opportunists, and bullies.