Solutions journalism for social justice.

How do we understand our current political moment, when President Donald Trump commands loyalty from millions of Americans while he runs roughshod over the Constitution, our rights, the last shreds of our democracy? It's something I've thought a lot about and I know many of you have been as well.

First, I'm more and more convinced that voters who back Trump cannot be reasoned with–in the same way that cult members are completely convinced that their all-knowing leader is always right.

I came to this depressing conclusion from many online interactions with, and observations of, Trump supporters. Take the cruel raids on immigrants as a defining issue. Even though Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are violating the Constitution in making arrests, Trumpsters respond with, "if you break the law, you should pay the price, it's that simple."

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But if you counter that ICE agents are arresting immigrants who are trying to follow the law–they're detaining people at court hearings where immigrants are showing up for their appointments–and they're even arresting US citizens, the MAGA crowd will claim they resisted arrest.

Then, if you respond by saying, ICE is racially profiling brown-skinned US citizens and arresting people merely going about their own business, or that they're arresting and handcuffing women and children, the Trump-backers will scream "fake news!"

Challenging cult members with facts doesn't work–not in short term interactions that most people have online at any rate. It simply serves to convince people to dig their heels in further, for no one likes admitting they were wrong when they are publicly cornered.

The second important idea to keep in mind is that Trump is neither stupid nor exceptionally shrewd--his actions are motivated purely by power.

As I wrote in a recent column for the Independent Media Institute:

The ICE raids ... allow Trump to bring the entire nation to its knees. This sort of raw, unchecked power is what he lives for....Trump’s moves have less to do with policy than power... Newspapers speculate what his next step will be, whether he will throw the food system into a tailspin by targeting undocumented farmworkers or not. The chaos is the point. Having an entire nation hanging on his every word, on his ability to call off ICE raids one day and resume them the next, is what feeds his power.

When trying to make sense of the President's actions, it's useful to keep this mind. He is not motivated by imperial prestige, nor by race privilege, or billionaire benefits. He is motivated by whatever allows him to feel powerful, whether it's threatening to strip Rosie O' Donnell of her citizenship or toying with the idea of seeking a third term. Many in the media attempt to make sense of his moves by describing him as a "flip-flopper," but the unpredictability is the point. The more he can keep us guessing, the more power he has over us.

Understanding these two themes can help us navigate these dark times. If we can't deprogram MAGA cultists in one-on-one interactions and if we can't make sense enough of Trump's moves to undermine them, how can we move forward?

First, we don't change minds, we change culture (although if you live with a MAGA-person, or see one often enough, you could potentially change their mind with loving persistence. And good luck to you!).

People don't like admitting they were horribly wrong. They go with the flow, and if we can change the cultural flow we can divert most Americans toward reasonable responses to immigration, race, wealth, justice, power, and more. This is painstaking and long-term work, but it's effective. Already, people are changing their minds on immigration. Think about all the ways in which the cultural zeitgeist has changed in recent years and how that shifted attitudes en masse on such issues as marriage equality or marijuana legalization. We may not win the satisfaction of seeing individuals in the MAGA-movement eat crow but we can change the nation for the better if we shift culture, whether through popular media, social media, or news media.

Second, we build and sustain powerful movements and elect officials who represent us and who we hold accountable. This sort of power-building is far easier said than done, and too often we think we're doing the right thing by marching in a protest and voting for a Democrat. But protesting is not the same as building and sustaining a movement, and Democrats are, more often than not, enablers of Trumpian-policies. So we keep at it and we do the longterm work of building power and sustaining movements. There is no other choice.

Unlike Rosie O'Donnell, most of us cannot, will not, and SHOULD NOT, leave the US in the face of the Trump nightmare.

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