Tips to avoid arguing with MAGAs
Never debate children
Jeffrey Denny
Many Americans who care about our country, Constitution and democracy are struggling with how to manage relationships with MAGAs in their midst.
Especially when our MAGAs refuse to mask or vaccinate, repeat Trump’s election steal Big Lie among countless other lies, or deny, deflect or dismiss the deadly J6 Capitol insurrection riot (or claim it wasn’t incited by Trump but by the FBI, Antifa, BLM and/or other Deep State conspirators).
You can keep up with the latest lies being spread by Trump and his craven right-wing media, internet and Republicans in Congress by what your free-thinking MAGAs are repeating. But knowing they’re merely parroting doesn’t make it easier to deal with Trumpy pals and kin spouting nonsense.
Searching for solace and guidance, I happened upon an article in FamilyEducation.com titled, “Avoiding Arguments and Power Struggles with Your Kids.”
The advice is intended for today’s parents raising/spoiling recalcitrant children. But it’s also helpful in dealing with MAGA friends and family trying to get a rise from you. For instance:
“Children love to argue. They want their ideas to be everyone else’s ideas. They like to prove that they are right and you and everyone else are wrong.”
MAGAs prove they’re right and you’re wrong by citing alternate facts fed by Fox and ilk or “researched” from internet “sources” that succor their beliefs.
Like with children, it’s best to let MAGAs believe what they believe, even if their ideas are whacko. Or, for fun, encourage their descent down the wormhole of madness to see how crazy they’ll talk and tangle in pretzel logic.
“Having a need for power is not a bad thing. It is only when a child uses power in a negative way that power can become a problem.”
For example, when Trump incited his MAGAs to storm the U.S. Capitol in attempt to violently overthrow our free democratic election and keep him in power.
And then Trump thrilled in the brutal attack on our Capitol and Blue Lives. The President of the United States didn’t care about the violent threats to the women and men his fellow Americans elected to Congress, or even his own vice president and family. Trump gleefully watched the Capitol attack on TV for three hours from the safety and security of the White House he overwhelmingly lost. He ignored pleas by his long-suffering loyal staff, Fox official state media friends, and his own daughter, to stop the assault.
Tough love for MAGAs who are in power of America by controlling the Republican Party: Anyone who denies, deflects, or dismisses Trump’s despicable, immoral, treasonous crimes against America and Americans — while he enjoyed it and still holds power — is not a patriot. At best you’ve earned being shunned because you’re destroying America and bring pain and fear to real patriots.
“Children who seek power do not like to be told what to do. They resist authority. They like to make the rules. They like to determine how things are going to be done.”
Like how MAGAs reject appeals by medical science to get Covid vaccinations, claiming their Constitutional freedom to spread the disease, kill fellow Americans, and stress hospital workers. Even as they demand that medical science and hospital workers save their lives and their loved ones from cancer, heart disease and diabetes.
Adults need to make the rules. Like when French President Emmanuel Macron said of the French vax-resistors to “piss them off,” “I won’t send them to prison, I won’t vaccinate by force. So we need to tell them, from Jan. 15, you won’t be able to go to the restaurant anymore, you won’t be able to down one, won’t be able to have a coffee, go to the theatre, the cinema.…”
“Efforts to control a power-seeking child often lead to a deadlock or power struggle between your child and you. No final victory is ever possible for you. Once you find yourself in a power struggle, you have lost.
As the old saying goes, never dirty yourself by wrestling a pig who enjoys it. Simply enjoy the bacon as the pig defeats itself.
For example, if your MAGA loves to “own the libs,” go rope-a-dope with a few passive-aggressive responses such as, “Wow — I couldn’t agree with you more!” or, “Gosh, I never would have thought of it that way!” or, “I completely understand why you would believe that!”
They’ll think they won but — if they’re smart — will wonder if you were screwing with them.
“Do not let your child push your buttons. If you get angry, you will be rewarding your child. Your anger will give your child the power over you that he seeks.”
MAGAs, like their hero, tend to be bullies or at least seem so online. They derive pleasure from triggering their fellow Americans who don’t love Trump.
Don’t reward MAGAs for pushing your buttons. When dealing with children, be the adult and rise above. America needs more adults right now.
Jeffrey Denny is a Washington writer.
