America has hit the MAGA tipping point

[marmar]

America has hit the MAGA tipping point
We won't be able to ignore what Trump and his accomplices are doing once it starts to impact us personally

By Heather Digby Parton
Columnist
Published March 28, 2025 8:34AM (EDT)


(Salon) When Donald Trump won the election last November, I think those of us who are mercifully immune to the lure of the MAGA cult knew that this second term was going to be bad. If you were following the campaign closely (many people were not) you knew about Project 2025 and you knew that Trump was inexplicably attached at the hip to the weird multi-billionaire Elon Musk. You also knew that he was fixated on starting a tariff war with America's biggest trading partners and was irrevocably hostile to our long-standing allies around the world. But I don't think any of us could have predicted the exact confluence of atrocities being committed at warp speed from every direction. Shock and awe doesn't adequately describe it. It is a cataclysmic political earthquake.

....(snip)....

And yet, most of us are still living our lives in more or less normal fashion. Yes, many immigrants, even those in the country legally, are now living in a state of abject terror. And vast numbers of workers have abruptly lost their jobs, with many more to come. But the vast majority of Americans are still going to work, taking the kids to school, hanging out with their friends, pursuing their hobbies. Life is just going on in the midst of the most serious political crisis of any of our lifetimes and the cognitive dissonance of that is making us feel a little bit crazy.

....(snip)....

Obviously, we're not in that situation. It's only been 68 days since Trump took office and we still have a way to go before it's clear that the system has completely broken down one way or another. But I think we can all sense that it's much shakier than we anticipated.

....(snip)....

We might have expected corporations to resist being told how to run their businesses, but dozens of them have eagerly complied with the crusade to ban DEI and abandon all attempts to fulfill the promise of the Civil Rights Act. Men at Wall St. firms tell reporters they are thrilled to be able to talk about "p**sy" in the workplace again. Law firms, meanwhile, having been told they will lose their access to the federal government, including necessary security clearances due to their previous willingness to defend some of Donald Trump's personal enemies, have bowed down and agreed to do whatever the president orders them to do. Universities, meanwhile, are now allowing the federal government to dictate their policies under threat of losing federal funding. This was unexpected. These giant, wealthy institutions all have the ability to stand up to Trump and choose not to. ..............(more)

https://www.salon.com/2025/03/28/america-has-hit-the-maga-tipping-point/

[C_U_L8R]

1. The ignorance is strong with Maga

Maga won't wake up until their retirements are stolen, their healthcare demolished, their friends and family imprisoned and their tax dollars are stuffed into billionaires' pockets. And even then....

[Lovie777]

2. Pretty much..............

[Baitball Blogger]

3. No mention of the MAGA tipping point.

I expected that was the point where even the MAGAs would turn against Trump.

That said, I will read the article and if I come up with an answer, I'll post here.

On Edit: So, not a tipping point for the MAGAs to come to their senses, but the tipping point for the moment that we are personally impacted enough to take action.

[berksdem]

14. Yep...

the title is misleading...

MAGA gonna moron.

[SpankMe]

15. MAGA's are a third or less of the population

They won't tip, even after they're negatively impacted by these disastrous changes. Because it's a fucking cult.

What I'm hoping will tip is a large enough segment of that non-voting, mushy middle. Apathy has taken hold. It'll take some pretty severe impacts to wake them up.

[hadEnuf]

17. The question is why are we letting the 1/3 or less assholes rule us?

Life could be being made very miserable for the Trump fascists, but it's not. They are leaning back in their newly bought and taxpayer paid for leather chairs and laughing their asses off at us. Any of the problems that they are having are self-inflicted and are quickly covered up.

The 2/3 of the people could derail these bastards, but they aren't doing it. Relentless and unanswered propaganda, fear and intimidation, the fact that we are figuratively and literally "outgunned", and quite frankly a lack of cohesive leadership are all contributing factors. I guess it's going to have to get really bad for people before they wake up. However, the right is doing their best to continue to make sure that people do not wake up.

[misanthrope]

19. If you've ever been on the board for a non-profit, the dynamic is familiar

The vast majority of people want someone else to do all the work of keeping an organization going. Same with the board itself where a minority percentage of the board do most of the work.

That's how 30 percent who are motivated to turn out and stay active can have an outsized influence. We need civics classes in public schools again.

[Maru Kitteh]

37. I took it to be akin to the climate tipping point in meaning, in other words

the point at which the momentum of MAGA towards enacting their authoritarian, isolationist plans reached the tipping point at which it became inevitable that no matter what we do from here, it is absolutely certain we will live in a deeply damaged future.

But I haven’t read the article yet.

[Baitball Blogger]

38. That's a good interpretation.

After you read it, let me know if that's closer to the meaning.

I do believe that something horrible has changed. And we are already finding ways to survive by avoiding the dark stank that are right-wing policies. I, personally, am grateful that my grandchildren will be raised in a blue state where they can get a proper education. But, there it is. We're already finding ways to get around the states and policies that are trying to sanitize history because education limits the number of suckers that can they can exploit.

[AmericaUnderSiege]

4. Life does need to go on, as best it can.

I've noticed that the regime very much wants that not to be the case. They want to poison every facet of our society. We can defeat that purpose for free, by recognizing it and refusing it. Freedom consists of me, you, and us, being me, you, and us, here and now, wherever we are, and keeping it up.

One method I've used is that I have systematically removed all of the regime's mouthpieces from all of my feeds. And boy do the algorithms behind the feeds get pissed off when you do that! They start trying to spam you with even more of them, but sooner or later you can get a clean environment if you're determined.

[c-rational]

11. Well said and agree. I am very cnscious of what I allow "in" and also try and remove/limit the

regime's mouthpieces.

[Ol Janx Spirit]

5. This is actually going way better than I feared it might. And I mean that in the sense that

what I feared most was that when Felon-47 retook office he would unleash his evil plan to become....actually popular. It's no accident that both FDR and Hitler arose from the ashes of the Great Depression. When you have an actual bad economy you can do a lot of things that would never be tolerated otherwise--and both men are a good example of that. Sitting on what was a healthy economy despite the persistent inflation caused by the pandemic-created double-whammy of supply chain issues and a flood of money going to people that would actually use it (unlike tax cuts aimed at corporations and the wealthy) and at least appearing to make progress on illegal immigration and lowering inflation could have carried F-47 and the GOP into a midterm election in 2026 with potentially historic gains for a party in power. At that point the authoritarian crackdown and trade wars and all the rest of it would begin--and from a position of power rather than weakness. The fact that they have moved this quickly and incompetently is a blessing in many ways. And hopefully it will shorten the time we have to suffer through this madness. Any shred of competence might have doomed us for generations.

[xocetaceans]

6. Why expect corporations to do anything other than adapt to financial circumstances? Why assume that they would be moral?

Corporations are amoral in labor practices, in adherence to regulations which are financially burdensome to follow, and all other aspects of their existence as creatures of finance and legal fiction. Why pretend that they have some sort of moral center that might be vested in their leadership? That they have DEI programs at all is just another aspect of their adaptation to the financial environment in which they have existed until now. That environment has now changed, so they will also change to optimize their financial circumstances and well-being.

Additionally, what this shows is the true nature of law firms in that they are corporations, not bastions of the rule of law.

As a result, one must consider the following question:

In a society that claims to be based on the principles that there is rule of law and that all people are equal under the law, why is it that law firms are not considered to be public utilities (e.g., water systems, sewage systems, power companies) and regulated in such a way to provide equal access to high quality legal advice to all people, not merely to the few who might afford it?

"We might have expected corporations to resist being told how to run their businesses, but dozens of them have eagerly complied with the crusade to ban DEI and abandon all attempts to fulfill the promise of the Civil Rights Act. Men at Wall St. firms tell reporters they are thrilled to be able to talk about "p**sy" in the workplace again. Law firms, meanwhile, having been told they will lose their access to the federal government, including necessary security clearances due to their previous willingness to defend some of Donald Trump's personal enemies, have bowed down and agreed to do whatever the president orders them to do. Universities, meanwhile, are now allowing the federal government to dictate their policies under threat of losing federal funding. This was unexpected. These giant, wealthy institutions all have the ability to stand up to Trump and choose not to."

https://www.salon.com/2025/03/28/america-has-hit-the-maga-tipping-point/

[uponit7771]

7. Focus on voting, economic and civil rights impacts of Putin's Puppet and MAGA. The rest is going to be hot ...

... garbage on its face like national security and operational government.

Trump sign an EO claiming people have to show IDs or sow shit for voting and MAGA still wants to do the safe act

[Lonestarblue]

8. We will not reach a tipping point until the pain hits a lot more people and businesses.

When corporations lose markets and significant profits because of tariffs causing consumers to buy fewer products, when people lose Social Severity benefits or the Medicaid benefits that now support millions of seniors in nursing homes, when Obamacare is no longer available or its subsidies end and it becomes unaffordable, when poor people lose access to food assistance and their children are starving, we might see a tipping point. Or when Trump destroys the economy and brings on a recession or depression that causes millions of people to lose their jobs and homes, we might see a tipping point. Or when the USPS is privatized and all rural postal services disappear, we might see a tipping point.

All of the above may be needed to reach a tipping point, and all are in the works. At the end of the day, though, it was the Allies that stopped Hitler, not the German people.

[republianmushroom]

9. Not yet but they are learning, but, they are very slow learners

and very damn dumb. Going to take more time.

[Crowman2009]

20. They tend to not learn until it's too damn late.

Sort of like Lee Atwater's deathbed regrets.

[republianmushroom]

22. Yup, then it is someone else fault because they were not stop sooner.

[calimary]

35. That pissed me off SOOOO much.

HE pissed me off so much!

[Bristlecone]

10. +1 on the "even then..." sentiment

[Joinfortmill]

12. Greed and cowardice abounds.

[Mysterian]

13. There must be accountability once law and order is re-established in this country

or the lawlessness and treason will never end.

[question everything]

16. I asked this yesterday, whether anyone has personally been affected

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100220181422

[Alpeduez21]

18. Oh cool! Except we heard this in 2016, 2017,

2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, & 2024. Maybe if it’s said often enough it might be true one day

[ananda]

21. I think a lot of people never liked Civil Rights ...

or the idea of a diverse, inclusive society.

They complied because of legal pressure and
because being "politically correct" was necessary
for business.

Trump allowed them to show their hate and watch
it actually play out against the people they hate.

I don't think they thought it would actually play out
against them, but here it is because it's in the hands
of a couple of demented, crazy toddlers who want to
fix everything until it's completely broke.

And when everything is broke, everyone suffers, no
exceptions.

[ificandream]

24. Really perceptive points you make ....

... especially about civil rights. I think the trouble kind of started when someone came up with the phrase "politically correct." Was it Bill Maher we have to blame?

But there was a lot of discontent that passed us by. I think we figured (well, I did, anyway) that most people got it. Looks like we may have been wrong. At least those who voted in 2024.

And I don't think anyone thought Trump would be the nincompoop he has turned out to be. We figured he'd be the dummy he was in 2016. Looks like he'd been planning this since 2020. And beware ANYONE who has ticked him off even a little. An elephant never forgets.

[BidenRocks]

29. Politically Incorrect

New Rules was funny. YouTube

[Buns_of_Fire]

23. Heed the last sentence of the article:

This nightmare is real — and it isn't going away.

In a nation where there are more guns than people, it's fascinating to see how many Nazipublicans are happily painting targets on each other's backs.

[mnhtnbb]

30. Here in NC it may soon be legal to conceal carry

WITHOUT a permit, or training. That means anyone could be carrying a concealed weapon. Anyone. Scares the $hit out of me. Does it mean that the Magats will show up to protests and start shooting? Does it mean a casual comment to the person in the grocery store will be met with a gun pointed at you?
Does it mean that one should no longer trust anyone else encountered outside your own home?
If this becomes law, NC will be the 30th State to allow carrying a concealed weapon WITHOUT a permit.

https://ncnewsline.com/2025/03/20/north-carolina-senate-passes-bill-allowing-permitless-carry-of-concealed-handguns/

[Kaleva]

32. Do you need a permit to open carry in NC?

[mnhtnbb]

34. No, not if you're 18

and otherwise not prohibited from owning a firearm.

When I was living in downtown Raleigh several years ago, I was walking the dog, mid-day, and realized a young guy 10-15 feet in front of me had an automatic weapon of some sort slung over his shoulder. We turned around and went the other direction.

There were some episodes around that time of young black couples being followed by 2-3 of these young white guys with weapons.

[Cha]

25. Excellent article.. TY marmar!

Yeah, Mump is just getting started.

The More Who Stand UP to Fascism the Better for All of Us Patriots!

[dalton99a]

26. The reality is much worse than Project 2025

The full list of outrages is too long to list here, and I assume that most informed readers know about most of them. But the general outline includes such abominations as masked government thugs abducting people off the street and disappearing them into a secret detention system, people being deported to a foreign gulag with no due process, curtailing cancer and Alzheimer's research for no reason, shutting down dozens of vital government services, threatening social security and health care for millions of vulnerable citizens, targeting veterans, destroying foreign aid in ways that will literally result in the deaths of millions of people, using the Department of Justice to wreak revenge on the president's enemies and much, much more. It is overwhelming, which is exactly how they planned it in Project 2025. The reality is much worse than the abstract planning document foretold.

It's been evident for years now that the Republican Party as we once knew it has ceased to exist as anything but the political arm of Donald Trump's MAGA movement. It no longer has a distinct ideology and exists purely to serve his wishes. And yes, the Democrats in Washington seem to be in a state of suspended animation. But I confess that I didn't expect to see so many of our major institutions, from corporations to universities to elite law firms, follow their lead. They are, for the most part, capitulating to the administration's threats.

[OldBaldy1701E]

31. They bow to the green. The orange gibbon is messing with that.

Their god is money and they will do whatever they have to in order to keep that money flowing. Kissing ass is nothing to them when the result is favoritism and more income.

Business does not care about people. They care about income. They are so disconnected from society that they pretty much think we are just expendable labor that can either work for little or nothing or go and die, as long as they don't have to see it.

Eww, icky poors that make us rich but can't survive our greed! Why should we even treat them as human?

This is a fight, people. It is a shame that most of us still see it as a 'disagreement'.

They don't want us to 'see things their way'. They want us out of the way.

[Frasier Balzov]

27. What keeps the protective personnel showing up for work?

I can only conclude that most of the protective personnel sincerely love these villains and want them to carry on their wickedness in safety.

But what percentage of the villains contributing to the destruction of the federal government actually receive bodily protection?

My assumption is that it is a relative few.

If all the villains who are behind the scenes and without bodily protection are prominently and persistently identified perhaps the People will eventually hunt them all down and render their lives difficult.

I don't give these villains any benefit of the doubt that they are acting in good faith. They know they are wicked and that their end is surely laid down in some book of the ages somewhere.

[Hornedfrog2000]

28. When will we all get the narrative

That we have a propaganda/brainwashing problem? Why is it we arent starting there with everything? I mean literally everything they believe is untrue, and that is the biggest issue. Why is china and russia allowed to dump this crap into our country??? Over and over it should be asked.

[Escape]

33. This insanity started...

Last edited Sat Mar 29, 2025, 09:14 AM - Edit history (1)

with the Tea Party attacks on newly elected President Barack Obama. Angry, ill-informed groups of Republicans protesting vociferously against things that didn't exist.

It was organized chaos and coordinated campaigns of lies and conspiracies.

Early in his presidency Obama taped a very positive, inspirational message to be shown to public schools across the country. Many Red State schools refused to show it because they said Obama was a "Socialist".

It was so dumb it seemed kind of funny at the time but I remember thinking "Damn, what if those nut jobs ever became the majority in this country?"

Well, here we are.

[Mike 03]

36. "...confluence of atrocities..."

Yes. Many of us foresaw a lot of what has come to pass, but the truth is it exceeded even my worst-case scenario in speed and intensity of cruelty.

Digby Parton has been one of a handful of reporters and commentators who has been so adept at cataloguing the last few months, never understating the horror but doing it in a really classy way that isn't trashy or tawdry--just realistically alarming.

[ecstatic]

39. The magats that I'm aware of are doubling and tripling down

Maybe it's a coping mechanism? I know a magat nurse (coworker) and it's hard to believe that she's actually a nurse sometimes. She cheered when she heard about the people being deported to El Salvador without due process. Another is in her 80s and seems to feel so much glee with each chaotic story that comes out. They're saying that Democrats are fear-mongering. 🙄