By Dan Stoneking
I am not a big fan of superhero movies. My friends jab me about it sometimes. That’s okay. I understand why I do not enjoy them. I have trouble suspending my disbelief. It is not fun for me and goes against everything I know about critical thinking. Suspension of disbelief is the act of intentionally setting aside your doubts and beliefs to accept the premises of a story, often to enjoy a work of fiction, art, or performance. It is not that I can’t do it or that I don’t make exceptions. I like Iron Man, because I think Robert Downey Jr. is witty and clever. I love Black Panther because the character development makes it compelling.
But I can’t always get past it. Superman bores me. People don’t fly. And nothing else about the film encouraged me to put that aside. And that’s cool. It is one of the great features of art and performance. To each their own.
Recently, it occurred to me that this may be the foundational challenge of MAGA. They can easily suspend disbelief. They do not hesitate to set aside their own beliefs in order to support Trump. But this is not art or performance (at least it should not be). This is real life. And the results are a devastating marathon of dismantling the U.S. Constitution and our nation formed in Democracy.
And the worst part is that this suspension of disbelief started on day one and continues with clear and painful examples every single week up through today. Consider a few examples.
Day one. Trump pardoned and/or commuted 1,500 J6ers who were found guilty by due process in courts of law for their crimes on January 6 at the United States Capitol. In order for MAGA to move forward in their support of Trump, they had to suspend disbelief that they believed in due process and opposed the attacks and murder of police officers who were there to protect and serve. They had to suspend disbelief that the only fair and just option in evaluating any decisions on a magnitude of this scale should be conducted thoroughly on a case-by-case basis to ensure justice under the law. Had that happened, maybe 541 would have been released. Maybe 863. But 1,500? All of them? They had to suspend disbelief that they really cared about those police offers and their families as well as the law.
Trump declared that there are only two sexes, male and female, which are fixed and not subject to change. Overnight he determined that 2.8 million people in America did not exist. The MAGA love this. But it did require them to suspend disbelief in the Golden Rule, basic human kindness and decency, and the belief in the Constitution that gives us, as the Supreme Court has ruled, freedom of expression also extends to personal identity and self-expression — including clothing, pronouns, gender expression, and protest against discrimination.
Here is another example. Trump trying to end birthright citizenship via executive order. MAGA had to suspend disbelief that he should uphold, support and defend the Constitution in accordance with his oath to do so. They had to suspend disbelief on the limitations of executive orders. They had to suspend disbelief on how brutally unfair it would be to tell millions of Americans they are no longer citizens despite the Constitution and the taxes they have paid.
Consider USAID. When Trump slashed the budget, ended programs, and terminated contracts, including, reductions of $119.7 million for nutrition, $496.6 million for global HIV/AIDS efforts, and $361.7 million for malaria, MAGA had to suspend disbelief again. A peer-reviewed analysis in The Lancet projects that the dismantling of U.S. aid could result in up to 14 million additional deaths globally by 2030 — including many children — if current trajectories hold. But just for the sake of simplicity, let’s just say that two million will die. MAGA had to suspend disbelief and acknowledge that they don’t mind millions of innocent people, many of them children, dying by the stroke of a pen, without any prudent research, long-term plan, or justification.
Trump ended federal funding for DEI (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion) programs. It was easy for them to suspend disbelief here. They echoed the MAGA line that unqualified people were being hired due to their race. But that was never what DEI did. So here, MAGA had to suspend disbelief on looking for, following, or even listening to the truth. Once they got past that one, suspension of disbelief became second-nature.
This list is long. I don’t have the time or energy to include every single example in detail. They include stripping collective-bargaining/union rights from large segments of the federal workforce, issuing broad reductions in federal bureaucracy and dismantling oversight agencies, eliminating historical accomplishments of minorities, cutting federal funding for public media (e.g., National Public Radio / Public Broadcasting Service), denying freedom of the press, major overhaul of immigration policy including mass removals, declaring border “invasion,” with masked men attacking innocent Americans, and attacking Democratic cities, while allowing Republican cities and states to suffer in obesity, education, poverty, and health care. Health care. That brings us to this week.
Trump’s priority is his new ballroom, funded by his millionaire friends. MAGA has to suspend disbelieve when they cheer on a man who does everything for the rich and so little for them. They have to suspend disbelief when they decide that Trump can do anything he wants because it is his house, when in reality it is our house. They have to suspend disbelief that they would have been fine if Obama had done the same thing. They have to suspend disbelief when they claim that they are fine that this is his priority right and not getting the government back up and running. And let’s be clear, they even have to suspend disbelief to imagine that the gold bedazzled decor to be anything other than gaudy and tacky. Did I hear someone declare, “Let them eat cake?”
As far as that goes, MAGA have to suspend disbelief when they have to pretend that they are happy when Trump provides Argentina more than $40 million at a time when he can’t keep our own government running. MAGA have to suspend disbelief when they claim satisfaction in children dying of starvation in Africa because of Trump, but that they are fine when he sends this money to Argentina even when they cannot explain what a single dollar goes to there that is more important.
Last example. It takes buckets of audacity, recklessness, and a huge suspension of disbelief for MAGA to blame the government shutdown on Democrats. They have to pretend that they do not care about their health care and the millions upon millions among them that will be hurt if their health care that the Democrats seek is not included. They have to suspend disbelief to repeat the Republican lie that “this budget will directly fund healthcare for illegal immigrants en masse,” when there is not one single line, not one, in the Democrat’s taxpayer-funded health care plan that includes that. If it did, the Republicans would quote the page and line. Suspension of disbelief allows MAGA to not think through the simplicity of that.
Here is my final proof of MAGA’s suspension of disbelief. If they truly wanted what we now have, long before Trump came on the scene, they would have been asking for all of the things that this Want Ad seeks. They have to suspend disbelief and pretend that they want this. Because they now have this and are not complaining.
Trump is not Superman. He cannot fly. He cannot lead. And as painfully ironic as it is, he is not even what MAGA really want or need. We need MAGA to stop suspending disbelief, not just for the rest of us, but for themselves as well. The way to achieve that is through critical thinking.
Critical thinking. That is Trump’s Kryptonite.
Stoneking Strategic Communications (SSC) 