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The MAGA Jihad: America’s Second Civil War
An online war with real world consequences
During the first Civil War, or the “War of Northern Aggression”, as I was taught to call it (I’m not sure they were joking), the stakes were high, certainly.
Our nation was not yet 100 years old, and already we were fighting each other, and not the British (for a change). Love our British cousins.
Whichever side of the Lincoln penny you look at, the Great Emancipator or the Great Pragmatist, he cared deeply for unity. I wish he had cared more about freedom from slavery, but maybe he knows better now.
That Civil War ended, even if the underlying ideology persisted. Now it’s on full display, no longer underground.
MAGA says the quiet part out loud, and the rest of us are exhausted from trying to refute all the lies.
I live in a battleground state surrounded by supporters of the orange robber baron. Does that sound stressful? It can be.
Here’s the thing: one on one, they are lovely to be around. Helpful, kind, polite. We don’t discuss politics. I don’t hate them. I don’t know if they would hate me, if they knew my ideology.
They can probably guess by the way I look. Whatever. I try my best to see their good, and I hope they do the same for me.
