The Racism is the Reward: How MAGA builds propaganda, and how we can fight back
In the past couple weeks, we have seen some of the most blatant and disgusting expressions of racism from the Trump/MAGA regime. We saw the malicious manipulation of the arrest photo of Nekima Levy Armstrong, a Minneapolis protester who confronted a pastor who was also an ICE agent; the administration’s outrage at the Spanish-language Super Bowl performance by Bad Bunny, and Trump’s repost of a video depicting former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes. These abhorrent images follow an endless parade of racist messaging from Trump and the MAGA movement, going as far back as the start of the MAGA movement in 2014, and further back in the careers of Trump and his supporters.
MAGA’s normalization of racism and bigotry
It’s difficult to overstate the damage of this endless parade of brazen, vile, extremely vocal hatred. One of the worst effects of it has been the normalization of racism and bigotry in our daily discourse and mainstream media. Since the beginning of MAGA, racist bullying has risen in schools, and the proliferation of online outlets like the LibsOfTiktok Twitter account has resulted in organized hate campaigns and even violence. Mainstream media allows conversations regarding the humanity of certain groups, like trans people, to be taken on faith, and allows the discrediting of Black victims of police violence. We have even seen the return of slurs (like the one against disabled people) into common lexicon after significant efforts to remove it.
We must not grow numb to MAGA’s racist messaging and let it fade into the background while rotting our society one brain at a time. Instead, we need to figure out a way to fight back against it.
The first step is to understand that for Trump supporters and MAGA followers, the racism is the reward. For the missteps and atrocities of both Trump administrations, Trump supporters comprised some of the most seriously-affected demographics, yet their support has not wavered. Why? Because fundamentally, MAGA gives them what they want: permission to be bigots.
The most important gift that Trump gives his supporters is a way to directly validate feelings of racism, hatred, and bigotry. He outwardly says things that they feel they’ve had to repress for decades. And he gives them new, exciting ways to express those feelings.
It’s true that Trump himself tends to spew hatred whenever he has access to a phone or mic. But the MAGA machine is actually pretty organized about how they deploy hatred. MAGA is not just your unpleasant uncle saying slurs at the TV. It’s a pretty finely tuned propaganda machine that actively creates a social structure that accommodates white supremacism. And thanks to the internet, it can turn any living room into a Nazi bar.
MAGA messaging acts not only to directly present its platform, but to create examples for how to spread the message, and a permission structure to do so.
Here are some methods that MAGA messaging tends to follow:
Lead by example. MAGA messaging does not simply allow or encourage bigoted behavior. It actively creates racist content, and tends to be at the leading edge of what is acceptable. This is why you see DHS and ICE accounts creating AI images to post on Twitter. In any other world, any kind of non-informational post by government agencies would be seen as absurd, but MAGA has made it a part of their daily operations. And it’s not an accident that the Obama video was released at the start of Black History month, a cultural concept that upsets racists. Leading by example pushes the edge of what MAGA supporters feel comfortable doing, because they don’t have to be the first to do it. This will also make them feel more affinity for the leader who is being “so brave” for “saying what everyone is thinking”.
Lean on popular culture and Internet memes. MAGA leans on a variety of classical art, relevant memes, and recognizable styles to create eye-catching, digestible messaging. Thus, you get the use of Rockwell illustrations, Ghibli cartoons, and other well-known styles (which, ironically, just happen to be created by antifascists). Internet memes are similarly easy to digest and add a dash of much-needed humor to the messaging.
One of the advantages of using recognizable culture in their messaging is that it serves to normalize their message. Even if the core of the message is hateful or violent, it is couched in visuals with few known negative connotations. Indeed, it creates an example of delivering the hatred in a slightly concealed way. This is useful because MAGA followers who are still capable of shame can then feel comfortable spreading it. And with the help of AI and outright copyright theft, MAGA puts out messaging that their supporters can consistently enjoy and understand.Avoid apologies. MAGA knows that the strength of a message can be greatly compromised by the author showing doubt. Thus, they avoid the use of softening language and euphemism as much as possible. And they will avoid apologizing as much as possible if outrage develops. MAGA is so committed to displaying their disdain for accountability that messaging regularly violates copyright and other laws. We saw this with the ICE billboards in Fisherman’s Wharf that had been put up without proper approval.
The lack of apologies, and indeed, consequences, creates a permission structure for MAGA followers. If these accounts aren’t getting in trouble, then why would I?Reward imitators. Those of us who are unfortunately chronically online may have seen people start catfights when someone steals their joke or copies their style and gets way more “likes” for it. Not MAGA. Smart propagandists know that imitation is the best form of flattery - and rewarding imitators makes it more likely the message will spread further. Some of the most outrageous output of the MAGA internet propaganda, like the Obama video, has been via reposts. Reposts aren’t just for the horrified public: they are a tangible reward to content creators whose platform is being elevated by the administration.
This gives people an incentive to repeat and uplift MAGA messaging, and to do it in the most outrageous ways possible. If I’m vile enough in my racism, I could be retweeted by the President of the United States of America himself!
Leading by example: Community, resistance, and celebration
We are disgusted every day by the fire hose of MAGA hatred. But we need to recognize that it works. More importantly, the methods MAGA propaganda uses are sound. I believe that we on the left can benefit from understanding these methods and building a counter-strategy that works.
MAGA has an advantage in that it is a movement comprised of people with atrophied hearts. They work faster because they have no compunction about lying, stealing art and music, and creating monstrous AI slop.
But our advantage is that we can do better. We know we can do better, because we do it every day. We can, and we do, work out and lead on examples of how people who want to resist the Trump administration can meaningfully express it, and we seek to create communities where active resistance is acceptable and celebrated.
We too, can lead by example, by celebrating our Black organizers and leaders, like Nekima Levy Armstrong, a professor and NAACP chapter president, who had the courage to stand up to ICE directly. We can, and do, lead by example by being on the streets and helping defend our communities.
We can lean on popular culture: in fact, many artists are antifascists and constantly creating work that uplifts and celebrates us all. Our organizations need to make strong connections with current artists and creators and allow a little humor in our messaging. At ISF, we try to approach our messaging with positive, internet-friendly energy whenever we can.
We can avoid weak messaging and instead support transgender youth without euphemism or apology - because it’s the right thing to do, period.
And we can uplift and reward those who creatively spread our message. At ISF we are always recruiting new artists and working to connect with musicians and theater acts. We have socials and flyering groups, and we encourage our members to work together and bring in new people for joyful activities. We want our resistors to enjoy what they are doing, to feel rewarded in their work.
To the people we hope to reach with our progressive antifascist message, the community is the reward.
After all, according to one of the biggest musical artists on the planet right now, “the only thing more powerful than hate is love.”
