
06/30/2025
The Stepford Supporters: MAGA's scripted response to literally everything.
By J. Basil Dannebohm
In most cults, having an independent opinion is discouraged and even punished. Group leaders often suppress critical thinking and skepticism, viewing them as a threat to the movement's unity and control. Members who express doubts or disagree are often viewed as "traitors" and a threat. Finding themselves forbidden from drifting off script, they are forced to parrot talking points handed down to them by the cult lieutenants.
Bertrand Rusell once observed, “As soon as we abandon our own reason and are content to rely upon authority there is no end to our troubles."
When the TACO gestapo descended on Los Angeles to conduct ICE raids, three MAGA “influencers” - Charlie Kirk, Jack Posobiec, and Matt Walsh - all posted the same message to X within a few hours of each other:
“It's time to ban third world immigration, legal or illegal. We've reached our limit and we have a huge cultural, educational, housing, financial, and essential services problem to fix now because of it. We need a net-zero immigration moratorium with a ban on all third worlders.”
It wasn’t long before MAGA armchair soldiers started posting the same message, verbatim, in comment threads across multiple platforms.
Granted, the rhetoric was far more articulate than what had been peddled by the cult leader himself. Regarding the first “50501” rallies that took place in the spring, Harris Faulkner of Fox News asked Mr. Trump, "What do you think they [protestors] need, right now, from you?”
"Protesters for different reasons. You're protesting also because, you know, they just didn't know. I've watch - I watched very closely. Why are you here? They really weren't able to say, but they were there for a reason, perhaps,” the 47th President of the United States replied. "But a lot of them really were there because they're following the crowd. A lot of them were there because what we witnessed was a terrible thing. What we saw was a terrible thing. And we've seen it over the years. We haven't, you know, this was one horrible example, but you've seen other terrible examples. You know that better than anybody who would know it. And I know it. I've seen it, too. I've seen it before I was president. I've seen it. I think it's a shame. I think it's a disgrace. And it's got to stop."
When the second round of rallies, known as the “No Kings” protests, made headlines, it was obvious the lieutenants handed out the official response. Once again, cult member upon brainwashed cult member took to comment threads offering the same line: “If a king were in power, you wouldn’t have the right to protest.”
The French Revolution was, in part, a protest against King Louis XVI. It stemmed from widespread discontent with the monarchy's absolute power as well as social inequalities and economic hardships faced by the common people.
It’s mildly ironic that on June 11th, just days before the protests, Mr. Trump attended a performance of Les Misérables, a musical about the French Revolution. It’s downright humorous that some patrons paid $2 million to sit in a performance box, attend a VIP reception with the President, and take a photo with him; while others paid no less than $100,000 to attend the performance, a reception and receive a photo of the demagogue.
A week or so later, following the unprovoked strike on Iran, the official response posted by the Proud Boys, Gravy Seals, and Meal Team Six read: "If you're no longer MAGA because Trump wiped out Iran's nuclear sites, you were never MAGA to begin with."
Henry David Thoreau wrote, "Think for yourself, or others will think for you without thinking of you."
Ezra Klein seems to agree.
"Trump is acting like a king because he's too weak to govern like a president. He is trying to substitute perception for reality. He is hoping that perception becomes reality. That can only happen if we believe him,” the New York Times columnist observed.
The MAGA movement, on the other hand, believes and says what they’re told, when they’re told. Theirs is a Stepford approach. To observe this, one only needs to revisit the faces, void of emotion, that sparsely lined Constitution Avenue for Trump’s military parade-charade.
Attempting any form of dialogue with a member of MAGA is often like trying to communicate with a brainwashed clone. Whether out of fear or ignorance, they’ll rarely drift from the assigned talking points. Hence, most efforts to foster understanding are futile.
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J. Basil Dannebohm is a writer, speaker, consultant, former Kansas legislator and intelligencer. His website is www.dannebohm.com. Mr. Dannebohm is a member of the Virginia Press Association and the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. He writes from the Washington DC metro in the Commonwealth of Virginia.