I’m Tired of Debunking MAGA
I started this blog because I want to post about history and science. I have dozens of text documents with partially written posts and lots of notes about those subjects, and for debunking conspiracy theories and pseudoscience, and other interesting topics. But I can’t concentrate on any of that when my country is crashing and burning around me.
So I find myself spending my already limited time trying to discredit Trump’s solipsistic foibles, which are exacerbated by MAGAs repeating everything he says like it’s the gospel truth. From his outright lies to his fundamental misunderstandings of how things work, MAGAs praise him for actions that will destroy this country. I’ll probably never convince a MAGA of their folly, but I have to try.
One way MAGAs reinforce each other’s misinformation is to share memes that are either outright lies, or taken completely out of context, making them look like something they’re not. A couple examples follow.
Your kneejerk reaction upon seeing this image is, “Aha! USAid is helping Hamas!”. That couldn’t be further from the truth.
That image is a screenshot from a 2013 Video* taken during the Syrian Civil War. Someone circled USAid to make it look like something it’s not. (*Google Translated Version)
The civil war was destroying the country. Innocent people were getting burned out or run out of their homes and retreating to refugee camps. USAid was helping, and so were many NGOs.
Then ISIS came. Surely you remember that. It dominated the news. That was when aid workers had to flee for their lives. The United States and other countries were flying aid workers out of the country as fast as possible. ISIS took over the facilities left behind, because why not? They were stocked with food, medical supplies and all kinds of goodies.
Then there are variations of these Social Security memes that are beyond ridiculous. There is no truth to these at all. The best I can figure, the various fake stats in these memes are coming from Social Security’s dead files.
When a person receiving SS dies, the family is supposed to notify the SSA. The funeral director will usually also notify them. The checks are immediately stopped. When a person receiving SS gets way up there in years, the SSA starts keeping close tabs on them to make sure they know when the checks need to stop. When a person reaches 115 years of age, the checks automatically stop. The person then has to prove to Social Security they’re still alive.
When a recipient dies, their SS number goes into a dead file. These files are distributed to various agencies to feed into their systems so that if someones tries to use an inactivated number, a red flag alerts.
Social Security benefits went into effect in the 1930s. The first recipients were born as far back as the 1870s, but until 1940, applicants received a small one-time payment only. There was no monthly check to continue sending out for the next 100 years.
SSA didn’t start keeping their records by electronic means until the 1970s. Before that, everything was recorded on paper. A few years ago, an effort was made to get these papers sorted out and categorized. For statistical purposes, many were grouped by the birthdates of the (long deceased) recipients. One group comprised those born in 1899 and before. Some of those people would certainly be more than 150 years old if they were still alive, but of course they are dead, and no checks have been mailed to them for decades.
Those are only two examples. It’s impossible for me to keep up. I can’t debunk everything.
In closing, I want to address those who are also trying to debunk some of the nonsense. Be extremely careful that the information you share is accurate. If you try to debunk a falsehood with a fact that isn’t precisely true, MAGAs will turn it back on you, then they won’t listen to anything you have to say.
2 Comments
Melita
The real reasons Trump got voted in… Left has gone to far left, there are tons of things Trump has said that the left has totally agreed with in the past, (like controlling the border) you tube videos of Clinton, & Obama talking about the same things Trump has said. But suddenly the left finds it wrong. We need to control the border leaving it open and giving them motel rooms & 1500.00 in debit cards? Even though the left wants to ignore it, it is ILLEGAL to come into this country without getting vetted. So rewarding them with things the average American citizen does not have is no way to run a country. It’s logic. We have heard for many years that government spending is out of control. No one wants to address it, but Trump. No one on the left has ever hinted that there may be corruption, people aren’t so stupid that they can’t figure out that the income of a politicians aren’t adding up to what their net worth is. How did they get so rich? I could go on and on, but a big fraction of the voters saw someone with experience and action against a cackling woman who has never won an election, but was PICKED, who did nothing to speak of in her four years of being V P. Blame the Democrats because they couldn’t come up with a better candidate. And the more and more we get called deplorables, racist, garbage…. Why the hell should we listen to anything a Democrat says? Personally I think Republicans make decisions based on logic and Democrats make decision based on feelings. And no one worships him like you think we do… He is arrogant but then isn’t any man who thinks they are so special enough to be president arrogant? He just doesn’t hide it.
Cathy Zeiler
It’s so odd how MAGAs automatically assume that anyone who doesn’t support Trump is a Democrat who supports Biden. I’ve been called a libtard, an atheist and much worse.
I used to say if I had to choose between being a Democrat or a Republican, I would choose Republican. I identify with much of what Republicans once stood for, but they have lost their way. So now I’m just middle leaning right. I invite anyone who thinks I’m not a Christian to visit the private Christian section of this blog.
There are good reasons that critical thinkers who know how to research and keep up with what’s really going on don’t support Trump.
Just a few examples:
MAGAs: Biden’s tax program is hurting us.
TRUTH: Biden’s tax proposals didn’t go into effect. Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act into law in December 2017. It’s been in effect ever since. If taxes are hurting you, that’s Trump’s doing, not Biden’s. It sure has hurt an awful lot of small businesses.
MAGAs: Biden let millions and millions of illegals cross the border from Mexico.
TRUTH: Biden and Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador worked out an agreement, which quickly dropped the number of crossings by 40%. Mexico was picking up huge numbers of illegals before they crossed the border and taking them back where they came from. Of those who made it across, ICE was picking up as many as they could find and taking them back where they came from.
MAGAs: Thousands of pounds of fentanyl is coming from Canada.
TRUTH: Almost no fentanyl is coming from Canada. But huge amounts of fentanyl is going into Canada from the US.
And Trump’s claim that he forced Canada into an agreement to increase border security is false. Canada already added $1.3B to their border security budget before Trump was sworn in. They were already increasing border security agents, more aerial patrols etc. Trump’s meeting with Trudeau changed nothing. See https://www.canada.ca/en/public-safety-canada/news/2024/12/government-of-canada-announces-its-plan-to-strengthen-border-security-and-our-immigration-system.html
MAGAs: Biden forced the Covid vaccine on the country.
TRUTH: It was Trump who implemented Operation Warp Speed, when he forced the pharmaceutical companies to bypass normal safety procedures to get the Covid vaccine on the market as fast as possible. Then he bragged and bragged about how nobody had ever gotten a vaccine approved as fast as he did. At least that part was true. It normally takes years to get a vaccine on the market.
And then there are the incredibly stupid things Trump does, like ordering that water be released from Terminus Dam at Lake Kaweah and Schafer Dam at Lake Success.
Even though southern California had (has) record high amounts of water in their reservoirs, Trump kept on and on about them not having enough water to fight the fires.
Even though California explained to him over and over that there is no “faucet” to turn on, that there is no way at all to get water from northern to southern California, and even though the fires were ALREADY OUT in LA County, he gave that order.
The result being that the water that farmers in San Joaquin Valley will need for growing their crops this summer when the rains stop, has been completely wasted.
I could go on and on but I’ve already covered much MAGA disinformation all over this blog, and no doubt I’ll be posting more about the subject.