Am i crazy or did Hegseth really quote Samuel L. Jackson? 

(April 16, 2026 at 1:45 pm)Deesse23 Wrote: Am i crazy or did Hegseth really quote Samuel L. Jackson? 

Yep, didn't have that on my MAGA BINGO card.

(April 16, 2026 at 1:53 pm)awty Wrote:

(April 16, 2026 at 1:45 pm)Deesse23 Wrote: Am i crazy or did Hegseth really quote Samuel L. Jackson? 

Yep, didn't have that on my MAGA BINGO card.

Until now i thought, that when you peel back all the layers of fake patriotism etc, one of the things left at the core of MAGA is christianity. Yet nobody seems to care about Trump being a blatant blasphemer and Hegseth being a bible illiterate. So whats really (left) at the core driving MAGA? Is it racism only? Mabye mixed with hate a la "as long as the people i dislike suffer, ill take anything". Whats at the core? It does not seem to even be christianity.

(April 16, 2026 at 2:03 pm)Deesse23 Wrote:

(April 16, 2026 at 1:53 pm)awty Wrote: Yep, didn't have that on my MAGA BINGO card.

Until now i thought, that when you peel back all the layers of fake patriotism etc, one of the things left at the core of MAGA is christianity. Yet nobody seems to care about Trump being a blatant blasphemer and Hegseth being a bible illiterate. So whats really (left) at the core driving MAGA? Is it racism only? Mabye mixed with hate a la "as long as the people i dislike suffer, ill take anything". Whats at the core? It does not seem to even be christianity.

I wish I had an answer for that question.  I don't think there is a bottom level.  So far nothing seems to be a big enough deal-breaker.  Racism is a huge part of the problem on many levels.  And more people, than I thought possible, were more than happy to drink the koolaid.

(April 16, 2026 at 2:03 pm)Deesse23 Wrote:

(April 16, 2026 at 1:53 pm)awty Wrote: Yep, didn't have that on my MAGA BINGO card.

Until now i thought, that when you peel back all the layers of fake patriotism etc, one of the things left at the core of MAGA is christianity. Yet nobody seems to care about Trump being a blatant blasphemer and Hegseth being a bible illiterate. So whats really (left) at the core driving MAGA? Is it racism only? Mabye mixed with hate a la "as long as the people i dislike suffer, ill take anything". Whats at the core? It does not seem to even be christianity.

Fascism. maga is perfect encapsulation of palingenetic ultranationalism. It's very essence of fascism and so there is nothing at its core but cruelty, bigotry and lies. It's void of anything positive and untethered to truth so it can't be countered with facts. maga is revolution of nihilism to use a title of Rauschning book.

(April 16, 2026 at 2:03 pm)Deesse23 Wrote:

(April 16, 2026 at 1:53 pm)awty Wrote: Yep, didn't have that on my MAGA BINGO card.

Until now i thought, that when you peel back all the layers of fake patriotism etc, one of the things left at the core of MAGA is christianity. Yet nobody seems to care about Trump being a blatant blasphemer and Hegseth being a bible illiterate. So whats really (left) at the core driving MAGA? Is it racism only? Mabye mixed with hate a la "as long as the people i dislike suffer, ill take anything". Whats at the core? It does not seem to even be christianity.

Jonathan Haidt's work suggests that, morally speaking, conservatives consider loyalty and faithfulness a higher virtue than do liberals. Thus tribalism is the default, wherein a loud 10% control the behavior of the other 90%. You know those Geico commercials where people are standing in a line just because there's a line to be stood in, and if there's a line, there must be something good for them when they get to the head of the line? It's basically that. Sheep gonna sheep.

(April 16, 2026 at 2:12 pm)Ivan Denisovich Wrote:

(April 16, 2026 at 2:03 pm)Deesse23 Wrote: Until now i thought, that when you peel back all the layers of fake patriotism etc, one of the things left at the core of MAGA is christianity. Yet nobody seems to care about Trump being a blatant blasphemer and Hegseth being a bible illiterate. So whats really (left) at the core driving MAGA? Is it racism only? Mabye mixed with hate a la "as long as the people i dislike suffer, ill take anything". Whats at the core? It does not seem to even be christianity.

Fascism. maga is perfect encapsulation of palingenetic ultranationalism. It's very essence of fascism and so there is nothing at its core but cruelty, bigotry and lies. It's void of anything positive and untethered to truth so it can't be countered with facts. maga is revolution of nihilism to use a title of Rauschning book.

Tl;dr: Culture-pessimism and ideas of cultural re-birth as a consequence? And thats why christianity fits neatly in (but is not at the core, it just matches well), because re-birth is baked in too?

The more i think about this the more i get depressed about humanity. I cant wait until its over, one way or another. If not, one day, someone more competent than Trump/MAGA will show up, someone with principles, who will follow up on them, mercilessly, no matter the casualties. Trump et al are fortunately only petty, greedy, incompetent, little cowards, but god have mercy on us all once somone "bigger" shows up. There seems to still be (like back in history) a baseline "mass" of people for whom there would and could be no limit.....frightening, real frightening. 

Quote:Following California implementing a law raising its minimum wage to $20 for more than 500,000 fast-food workers in the state in 2024, Christopher Thornberg, founding partner of research firm Beacon Economics, offered a warning about the state raising its minimum wage.

“California’s well-intended push to reduce income inequality via wage floors is beginning to have a significant negative impact on some of our most vulnerable workers—our youth, particularly those from lower-income households,” he wrote earlier this year.

His concerns echoed those of fast-food franchise owners, one of whom told Fortune in 2024 that higher wages would be unsustainable for smaller chains with slim margins.

But nearly two years after the law’s passage, economists are seeing very different results than what was initially feared. A working paper from University of California at Berkeley released this month found the policy increased average weekly wages for eligible workers by 11% and did not reduce employment. Prices increased modestly, about 1.5%, or the equivalent of about six cents for a $4 item.

“The results are nowhere as dire as predicted,” Michael Reich, the study author and chair of the Center on Wage and Employment Dynamics at UC Berkeley, told Fortune.

https://fortune.com/2026/04/15/uc-berkel...mployment/

^We got the same dire predictions when our minimum wage went to $24/hour (roughly $14 USD). Sadly for the doom and gloomers, our economy stubbornly refused to collapse.

Boru

(April 16, 2026 at 2:58 pm)Deesse23 Wrote:

(April 16, 2026 at 2:12 pm)Ivan Denisovich Wrote: Fascism. maga is perfect encapsulation of palingenetic ultranationalism. It's very essence of fascism and so there is nothing at its core but cruelty, bigotry and lies. It's void of anything positive and untethered to truth so it can't be countered with facts. maga is revolution of nihilism to use a title of Rauschning book.

Tl;dr: Culture-pessimism and ideas of cultural re-birth as a consequence? And thats why christianity fits neatly in (but is not at the core, it just matches well), because re-birth is baked in too?

The more i think about this the more i get depressed about humanity. I cant wait until its over, one way or another. If not, one day, someone more competent than Trump/MAGA will show up, someone with principles, who will follow up on them, mercilessly, no matter the casualties. Trump et al are fortunately only petty, greedy, incompetent, little cowards, but god have mercy on us all once somone "bigger" shows up. There seems to still be (like back in history) a baseline "mass" of people for whom there would and could be no limit.....frightening, real frightening. 

Christianity in my opinion is just window dressing, something to makes bigotry righteous. Core idea would be that things are bad now but thanks to following the fuhrer return to glorious past and rebirth of greatness is possible.