Obi-Wan Kenobi’s question wasn’t just for Han Solo. It was a warning about power, delusion, and complicity. In 2025 America, we finally have an answer — and it should scare the hell out of us.
“They follow him because he gives them permission.
Permission to be cruel. To be racist. To be angry. To blame. To punch down. To feel powerful again in a world that stopped revolving around them.”
On point. So on point. The question becomes how do we get through to them. Can we? How long will it take. And do we have the time to turn it around…because we can’t just remove him without engaging them. Or we’ll continue to remain a nation divided.
You don't get through to people like this. They're in a cult. Remember Jim Jones- people poisoned and killed their own children for that madman and then killed themselves. These people are doing the same but in slow motion. People will starve, lose their homes, get killed by infectious diseases. It's already happening and THEY'RE HAPPY about it. You can't get through to people like that. When you try to get them to understand they just dig in more. The delusion is powerful and as they say- it's easier to fool a man than to convince him he's been fooled. That's why we work to change over the people who voted for Trump but aren't in the Trump cult, if that makes sense. We'll never get through to the maga base.
People usually have to want to change, either because they’ve hit a bottom or there’s something of value in it for them. But we don’t have the time to take them one at a time unless all or most of us begin to engage them where they are. Meet them where they are. I began doing it on my own the other day in a hardware store.
It’s not possible when it’s your loved ones, but no different than any short coming , ailment or human condition we need to help and try to understand them until this is over and it will end
MAGA does love the racism and the cruelty. What I don't get is the support he has received from the business community. These are people who should have done their due diligence on the Trump business track record. Ample reporting existed on his miriad of business failures, yet the media failed to push it forward and now, when it is most relevant, that coverage seems to have been completely swept under the rug. Now you have a guy who received $400m from Daddy, went bankrupt 6 times and couldn't make a profit on a gambling casino calling all the shots for the entire US economy. He is a reality show host who openly bragged about his greatest business success, selling overpriced real estate to Russian oligarchs for cash, yet the media and the business community seem to have completely denied the reality of his incompetence.
All the business community can see is the power, control and $$$ if they just follow him. Businesses as well as MAGA are both drinking from the fountain of Trump.
I have been pondering this question in my mind for a while now. Who is the greater fool and why do the fools follow and how I feel about this. Some days hate seems to be the only answer, and some days some sympathy for the mind that follows and then back to resentment, because they knew what they were voting for. I guarantee it’s not what they first thought and it’s definately not a boxing match to see who is the strongest. I don’t believe that 47 is tough physically as some might think he is (so he will get the job done). No, if one watches long enough, one can see the deep insecurity that lies within him, therefore he must have all that applause, the bowing down to him, surrounding himself with people that are just waiting to do the nasty for him if the need arises and it will, and he needs that control over people to make himself feel like a king. So therein lies the problem, he is no king. He is a childish man whining his way into world, doing evil to all who through the years did harm to him in some way, acting like he is ‘the man’ and doesn’t realize yet just how many people really can’t stand him. So we have these same types of people adoring him, because they think he adores them,(which he could care less about them), and these followers crave to be like him, because some are also narcissists or some want to have that same adoration, because their minds can’t stand on their own. They need to bully to be seen and feel recognized, oh but so deceived is their thinking. ———-okay, this is my rant, when I am exhausted but had to write, maybe for myself to better understand the article that was written. But this article made me write because it made so much sense and I felt it. I don’t even know if what I wrote made any sense, so excuse my needing more sleep, good night!
The fools who follow him blindly without using their brains that god gave them for the purpose, are the bigger fools. The idiots who got us into this mess.
Can we get through to them…no, the devil’s got their brains in his control.
How are we going to be liberated…something real bad has to happen to wake them up from their stupor.
In WW2, it was the BOMB…and everybody woke up…came to their senses. We had some degree of sanity for 7 decades and now the new generations of humans have no idea how bad things can get and how fast.
As for the racist MAGAts. They just made their lives shitier than ever.
It's deeply disturbing to see how many mentally ill people there are who will never get help, but rather take it out on others. And elevate a giant slimy ego that never gets satiated, like a bottomless pit.
What you're talking about here, I think, is a fundamental principle of human history. It's so profound that it is as much psychological and sociological as historical; it's what creates history. There are, were, and always will be, FOLLOWERS--sometimes purely (and cynically) for their own gain and sometimes because they feel lost and need a parent, usually a father, to tell them a bedtime story and tuck them in. All institutionalized religions are built on this principle--What's "God" but just a big, strong father and his power on earth is channeled though The Pope or The Grand Imam or The Grand Rabbi, or The Grand Lama, Adolph Hitler, Josef Stalin, Donald Trump, as infinitum.
The time for "understanding" Trump voters; seeing them as misled (there's a great word for you-implying that they have to be led by somebody, like sheep); the time for treating them as honestly mistaken or confused or needing gentle guidance--that time is long past.
Anybody who follows an autocrat and drags an entire country into their deluded cesspool; who inevitably brings ruin on themselves and everybody else once the dictator has all the power (the ruin of Social Security, for example)-- The only way they can learn is by losing their money, their security or their freedom. (I remember somebody once telling me that somebody voting for George W. Bush was like a chicken voting for Col. Sanders...
77 million fools (minus the few who do it for pure profit) vote for or follow a man who thinks they are nothing but roaches--puppets he can stick his hand in and manipulate any way he wants. This is, sadly, the story of "civilization".
Elon seems to be good at this sort of thing. Get him to round up anyone in a MAGA hat and ship them off to Mars. He's at odds with tRump right now, anyway, as the tariffs are hurting him.
Great writing on a terrible subject…
“They follow him because he gives them permission.
Permission to be cruel. To be racist. To be angry. To blame. To punch down. To feel powerful again in a world that stopped revolving around them.”
On point. So on point. The question becomes how do we get through to them. Can we? How long will it take. And do we have the time to turn it around…because we can’t just remove him without engaging them. Or we’ll continue to remain a nation divided.
You don't get through to people like this. They're in a cult. Remember Jim Jones- people poisoned and killed their own children for that madman and then killed themselves. These people are doing the same but in slow motion. People will starve, lose their homes, get killed by infectious diseases. It's already happening and THEY'RE HAPPY about it. You can't get through to people like that. When you try to get them to understand they just dig in more. The delusion is powerful and as they say- it's easier to fool a man than to convince him he's been fooled. That's why we work to change over the people who voted for Trump but aren't in the Trump cult, if that makes sense. We'll never get through to the maga base.
Excellent question!! Wish I could answer it 🤷🏻♂️
People usually have to want to change, either because they’ve hit a bottom or there’s something of value in it for them. But we don’t have the time to take them one at a time unless all or most of us begin to engage them where they are. Meet them where they are. I began doing it on my own the other day in a hardware store.
Because everyone has a reason they’d follow him.
One down and 100,000+ million to go.
wtf
why are you talking about "getting through to them"?! fuck them. they can rot in hell.
nobody needs to be not "divided" from stupidity.
I dont want to be within 5000 miles of stupidity.
It’s not possible when it’s your loved ones, but no different than any short coming , ailment or human condition we need to help and try to understand them until this is over and it will end
MAGA does love the racism and the cruelty. What I don't get is the support he has received from the business community. These are people who should have done their due diligence on the Trump business track record. Ample reporting existed on his miriad of business failures, yet the media failed to push it forward and now, when it is most relevant, that coverage seems to have been completely swept under the rug. Now you have a guy who received $400m from Daddy, went bankrupt 6 times and couldn't make a profit on a gambling casino calling all the shots for the entire US economy. He is a reality show host who openly bragged about his greatest business success, selling overpriced real estate to Russian oligarchs for cash, yet the media and the business community seem to have completely denied the reality of his incompetence.
All the business community can see is the power, control and $$$ if they just follow him. Businesses as well as MAGA are both drinking from the fountain of Trump.
Absolutely terrifying
I have been pondering this question in my mind for a while now. Who is the greater fool and why do the fools follow and how I feel about this. Some days hate seems to be the only answer, and some days some sympathy for the mind that follows and then back to resentment, because they knew what they were voting for. I guarantee it’s not what they first thought and it’s definately not a boxing match to see who is the strongest. I don’t believe that 47 is tough physically as some might think he is (so he will get the job done). No, if one watches long enough, one can see the deep insecurity that lies within him, therefore he must have all that applause, the bowing down to him, surrounding himself with people that are just waiting to do the nasty for him if the need arises and it will, and he needs that control over people to make himself feel like a king. So therein lies the problem, he is no king. He is a childish man whining his way into world, doing evil to all who through the years did harm to him in some way, acting like he is ‘the man’ and doesn’t realize yet just how many people really can’t stand him. So we have these same types of people adoring him, because they think he adores them,(which he could care less about them), and these followers crave to be like him, because some are also narcissists or some want to have that same adoration, because their minds can’t stand on their own. They need to bully to be seen and feel recognized, oh but so deceived is their thinking. ———-okay, this is my rant, when I am exhausted but had to write, maybe for myself to better understand the article that was written. But this article made me write because it made so much sense and I felt it. I don’t even know if what I wrote made any sense, so excuse my needing more sleep, good night!
The fool and his money will soon be parted
I saved this to re-read the next time I'm feeling kind to my MAGA neighbors.
The fools who follow him blindly without using their brains that god gave them for the purpose, are the bigger fools. The idiots who got us into this mess.
Can we get through to them…no, the devil’s got their brains in his control.
How are we going to be liberated…something real bad has to happen to wake them up from their stupor.
In WW2, it was the BOMB…and everybody woke up…came to their senses. We had some degree of sanity for 7 decades and now the new generations of humans have no idea how bad things can get and how fast.
As for the racist MAGAts. They just made their lives shitier than ever.
Bravo, really!
It's deeply disturbing to see how many mentally ill people there are who will never get help, but rather take it out on others. And elevate a giant slimy ego that never gets satiated, like a bottomless pit.
good recap of Trump regime greatest hits so far.
Well written, as usual--
What you're talking about here, I think, is a fundamental principle of human history. It's so profound that it is as much psychological and sociological as historical; it's what creates history. There are, were, and always will be, FOLLOWERS--sometimes purely (and cynically) for their own gain and sometimes because they feel lost and need a parent, usually a father, to tell them a bedtime story and tuck them in. All institutionalized religions are built on this principle--What's "God" but just a big, strong father and his power on earth is channeled though The Pope or The Grand Imam or The Grand Rabbi, or The Grand Lama, Adolph Hitler, Josef Stalin, Donald Trump, as infinitum.
The time for "understanding" Trump voters; seeing them as misled (there's a great word for you-implying that they have to be led by somebody, like sheep); the time for treating them as honestly mistaken or confused or needing gentle guidance--that time is long past.
Anybody who follows an autocrat and drags an entire country into their deluded cesspool; who inevitably brings ruin on themselves and everybody else once the dictator has all the power (the ruin of Social Security, for example)-- The only way they can learn is by losing their money, their security or their freedom. (I remember somebody once telling me that somebody voting for George W. Bush was like a chicken voting for Col. Sanders...
77 million fools (minus the few who do it for pure profit) vote for or follow a man who thinks they are nothing but roaches--puppets he can stick his hand in and manipulate any way he wants. This is, sadly, the story of "civilization".
Hit that nail on the end!
Sorry, head
Elon seems to be good at this sort of thing. Get him to round up anyone in a MAGA hat and ship them off to Mars. He's at odds with tRump right now, anyway, as the tariffs are hurting him.
“The fool is dangerous. But the fools who follow him? They make him inevitable.”
Reminds me of Thanos… and again I feel like a lot of these cultists were the ones posting #thanoswasright a few years ago…
Exactly.
…it’s a hen and the egg dilemma, how about to figure it out HOW and WHY it happened instead of endlessly elaborate on “who’s more stupid”?