Several days ago, the astute B Kean published The ‘Bro-Culture’ Has Prevailed on Medium.com. It offers compelling insight into why two young, professional Black men from Atlanta voted for Donald Trump in the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election. Of particular interest, their reasons weren’t much different from many of their Hispanic or White contemporaries.
Ignorance isn’t always bliss …. MAGA is a master of deception, and if you don’t understand what you’re reading or watching, MAGA will chew you up and spit you out.
There’s nothing wrong with multiple opinions.
Debate is healthy, and America has benefitted from a mix of Democrat and Republican ideologies. However, ensure you understand the subject matter before choosing a side, rather than basing your opinion on hearsay, unproven conjecture, Internet memes, and TV ads, all of which can be deceptive.
Back to the article…
“I watched a young “Bro” from Atlanta speaking to Don Lemon about why he voted for Trump. His reasons were solid enough, but there was one small problem: He was wrong about everything,” B Ken wrote in his Medium.com piece The ‘Bro-Culture’ Has Prevailed.
Kean described him as a well-dressed, polished-looking Black fella who had the look of an investment firm analyst.
“If I had seen him on the street, I would have wrongly assumed he was well-spoken and a Harris supporter,” Kean wrote.
“The hair was perfectly coiffed with too much gel, and he even had his glasses hanging on a strap around his neck, suggesting a sort of “cool-guy-meets-modern-day-Gatsby-look.”
According to Kean, the young man explained to Lemon that he voted for Trump because he believed Harris and the Democrats opposed democracy. Hence, the critical message from Democrats, filled with urgency and warnings about our potential downfall, obviously failed to resonate with Trump-leaning voters. And when Trump noticed that Democrats were gaining traction with the anti-democracy narrative, he cleverly appropriated it.
The young man also accused the Democrats of spreading propaganda and lying. However, anyone who truly understands what they’re seeing knows who is trying to undermine democracy and who isn’t. Matt Gaetz for U.S. Attorney General anyone?
We’ve seen this a thousand times before as the “Deny, Attack, and Reverse” strategy is a cornerstone of Trump’s defense.
He consistently denies any wrongdoing, regardless of the accusation, maintaining his innocence. This is just the start of his method. Next, he targets his accusers or anyone holding him accountable, often accusing them of the very misconduct he’s guilty of. But simply retaliating isn’t enough for him; he then positions himself as the victim of false accusations. In this way, he reemerges as a triumphant martyr and truth-teller who bravely exposes the real culprits.
When it became clear that the young individual had been influenced by the propaganda and MAGA’s outlandish voodoo, Lemon decided to step back. He understood that if the young man believed Democrats were “lying” about the “propaganda,” then that was enough to justify his support for Trump.
And it gets better….
Kean shared the perspective of another well-dressed Black man who also expressed his support for Trump and claimed to be driven by concerns over Kamala Harris’s stance on using taxpayer money for gender reassignment surgery for prison inmates. Remember that TV ad that aired over and over again?
But, Harris simply said she would “follow the law.”
To the surprise of the uninformed interviewee, Lemon presented a clip of Trump signing the legislation that provided “assistance” for transgender inmates into law.
Furthermore, he showed the young man the actual text of the law, complete with Trump’s distinctive signature. This compelling evidence underscores how crucial it is to stay informed about political actions and their implications.
“The vice president said in 2020 that she would follow [Donald Trump’s] law in place at the time. She did not say she supported it or thought it was a good idea,” Lemon explained.
Per Kean, the perplexed guy glanced at the paper and firmly stated, “I can’t believe this. There’s no way Trump would do that.”
“But here’s the signing. Here is the law. Here is his signature,” Lemon exclaimed.
“It’s fake.”
Denial is a tactic often used by Trump supporters. If you tell them 2 +2 equals 4, they will argue the answer is 5 before admitting they were wrong.
“The bro, aware that he had been caught with his pants around his ankles, referenced poor, overworked Jesus and excused himself,” wrote Kean.
Lemon raised an important point by suggesting that a lot of young men, including and especially the ones he interviewed, might be in information silos. So, when he inquired the interviewees about their sources of information, it was no surprise they relied on voices such as Joe Rogan, Steven Crowder, and other right-wing podcasters for their insights.
And Crowder, who was cited as a news source by the two interviewees, was recently captured by a doorbell video camera threatening to “f up” his wife during a conversation on their patio. This incident raises serious concerns about the credibility and character of someone being relied upon for news and information.
The right-wing propaganda funnel is powerful. I know firsthand because I was part of it from 1994 to 2014. But it wasn’t as nearly as toxic or as perfected back then.
What’s truly concerning is not only the extent to which many young Trumpers – of all races – have immersed themselves in conspiracy theories but how comfortable they have become living in that (false sense of) reality.
Kean referred to the two interviewees as ‘willfully dumb-as-hell,’ but maybe there’s a better way to describe them.
How about wilfully brainwashed and morally misguided?
