Americans Buy MAGA First?

  

Do Americans Buy MAGA First?

There is political value for unscrupulous politicians to divide and conquer, make people pick sides and exert community pressure on those who do not conform to their community politics. That “us vs them” mantra is a rallying cry, giving moral justification and community support to those who actually do pick sides. Those who don’t or those on the other side are viewed with animosity and disdain. Wars help fracture (our Civil War) or unify (WW2) our nation, and getting along is easier in predictable, stable and economically prosperous times. But as we migrated from a solid blue-collar value system, the economy that replaced agriculture from WW2 until somewhere in the post-Vietnam War era, we slid into a service sector world of technology, sophisticated high-end entertainment, entrepreneurship and complex financial/trading as our major value creators.

Indeed, less than 2% of our nation is directly employed in agriculture, which can explain those red-blue maps. Raising livestock and growing crops takes vast tracts of unpopulated land to work, where manufacturing was more narrowly concentrated such as our “Rust Belt” in our rising manufacturing sector: From Henry Ford’s Detroit assembly lines to the Boeing plants of Everett, Washington, with hangers so big, some claimed, that they had their own internal weather systems. With an overcapacity of electrical power stemming from the massive hydroelectric New Deal dams added to the wartime demands for military hardware, we rose to the new economic order, in a nation virtually unscathed by Nazi and Japanese bombing raids over much of what might otherwise have been manufacturing centers in Europe and Asia.

With such unscathed factories, we could make “stuff” and reap the benefits of our industrial might. As formerly great manufacturing centers, those foreign regions were rebuilding the massive war-torn damage. No one could make money like the United States. Our unions provided well-heeled working-class citizens, consumers able to buy lifestyle upgrades touted by the Madison Avenue Madmen, heavily amplified by the new medium of television. Besides, as Asia and Europe rebuilt, their citizens did not have the earning power of the American behemoth. But… in time… the overseas rebuilt factories were now much more modern that ours, many of which US plants still deployed pre-WW2 technologies.

Trade in manufactures (and the fuel needed to power those factories) globalized. With cheaper labor and more modern plants, that manufacturing priority migrated overseas until 80% of non-governmental American jobs rested in the service sector, where education and upgraded skills were the entry-level basics for Americans to prosper. With agriculture consuming 2% of the labor force (with many low-paid immigrants in that mix) and manufacturing under 10% of our workers, it was pretty clear that a whole lot of Americans were not part of that service sector future… they were abandoned… left behind.

Many of those slipping out of mainstream economics America, lived in a world where educational opportunities did not exist and were products of local generation-to-generation employment patterns faded. Grandpa worked in the big local mine/factory, daddy followed suit and when junior got in line… oh, the factory was shutting down. Turns out what America did best was decreasingly manufacturing. Liberals with degrees were prioritizing social justice issues, sadly ignoring their own backyard. The backyard was angry.

Enter Citizens United vs Federal Election Commission (Supreme Court 2010). Nothing changed the landscape more than did this case. Rich people with extreme views were unleashed to flash their cash, through SuperPACs. Candidates who couldn’t have raised a dime earlier now knew the issues and the causes that could attract campaign contributions. Most reflected in the House of Representatives, where every member runs every two years (and spends an average of 70% of their time raising campaign contributions), the most radical views were conservative, blame-ridden populism… and like moths to a flame, the radical-right leaning candidates circled. First it was the Tea Party, and today it is MAGA. Add an unscrupulous, self-aggrandizing, manipulative and power-hungry politician… and the nation spilt like a log under an axe.

Today, we have two distinct nations: some in identifiable regions (red or blue), others simply layered on top of each other. We are no longer “Americans.” Our leaders told us we had to choose: red, blue or nothing at all? We’ve seen the blame, the rhetoric, but what might really surprise blue America is how today there are actually very separate blue and red economies. The May 13th The Economist describes this schism well. “Imagine the perfect morning. After sleeping between sheets from MyPillow—a company established by Mike Lindell, a conspiracy theorist—you drink some Black Rifle Coffee, which ‘serves coffee and culture to people who love America’. You shave with Jeremy’s Razors (‘built for rugged jawlines....not feelings’). Then you eat some bacon from Good Ranchers, which pledges to ‘make the American farm strong again’, before going for a spin on your Harley-Davidson.

“The broader MAGA universe extends beyond goods with over-the-top marketing to products and employers merely favoured by Republicans. And each economic choice adds up to something bigger. According to our analysis, America is splitting into two different economies and markets: one conservative, the other liberal. People on each side think about the economy differently; they buy different things and work in increasingly different industries. Not only that, the MAGA economy is doing surprisingly well.

“American liberals tend to look down on companies that market themselves to conservatives. Although this is in part because they do not like the opposing side, some MAGA products seem like scams. President Donald Trump’s crypto coin soared following its launch, only to crash quickly and leave many supporters holding the bag. His branded watches, including the ‘Fight Fight Fight’ model, cost up to $100,000 and have received mixed reviews.

“Such snobbery also reflects a belief that the conservative economy is backward. Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee in 2016, noted that she had ‘won the places that represent two-thirds of America’s gross domestic product...the places that are optimistic, diverse, dynamic, moving forward’. Kamala Harris, the nominee in 2024, won a similar share of America’s GDP. Of course, some solidly Republican districts have long been rich. In Jupiter, a town in Florida, activities include playing golf and wearing white chinos. Yet Yuba City, in northern California, where lots of locals are farmers and people voted strongly for Mr Trump, may be more illustrative of MAGA-land. Incomes are low; shops sell hardware, guns and fast food. There are no chinos in sight.” Sorry, blue America, that MAGA economy is doing just fine. We listen to different music, see different movies (if we go to movies), have separate media (social and mainstream), have different heroes… with lots of disdain and even hatred along the way! But each side thinks it will win. Can we ever expect to be the UNITED States ever again? 

I’m Peter Dekom, and while this is particularly difficult as the real manipulators – mega-rich people who benefit from divide and conquer – are the real un-Americans… the rest of us simply need to listen to each other without the filters of manipulative leaders and social media… and care, understand, empathize and compromise… if that is even possible today.