Thread by @JYSexton

The ugliness the MAGA Movement represents, a dark, twisted, disturbingly selfish view of life itself, has turned the pandemic into a political game where people's lives are happily sacrificed in the pursuit of profit and power.

jaredyatessexton.substack.com/p/cynical-self…

The reason so much of the MAGA movement’s positions on the pandemic changes so rapidly - it’s a hoax, then it’s a bio weapon, the vaccine is a plot - is because they shift to whatever makes their “winning” more likely. It’s about a vapid pursuit of power at all costs.

Analysts spend so much time trying to understand the contradictions of MAGA like some of these things are “true” and “sincere” beliefs. They’re not. They’re political and economic calculations dressed up in the disguise of ideology. It’s about power and profit. Period.

The idea that millions of Americans are willing to sacrifice potentially millions of lives, even the lives of family and friends, for an election victory or even a chance at a bigger paycheck is so disturbing it causes people to seek other answers. But it’s sadly very true.

America is a country largely motivated by self-interest and MAGA represents the most corrosive strain of this twisted into an anti-ideological movement with white supremacist, sexist, classist, and fascistic features. What we’re living through is incredibly bizarre and dangerous.

We have been run through with neoliberal, hypercapitalistic ideology to the point where certain Americans see everyone as competitors and ultimately disposable. Trump personifies this and represents millions who are more than happy to let others die if it means an advantage.

It is a death cult because hypercapitalism is a death cult. Pursuit of immediate, unrestrained advantage is self-destruction with a religious faith powering the project. We’re suffering because of this and will continue to suffer until something changes.