The MAGA Message: “Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid”

According to the Washington Examiner, “President Ronald Reagan famously once said, ‘America has always been a land of optimism and opportunity—a grand combination that has seen us through trying times.’ It’s a sentiment that has been widely embraced over the years, as it exemplifies America’s greatness.”

That sunny optimism has disappeared. Contrast it with the five words that, I suggest, state the core message of MAGA to their supporters: “Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid.” This message often has white identity politics as its frame.

In its less-menacing form, when asked by New York Times about discrimination against white men, President Trump replied:

“Well, I think that a lot of people were very badly treated. White people were very badly treated, where they did extremely well and they were not invited to go into a university or a college. So I would say in that way, I think it was unfair in certain cases. I think it was also, at the same time, it accomplished some very wonderful things, but it also hurt a lot of people — people that deserve to go to a college or deserve to get a job were unable to get a job. So it was, it was a reverse discrimination.”

Similarly, the Times reports that Vice President Vance has “encouraged supporters to unite around Mr. Trump’s immigration policies and the targeting of diversity initiatives. The White House has argued that they have unfairly led to the disenfranchisement of white men.” He added: “In the United States of America, you don’t have to apologize for being white anymore.”

Then, of course, there’s the more menacing “Great Replacement” theory, which per The Conversation “argues that Jews and some Western elites are conspiring to replace white Americans and Europeans with people of non-European descent, particularly Asians and Africans.” And according to PRRI, it “claims that white Christian Americans are under threat by Black and other people of color, non-European immigrants, and non-Christians.”

And then we reach peak menace. According to a Salon article, Elon Musk retweeted this comment: “If white men become a minority, we will be slaughtered. Remember, if non-Whites openly hate White men while White men hold a collective majority, then they will be 1000x times more hostile and cruel when they are a majority over whites. White solidarity is the only way to survive.”

Finally, we see the overt appeal to fear itself. Per Zachary Wolfe on CNN, “America has been invaded by criminals and predators,” according to the recruiting poster pinned to the top of the Department of Homeland Security account on X. “We need YOU to get them out.”

The language in this DHS press release and others is replete with scare words: “Criminals,” “rapists,” “domestic terrorists,” “gang members,” “violent thugs,” “pedophiles, armed robbers, and drug traffickers,” “criminal illegal aliens.” The White House refers repeatedly to “criminals, drug dealers, and violent gang members.” See here as well.

While obviously partisan, this quote makes the point: “The right-wing propaganda machine works hard to instill fear in white women. It’s replete with images of crime everywhere and warnings that immigrants are threats.”

The fear, anger, and—worse—rage is just mind-boggling. Much of this, of course, is sheer demagoguery used effectively (and destructively) for political advantage, but there is an important and legitimate aspect to the grievance it expresses. The White House Press Office argues that President keeps the American people safe, but who counts as Americans?

Over the past half-century the Democrats have reconstituted themselves as the party of racial and sexual minorities, ignoring the majority population of the country that does not fit into those categories.

Much of the fear, beyond its roots in Democrats’ ignoring the concerns of working-class, white, Christian Americans, has to do with the increasingly diverse nature of the population. According to USAFacts, “The US population is becoming more diverse. The nation’s non-white population has almost doubled over the past four decades, growing from about 24% of the population in 1990 to over 40% in 2023.”

Per the Census Bureau, “The non-Hispanic White population is projected to shrink over coming decades, from 199 million in 2020 to 179 million people in 2060.” As USAFacts puts this, “the multiracial population is projected to be the fastest-growing racial or ethnic group over the next four decades, followed by the Asian or Pacific Islander and Hispanic populations. The non-Hispanic white population is expected to continue shrinking.”

Thus, William Galston reported in 2021 that “Fully 80% of Republicans say that America is in danger of losing its culture and identity,” and “more than half say that amid the changes of recent decades, they often feel like strangers in their own country.”

Hence, “Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid.” The problem for the country is that as soon as you begin to warn about danger, and perhaps mortal danger, you justify all sorts of severe tactics to avert that danger. According to NPR, “Three in 10 people now say that Americans may have to resort to violence to get the country back on track.”

MAGA and Republicans generally could have argued for the importance of all Americans but instead have come to stand for the image of white, Christian America prevalent in the 1950s. If you’re not white and you’re not (the right kind of) Christian, you’re not a real American. But the 1950s are long gone.

We are all paying the price now for the loss of a unifying sense of “American.”

And as talk radio, cable TV, and especially social media pour gasoline on these flames, we will continue to pay that ever-steeper price.

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