Michele, this is the best thing I have EVER read about the through line from Reagan to the FCC and the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine to Rush to Fox to Trump. Thank you so much. This was all fantastic and absolutely 100% TRUE. It should be required reading for everyone in America who is trying to do our part to bring us back to normalcy and decency and community and compassion.
I am a 71 year old white man from Texas, who is a Christian and an “evangelical” one at that, and pretty “conservative” in lifestyle. I should probably be a dittohead, right? I am not, and in fact have become almost a “woke” liberal after watching the last ten years in particular.
You explained well Rush’s appeal to people like your dad, seemingly sane, normal, not personally cruel, even “good Christian people.” I know MANY of these people like your dad. What you described has been a disaster for millions of people (and choked out their own empathy and compassion), and it still may have been the death knell for our country, too. I pray not.
Looking back, I listened to Rush occasionally myself, even voted for some Republicans myself(but NEVER Reagan), but it really was “all a lie,” as Stuart Stevens explained so well in his book. Also looking back, I now see the fairness doctrine repeal may well have been the beginning of the end for the American experiment. Thanks, Reagan.
Beautiful and sweet and sad column. I thank you for it. The country has really lost its way………
Oh, Rick – thank you for these kind comments. 💙 It's sadly true that the demise of the Fairness Doctrine was the beginning of the information silos that we now accept as "the way it's always been." That was Heritage's doing. They have been playing a long game, which I think is important to appreciate.
I’m an 83yo from Texas. Still active and voting. All my life I voted Republican - until the conman appeared. My father voted Democrat every election because “if it was good enough for my father, it’s good enough for me”.
I thought that so stupid I was voting just to cancel his vote! Then I actually started paying attention when he passed. Republicans just weren’t working for me anymore!
I haven’t voted Republican since 2015, and I probably won’t ever again.
Apologies, but “ditto” is appropriate for me too. Thank you for the great article, Michele. And thank you for the way back links to the earlier Heritage nonsense so revered by Reagan. I’m now wondering if Robert Bork pushing the Friedman neoliberal economic theories was influenced by Limbaugh’s success in opening the door for radically novel lines of thought.
Hopefully there will be a Democratic landslide and they will learn from the past. The Heritage Foundation needs to answer for its part in destabilizing democracy, and regulations and laws need to be put back in place to protect the common good.
That's American progress, right there. Reading what you just wrote is inspiring and encouraging. I'm Canadian and can't vote in the Nov. 5 election. I can't even donate. Yet, what happens in your election will affect what happens in Canada and most countries on the planet on trade alone as well as so many other ways. So I stand on the sidelines, cheering on people like you who are fighting the good fight. I'm so relieved that Harris/Walz has burst upon the scene with dynamism, energy and laughter. It's like the cavalry in the nick of time in those old tv westerns on the black and white televisions of my childhood. When they came dashing around the hill at the very last moment, you knew it was going to be okay. People started to cheer and jump up and down in their seats (if you know what that is). So, come on America - finish the story. Save the day. Save the planet. You know you can do it in style. Seriously - you're the only ones who can do it now.
Female Native Texan here; five generations. My grandpa (the greatest man I’ve ever known) a lifelong Democrat/Bricklayers Union Member taught me at 18 that republicans put us in a DEFICIT and Democrats in a SURPLUS. Today is about
I could not have said/written your analysis any better especially about the FCC. Michele hit the nail on the head and I am glad she survived the idiocy of limbaugh. Thanks to you both for bringing this American propoganda to our attention.
I almost fell out of my chair when trump gave Limbaugh the Medal of Freedom during the orange one's State of the Union. I think that is when Nancy Pelosi ripped up her copy of the speech. Limbaugh was the warm up act for what we see now>>> Trump, The Ringmaster. He now spews the bullshit from the top of the tower and he gets put freely on the airwaves but rarely does he get called out.
Like you said the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine and also the Powell Memo "should be required reading for everyone in America who is trying to do our part to bring us back to normalcy and decency and community and compassion." I would also say to understand how we got here.
I literally just said to my dittohead father yesterday that he has become the most discompassionate mean spirited person I still speak to. We'll see for how much longer. We need a support group!
I never could stand Rush - his name calling rudeness arrogance. I have always listened to a lot of talk radio but left a Kansas City station where I first heard Claire McCaskill because I couldn't stand Rush. He is an embarrassment to Missouri.
Likewise those same qualities are what showed me Donald's character since The Apprentice.
Our America should have more respect for all than exemplified by these two and their followers.
I have friends and family who are so brainwashed it's hard to talk with them. Their politics are opposite to how they actually live their lives helping others in their families and communities.
Waiting in Missouri for the madness to pass. Jess Piper and Blue Missouri are cracking the madness open by running candidates in as many seats as possible. I am seeing Democratic signs appearing in St Joseph yards this year. As Jess says Solidarity!
Thank you, friend! 💙 Yes – I thought the column was getting too long, so I left out Rush's early career, including a stint in KC (before he was fired). As with all of history, there were many places along the way where things could have gone differently.
But it's important for folks to understand both the broader history, and the individual impact. Policy has consequences, and I think there's an entire generation of women who are just now unpacking what happened in 1988.
Then we added insult to injury by sending Josh Hawley to the Senate to inflict his Christian Nationalist views on the country. He is up for re-election and hoping Missourians wake up and vote him out.
On a side note, we’ve learned this week Walz has an older brother Jeff who is a Trump supporter who does not like his brother’s politics. Articles indicated they have only spoken a couple times since 2016. Like so many, Tim Walz’s family has experienced a rift between MAGA relatives and everyone else. Makes me like him even more. He gets what so many of us have gone through the past nine years.
Please consider a Part II where you do the outline of Rush’s early career. I have wondered about all this but this post is the first (and likely will remain the best) to pull this all together. And, some history of the Heritage Foundation.
What a name is “Heritage Foundation”!! Before I knew what they really were, I naively believed they sincerely meant to maintain loyalty to our Founding Fathers principles, or perhaps the better of conservative values–respect the flag and all that. Huh, no! It’s a cover for extreme authoritarianism, and I think they know it. “They play the long game” is an understatement.
Oh my, Amelia! Thank you for these kind words. I will absolutely consider a Part II. There's a lot to unpack there.
A lot of Reagan's policies were conceptualized by Heritage. And in their audit of his first year, they praise him... but also complain that he didn't do enough yet. They gave him the playbook, gave him the staff, and then continued to give him the motivation to push their policies.
That's part of the history that has been lost, or hasn't truly been appreciated. With Project 2025, their efforts are finally getting some notoriety – but this isn't a new strategy. It's the same one they've used every election.
I agree with Amelia, you should write a part two to this post. But, for your consideration, I ask that you consider that maga, tea party, conservative patriot movement didn't start with reagan, rush, or trump. The fact is that their beliefs have been around since civilization began. They are merely the latest iteration of such hate. rush monetized the hate and showed others how. Because of this, they think that they can control such hate. Such control doesn't exist; never has or will. Historical, people who think that they can control the hate wind up consumed by it, usually with the innocents surrounding them.
The good news is that Rush Limbaugh is still dead and will remain so for the remaining lifespan of the universe, and that Donald will follow him soon. Hannity is not as influential and the rest of them are just second-rate wannabes. There is a possibility that the saturation is leading to boredom and the number of people who become addicted to that crappy drug will diminish in the future. That is my hope.
Very true - important that he be held accountable. Even so, I worry that jail time simply gives him more time to cook up new ways to dismantle American democracy. Rush was a trailblazer for the right-wing machine, but unfortunately he wasn’t the last.
Like Michele, this was my introduction to your excellent writing. Your observation about how men listening to Rush believed “they” took away their good way of life is exactly what my brother believes. He listened to Rush for years as he traveled around Florida selling glass.
He is a bitter man and he shared these ideas with my parents who began swallowing Fox News everyday. Our family is fractured over feelings of haves and have nots, Evangelical “right” vs moderate ideas, “us” vs “them.”
Rush and MAGA is a cancer that’s torn families apart.
Thank you, Noel! 💙 Rush definitely paved the way for the right-wing extremism and culture of hatred that we see today. At the time folks didn't appreciate the danger. Looking back it's easy to draw a through-line, but history is fuzzy when you're living it. (As we all know from personal experience!)
Michele, Great read! I’m sorry you lost your Dad to that right wing madman. It amazes me that he was awarded the medal of freedom from Trump, but at the same time should have been expected from both men leading their cult. I grew up working a blue collar business in MA during the height of the Rush AM radio assault. Most of my friends would listen to him daily while out and about in their trucks. Thankfully I had the deep desire to listen to the latest Metallica or other heavy metal bands at the time or maybe I would have fallen under the spell. I can remember times when my friends would smack talk talking points from Rush and l would scratch my head wondering how they could be so foolish to fall into that BS. Thankfully, my Dad never went there and was always a morally strong man who believed in doing the right thing by people no matter where they were in life. I still find it interesting how my old MA friends who are die hard MAGA haven’t picked up their roots and moved out of the state to a more receptive red state. I’m sure the great schools for their children and excellent state healthcare keep pulling them back from their desires to move out. I’ve lived in two red states since leaving MA and now have been considering moving back to New England for a bit of political sanity.
Rush was a good companion for folks who had isolating jobs – and being part of his following meant that you knew the language and the "inside jokes." I can see how that would be intoxicating. I'm glad you resisted!
As a MA voter, I only regret my vote is a foregone conclusion. But the mental health that comes from living among (mostly) people who appreciate freedom of thought is priceless. That’s as opposed to freedom from thought, by the way! We have our own home grown AM radio curmudgeon, Howie Carr, with his loyal listeners, but they are powerless, here.
Michele you are so right. I see in my husband all you have said about your father. Unfortunately most of my family has followed him into the trump cult. Thank heavens there are still two who do not. I really am amazed that the right never stops to think that it is very likely trickle down economics that has made their problems. But they also tend to be people who want to blame others. My husband’s economic problems have been in a large part his own fault. Thank you so much for sharing.
This is a very heartbreaking story but a beautiful one as well. I commend you for sharing so eloquently with us the past and how it’s guided you to ‘do something’ to make the future better. I think your dad would be proud of you.
Wow. Wow. Wow. This is a touching post. Your heart is felt in every word. I weep for your story and all of us who know EXACTLY what you talking about. I weep for all of the words unspoken because of this fundamental and egregious error made in the 80’s. How many “I love yous,” or conversations about virtually anything else were replaced instead with seething resentments and pointless political squabbles?
If we cannot speak from pure love with our own families about political differences how can we do it with our fellow citizens? Yet infotainment as a substitute for research has reduced the dialogue to something tantamount to sports commentary. Points on a board. National tragedies are now only measured in how it polls. Pop culture is now pop politics. Meaningful but for a news cycle. Can we have better? Yes. But it won’t come from our corporate overlords.
Oh, my Allen – thank you for this. "How many 'I love yous,' were replaced with pointless political squabbles..." That is the exact sentiment. It's so sad, but as the comments to this post show, it's common. There's a lot of pain in politically fractured families.
I wanted to write something more or less along these lines for a while. But you beat me to it and did the topic a justice I never could. Excellent writing and pact with important history lessons.
Michele, what a story you have written! It certainly explains how men like Limbaugh, Hannity and Trump rose up in our political landscape! My dad, who passed away in 1985, was a Democrat (survived the Great Depression era)! I can’t help but wonder what his reaction might have been to Limbaugh & others like him. Would their propaganda have appealed to him, like so many others? You certainly have triggered my curiosity! Thanks for such a great piece!
Thank you Anthony! I think Rush appealed to a lot of people who had been democrats. After all, he professed to be the voice of middle Americans who had been left behind generally and by Democrats specifically. (He was from Cape Girardeu MO originally). I have no doubt that he helped Republican messaging in rural spaces.
No, Michele, you are not alone. My dad was in that camp too but he stepped away because he saw racism’s ugly head too many times and respected women’s choices. I too loved my dad so much. I loved your article. I admire your candor so much. You were robbed. The magas are a scourge.
Here we are again with another turning point in American history starting with the Reagan administration. And not necessarily a good turning point.
Reagan's administration appears to be the turning point of the far right starting its journey to where it is today. The deregulation of many industries allowing for the open manipulation of mostly men to the point that they are now radicalized in their beliefs.
I agree. And Reagan's administration was the first to be led by Heritage's Mandate for Leadership. Reading their audit of Reagan's first year was eye-opening, and not in a good way.
It is good that the American public is being educated about the dangers of Project 2025. I only wish they would have understood the dangers of Project 1980.
Reagan's was the first administration to fully embrace neoliberalism: deregulation in as many areas as possible, including the Fairness Doctrine, coupled with a fanatical belief in laissez faire economics, that "the free market" is the answer to everything.
Hello from a fellow gen-exer. I just discovered you, and oh, my goodness, this was just a terrific read that made ME feel seen. Thank you so much. I feel as if the three hardest trials of my life were surviving cancer, watching my mom die, and....reconciling my dad's sweetness with his now MAGA political beliefs. One very resonant point you made was your line about the difficulty of wrapping your mind around the fact that someone can love you and still revere people who'd prefer you were completely subjugated--or outright dead. And the idea of someone you love laughing at something that cruel...how hard that can be to deal with emotionally! I'm just a wreck over it. My dad is 85 now, and we never talk politics, but it has a way of insinuating itself, always to terrible results for us both emotionally. Someone quoted Stuart Stevens here--a terrific book. I wish I could inject all of that into my dad's brain but...I think he's immune at this point. MAGA makes HIM feel seen, just as you so astutely wrote. :( Thank you again so much!
Hello fellow Gen Xer! I understand that feeling that even when you’re not talking about politics, you’re still talking about politics. It’s hard to escape.
You’ve been through a lot. And putting the loss of your mom and the acute and then protracted PITA that is cancer (fist bump!) on par with having to wrestle with your dad’s political views … really says it all. They may think it’s “just politics.” And that may have been true when we were kids and the debate was over a tax cut or how to best respond to Russian Cold War aggression. Now the “debate” is more base… or maybe primal is the better word.
It’s over who we are, and what we stand for, and what we hold most dear.
And it is heart wrenching to see someone you love take a very different path from your own.
Moving, Michele. And hopeful. My growing up years were punctuated with publications like “Sword of the Lord” and broadcasts by Rev. Carl McEntire. He broadcast from a ship anchored off the east coast just barely in international waters. Exempt from any and all US regulations. My mother consumed such “information” like chocolate cake! I thank you for today’s essay!
Michele, this is the best thing I have EVER read about the through line from Reagan to the FCC and the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine to Rush to Fox to Trump. Thank you so much. This was all fantastic and absolutely 100% TRUE. It should be required reading for everyone in America who is trying to do our part to bring us back to normalcy and decency and community and compassion.
I am a 71 year old white man from Texas, who is a Christian and an “evangelical” one at that, and pretty “conservative” in lifestyle. I should probably be a dittohead, right? I am not, and in fact have become almost a “woke” liberal after watching the last ten years in particular.
You explained well Rush’s appeal to people like your dad, seemingly sane, normal, not personally cruel, even “good Christian people.” I know MANY of these people like your dad. What you described has been a disaster for millions of people (and choked out their own empathy and compassion), and it still may have been the death knell for our country, too. I pray not.
Looking back, I listened to Rush occasionally myself, even voted for some Republicans myself(but NEVER Reagan), but it really was “all a lie,” as Stuart Stevens explained so well in his book. Also looking back, I now see the fairness doctrine repeal may well have been the beginning of the end for the American experiment. Thanks, Reagan.
Beautiful and sweet and sad column. I thank you for it. The country has really lost its way………
Oh, Rick – thank you for these kind comments. 💙 It's sadly true that the demise of the Fairness Doctrine was the beginning of the information silos that we now accept as "the way it's always been." That was Heritage's doing. They have been playing a long game, which I think is important to appreciate.
A very long game. And they are still playing it.
But we, too, are now playing it and fully engaged. No more uncontested lies and half-truths.
Dems are just now waking up...40 years too late.
I’m an 83yo from Texas. Still active and voting. All my life I voted Republican - until the conman appeared. My father voted Democrat every election because “if it was good enough for my father, it’s good enough for me”.
I thought that so stupid I was voting just to cancel his vote! Then I actually started paying attention when he passed. Republicans just weren’t working for me anymore!
I haven’t voted Republican since 2015, and I probably won’t ever again.
Never Trump, and never to any of his enablers!
Apologies, but “ditto” is appropriate for me too. Thank you for the great article, Michele. And thank you for the way back links to the earlier Heritage nonsense so revered by Reagan. I’m now wondering if Robert Bork pushing the Friedman neoliberal economic theories was influenced by Limbaugh’s success in opening the door for radically novel lines of thought.
Hopefully there will be a Democratic landslide and they will learn from the past. The Heritage Foundation needs to answer for its part in destabilizing democracy, and regulations and laws need to be put back in place to protect the common good.
That's American progress, right there. Reading what you just wrote is inspiring and encouraging. I'm Canadian and can't vote in the Nov. 5 election. I can't even donate. Yet, what happens in your election will affect what happens in Canada and most countries on the planet on trade alone as well as so many other ways. So I stand on the sidelines, cheering on people like you who are fighting the good fight. I'm so relieved that Harris/Walz has burst upon the scene with dynamism, energy and laughter. It's like the cavalry in the nick of time in those old tv westerns on the black and white televisions of my childhood. When they came dashing around the hill at the very last moment, you knew it was going to be okay. People started to cheer and jump up and down in their seats (if you know what that is). So, come on America - finish the story. Save the day. Save the planet. You know you can do it in style. Seriously - you're the only ones who can do it now.
Female Native Texan here; five generations. My grandpa (the greatest man I’ve ever known) a lifelong Democrat/Bricklayers Union Member taught me at 18 that republicans put us in a DEFICIT and Democrats in a SURPLUS. Today is about
Democracy vs Totalitarianism?
Rick A. -
I could not have said/written your analysis any better especially about the FCC. Michele hit the nail on the head and I am glad she survived the idiocy of limbaugh. Thanks to you both for bringing this American propoganda to our attention.
I almost fell out of my chair when trump gave Limbaugh the Medal of Freedom during the orange one's State of the Union. I think that is when Nancy Pelosi ripped up her copy of the speech. Limbaugh was the warm up act for what we see now>>> Trump, The Ringmaster. He now spews the bullshit from the top of the tower and he gets put freely on the airwaves but rarely does he get called out.
Here is something you should read:
Attack on American Free Enterprise System: https://scholarlycommons.law.wlu.edu/powellmemo/
Like you said the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine and also the Powell Memo "should be required reading for everyone in America who is trying to do our part to bring us back to normalcy and decency and community and compassion." I would also say to understand how we got here.
I literally just said to my dittohead father yesterday that he has become the most discompassionate mean spirited person I still speak to. We'll see for how much longer. We need a support group!
I never could stand Rush - his name calling rudeness arrogance. I have always listened to a lot of talk radio but left a Kansas City station where I first heard Claire McCaskill because I couldn't stand Rush. He is an embarrassment to Missouri.
Likewise those same qualities are what showed me Donald's character since The Apprentice.
Our America should have more respect for all than exemplified by these two and their followers.
I have friends and family who are so brainwashed it's hard to talk with them. Their politics are opposite to how they actually live their lives helping others in their families and communities.
Waiting in Missouri for the madness to pass. Jess Piper and Blue Missouri are cracking the madness open by running candidates in as many seats as possible. I am seeing Democratic signs appearing in St Joseph yards this year. As Jess says Solidarity!
I appreciate all the Blue efforts.
Thank you, friend! 💙 Yes – I thought the column was getting too long, so I left out Rush's early career, including a stint in KC (before he was fired). As with all of history, there were many places along the way where things could have gone differently.
But it's important for folks to understand both the broader history, and the individual impact. Policy has consequences, and I think there's an entire generation of women who are just now unpacking what happened in 1988.
Solidarity!💙
Then we added insult to injury by sending Josh Hawley to the Senate to inflict his Christian Nationalist views on the country. He is up for re-election and hoping Missourians wake up and vote him out.
On a side note, we’ve learned this week Walz has an older brother Jeff who is a Trump supporter who does not like his brother’s politics. Articles indicated they have only spoken a couple times since 2016. Like so many, Tim Walz’s family has experienced a rift between MAGA relatives and everyone else. Makes me like him even more. He gets what so many of us have gone through the past nine years.
Please consider a Part II where you do the outline of Rush’s early career. I have wondered about all this but this post is the first (and likely will remain the best) to pull this all together. And, some history of the Heritage Foundation.
What a name is “Heritage Foundation”!! Before I knew what they really were, I naively believed they sincerely meant to maintain loyalty to our Founding Fathers principles, or perhaps the better of conservative values–respect the flag and all that. Huh, no! It’s a cover for extreme authoritarianism, and I think they know it. “They play the long game” is an understatement.
Oh my, Amelia! Thank you for these kind words. I will absolutely consider a Part II. There's a lot to unpack there.
A lot of Reagan's policies were conceptualized by Heritage. And in their audit of his first year, they praise him... but also complain that he didn't do enough yet. They gave him the playbook, gave him the staff, and then continued to give him the motivation to push their policies.
That's part of the history that has been lost, or hasn't truly been appreciated. With Project 2025, their efforts are finally getting some notoriety – but this isn't a new strategy. It's the same one they've used every election.
I agree with Amelia, you should write a part two to this post. But, for your consideration, I ask that you consider that maga, tea party, conservative patriot movement didn't start with reagan, rush, or trump. The fact is that their beliefs have been around since civilization began. They are merely the latest iteration of such hate. rush monetized the hate and showed others how. Because of this, they think that they can control such hate. Such control doesn't exist; never has or will. Historical, people who think that they can control the hate wind up consumed by it, usually with the innocents surrounding them.
What a great idea. His father was a judge and his brothers all lawyers. He was the loser in the family.
The good news is that Rush Limbaugh is still dead and will remain so for the remaining lifespan of the universe, and that Donald will follow him soon. Hannity is not as influential and the rest of them are just second-rate wannabes. There is a possibility that the saturation is leading to boredom and the number of people who become addicted to that crappy drug will diminish in the future. That is my hope.
What about Steve Bannon and his minions? Seems even jail won’t stop him from his evil doing.
Very true - important that he be held accountable. Even so, I worry that jail time simply gives him more time to cook up new ways to dismantle American democracy. Rush was a trailblazer for the right-wing machine, but unfortunately he wasn’t the last.
Wow! Maybe your best post ever! Thanks for sharing your beautiful sad story.
Oh thank you Kelli! It is a sad story, but a common one. 💙
Mega ditto!
I see what you did there! 😂💙
Like Michele, this was my introduction to your excellent writing. Your observation about how men listening to Rush believed “they” took away their good way of life is exactly what my brother believes. He listened to Rush for years as he traveled around Florida selling glass.
He is a bitter man and he shared these ideas with my parents who began swallowing Fox News everyday. Our family is fractured over feelings of haves and have nots, Evangelical “right” vs moderate ideas, “us” vs “them.”
Rush and MAGA is a cancer that’s torn families apart.
Thank you for sharing your story.
Thank you for connecting the dots to the origins of today’s Fox News claptrap and MAGA lunacy.
While disgusted by Limbaugh at the time on our local CBS station, I would not have guessed he was planting long range seeds of hatred.
Your story is heart rendering, making me appreciate my dad who empowered his girls.
But I found the silver lining: your devotion to VOTE BLUE reflects how generations can change political views to develop compassionate.
Thank you encouraging us to get out to vote for a new generation of leaders.
Thank you, Noel! 💙 Rush definitely paved the way for the right-wing extremism and culture of hatred that we see today. At the time folks didn't appreciate the danger. Looking back it's easy to draw a through-line, but history is fuzzy when you're living it. (As we all know from personal experience!)
Michele, Great read! I’m sorry you lost your Dad to that right wing madman. It amazes me that he was awarded the medal of freedom from Trump, but at the same time should have been expected from both men leading their cult. I grew up working a blue collar business in MA during the height of the Rush AM radio assault. Most of my friends would listen to him daily while out and about in their trucks. Thankfully I had the deep desire to listen to the latest Metallica or other heavy metal bands at the time or maybe I would have fallen under the spell. I can remember times when my friends would smack talk talking points from Rush and l would scratch my head wondering how they could be so foolish to fall into that BS. Thankfully, my Dad never went there and was always a morally strong man who believed in doing the right thing by people no matter where they were in life. I still find it interesting how my old MA friends who are die hard MAGA haven’t picked up their roots and moved out of the state to a more receptive red state. I’m sure the great schools for their children and excellent state healthcare keep pulling them back from their desires to move out. I’ve lived in two red states since leaving MA and now have been considering moving back to New England for a bit of political sanity.
Metallica was a MUCH better choice. 💙
Rush was a good companion for folks who had isolating jobs – and being part of his following meant that you knew the language and the "inside jokes." I can see how that would be intoxicating. I'm glad you resisted!
New England is the best place to live! Not cheap, but it is real and most of the people are educated.
As a MA voter, I only regret my vote is a foregone conclusion. But the mental health that comes from living among (mostly) people who appreciate freedom of thought is priceless. That’s as opposed to freedom from thought, by the way! We have our own home grown AM radio curmudgeon, Howie Carr, with his loyal listeners, but they are powerless, here.
Michele you are so right. I see in my husband all you have said about your father. Unfortunately most of my family has followed him into the trump cult. Thank heavens there are still two who do not. I really am amazed that the right never stops to think that it is very likely trickle down economics that has made their problems. But they also tend to be people who want to blame others. My husband’s economic problems have been in a large part his own fault. Thank you so much for sharing.
I’m so sorry, Donna. But I’m glad you’ve found this community of like-minded folks to spend time with! 💙 Solidarity, friend.
Thank you Michele!
This is a very heartbreaking story but a beautiful one as well. I commend you for sharing so eloquently with us the past and how it’s guided you to ‘do something’ to make the future better. I think your dad would be proud of you.
Thanks, Mariann. I honestly think he would be, too. 💙
Wow. Wow. Wow. This is a touching post. Your heart is felt in every word. I weep for your story and all of us who know EXACTLY what you talking about. I weep for all of the words unspoken because of this fundamental and egregious error made in the 80’s. How many “I love yous,” or conversations about virtually anything else were replaced instead with seething resentments and pointless political squabbles?
If we cannot speak from pure love with our own families about political differences how can we do it with our fellow citizens? Yet infotainment as a substitute for research has reduced the dialogue to something tantamount to sports commentary. Points on a board. National tragedies are now only measured in how it polls. Pop culture is now pop politics. Meaningful but for a news cycle. Can we have better? Yes. But it won’t come from our corporate overlords.
Oh, my Allen – thank you for this. "How many 'I love yous,' were replaced with pointless political squabbles..." That is the exact sentiment. It's so sad, but as the comments to this post show, it's common. There's a lot of pain in politically fractured families.
I wanted to write something more or less along these lines for a while. But you beat me to it and did the topic a justice I never could. Excellent writing and pact with important history lessons.
We all have similar paths but very different stories. I hope you’ll write your piece.
I look forward to reading it. 💙
Packed*
Sleep deprived
Michele, what a story you have written! It certainly explains how men like Limbaugh, Hannity and Trump rose up in our political landscape! My dad, who passed away in 1985, was a Democrat (survived the Great Depression era)! I can’t help but wonder what his reaction might have been to Limbaugh & others like him. Would their propaganda have appealed to him, like so many others? You certainly have triggered my curiosity! Thanks for such a great piece!
Thank you Anthony! I think Rush appealed to a lot of people who had been democrats. After all, he professed to be the voice of middle Americans who had been left behind generally and by Democrats specifically. (He was from Cape Girardeu MO originally). I have no doubt that he helped Republican messaging in rural spaces.
Yes, he did appeal to many!
I hope Rush is keeping Donnie’s seat warm in the 9th Circle.
No, Michele, you are not alone. My dad was in that camp too but he stepped away because he saw racism’s ugly head too many times and respected women’s choices. I too loved my dad so much. I loved your article. I admire your candor so much. You were robbed. The magas are a scourge.
Oh, thank you Lisa! I'm so glad to hear that your dad stepped away. 💙
Here we are again with another turning point in American history starting with the Reagan administration. And not necessarily a good turning point.
Reagan's administration appears to be the turning point of the far right starting its journey to where it is today. The deregulation of many industries allowing for the open manipulation of mostly men to the point that they are now radicalized in their beliefs.
I agree. And Reagan's administration was the first to be led by Heritage's Mandate for Leadership. Reading their audit of Reagan's first year was eye-opening, and not in a good way.
It is good that the American public is being educated about the dangers of Project 2025. I only wish they would have understood the dangers of Project 1980.
We have the benefit today of having a magical device in our pockets that allow us access to the world's knowledge.
The harder part is getting people to actually use that device to access that knowledge.
Reagan's was the first administration to fully embrace neoliberalism: deregulation in as many areas as possible, including the Fairness Doctrine, coupled with a fanatical belief in laissez faire economics, that "the free market" is the answer to everything.
Hello from a fellow gen-exer. I just discovered you, and oh, my goodness, this was just a terrific read that made ME feel seen. Thank you so much. I feel as if the three hardest trials of my life were surviving cancer, watching my mom die, and....reconciling my dad's sweetness with his now MAGA political beliefs. One very resonant point you made was your line about the difficulty of wrapping your mind around the fact that someone can love you and still revere people who'd prefer you were completely subjugated--or outright dead. And the idea of someone you love laughing at something that cruel...how hard that can be to deal with emotionally! I'm just a wreck over it. My dad is 85 now, and we never talk politics, but it has a way of insinuating itself, always to terrible results for us both emotionally. Someone quoted Stuart Stevens here--a terrific book. I wish I could inject all of that into my dad's brain but...I think he's immune at this point. MAGA makes HIM feel seen, just as you so astutely wrote. :( Thank you again so much!
Hello fellow Gen Xer! I understand that feeling that even when you’re not talking about politics, you’re still talking about politics. It’s hard to escape.
You’ve been through a lot. And putting the loss of your mom and the acute and then protracted PITA that is cancer (fist bump!) on par with having to wrestle with your dad’s political views … really says it all. They may think it’s “just politics.” And that may have been true when we were kids and the debate was over a tax cut or how to best respond to Russian Cold War aggression. Now the “debate” is more base… or maybe primal is the better word.
It’s over who we are, and what we stand for, and what we hold most dear.
And it is heart wrenching to see someone you love take a very different path from your own.
Anyway. Thank you for your thoughtful comment.
I see you, friend. I see you. 💙
Thank you so much for this. <3
Moving, Michele. And hopeful. My growing up years were punctuated with publications like “Sword of the Lord” and broadcasts by Rev. Carl McEntire. He broadcast from a ship anchored off the east coast just barely in international waters. Exempt from any and all US regulations. My mother consumed such “information” like chocolate cake! I thank you for today’s essay!