The real success of MAGA was that it gave working-class and disillusioned Americans a way to strike back at the people they felt talked down to them for decades—the college-educated, urban liberals who wrapped their condescension in progressivism. It was never about policy or coherent ideology; it was about payback. MAGA let people who felt culturally sidelined finally feel like they had the upper hand, not by gaining real power, but by dragging their perceived betters down. It turned resentment into a movement and made humiliation into a shared identity.
For many, it wasn’t about lifting themselves up but about leveling the field through ridicule, outrage, and symbolic wins. Owning the libs became a full-blown purpose. It made them feel righteous, even rebellious, while serving the very elites who laughed at them behind closed doors. Trump didn’t fix their towns, but he made it okay to sneer at professors, journalists, and Hollywood. That was the real emotional payoff—finally getting to flip the script and look down on those who once made them feel stupid, backward, or invisible.
For many, it wasn’t about lifting themselves up but about leveling the field through ridicule, outrage, and symbolic wins. Owning the libs became a full-blown purpose. It made them feel righteous, even rebellious, while serving the very elites who laughed at them behind closed doors. Trump didn’t fix their towns, but he made it okay to sneer at professors, journalists, and Hollywood. That was the real emotional payoff—finally getting to flip the script and look down on those who once made them feel stupid, backward, or invisible.
