The MAGA You Don't See

I’m probably going to catch some shit for this one. So I’m gunna ask off the top — before you start typing an angry comment, at least hear me out and read the whole thing.

I called my mom the other day. She started telling me about a friend of hers — a MAGA who’s become estranged from his sister due to different political beliefs. “I just don’t understand it,” she told me, “how can politics come before family?”

It was a funny question for her to ask me. I haven’t spoken to my own father since 2022 when Roe V. Wade was overturned (which she is well aware of). While politics was hardly the only wedge in our relationship, its what slammed the door for good. This is another thing I want to you to remember as you read this piece. I promise I’ll come back to it later.

I told my mom “it’s about your morals. Your politics reflect your moral beliefs.” There’s a difference between someone who wants to see reform about illegal immigration, and someone who celebrates the brutal ways in which undocumented people have been treated in the second Trump administration (including murder).

“I don’t believe that’s okay,” my mom replied — herself rather conservative on immigration. “I don’t think most people do, either.”

There’s the sticking point — she’s right. A majority of Americans believe ICE has “gone too far” in their mass deportation agenda. This includes 27% of Republicans — far too low a number, I agree, but lets not forget that’s despite the fact that immigration reform was the number 1 issue Trump ran on.

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I started filming street interviews in early 2024. My very first go at it was a MAGA rally in Michigan. It was March, I think — early enough in the year to still hit the state with a bitter cold spell. Despite single digit temperatures, hundreds of MAGAs lined up hoping for entry to the rally. I spent several hours working my way down the line — by the end I couldn’t feel my toes despite two pairs of socks.

Since then, I’ve gone on to interview hundreds of Trump voters across the country. Many of my friends in the political social media sphere look at me like I’m insane for diving into the depths of MAGA. I am often asked, “what’s the craziest thing you’ve heard?”

They’re looking for the predictable answer — a MAGA telling me wild QANON conspiracy theories or ranting whatever flavor of bigotry. To be sure, I’ve heard all those. They’re out there. The “deplorables,” as Clinton deemed them, do exist.

But they’re not shocking. If anything, they’re what every single piece of our political media tells us should be at a Trump rally. The shock, truly, are the MAGAs you don’t see. The ones with far more in common with us than not.

I’ve met MAGAs who want universal healthcare. I’ve talked to men wearing Trump flags as capes who support a woman’s right to choose. During the inauguration (another bitterly cold endeavor into MAGA-land), I spoke to two women wearing American flag bedazzled cowboy hats who demanded more funding for FEMA.

With little exception, the Trump voters I’ve interviewed have shared the core values as the rest of us. They want affordable housing and groceries. They want good schools for their children. They want good paying jobs. Don’t believe me? Watch this video I filmed interviewing “Autoworkers for Trump” in Michigan in 2024:

Here’s the reality: a large segment of Trump voters are closer to being on our side than not. Reaching them isn’t a matter of Democrats bending over to conservative policy and toting Liz Cheney around the campaign trail — its about poking holes in the misinformation they’ve been fed. Democrats overwhelmingly vote in favor of policies the majority of Americans want — yet Republicans consistently twist the narrative.

Roughly three quarters of Americans oppose cuts to federal healthcare programs, even across party lines. 64% of Republicans oppose cuts to Medicare. Those numbers are even higher for Social Security (which is likely why the program survived any major cuts in the Big Beautiful Budget). 84% of Americans oppose cuts to Social Security, again including a majority of Republicans (73%). Time and again, polling on the issues shows we want the same things.

So if we agree on the issues, how do we get Americans to vote like it? I’ll tell you how we fail at it: treating every Trump voter like the worst MAGA we imagine. We’re not going to do it by shutting out family and friends over differences of political opinion.

“But Alex,” you say, “you cut off your own dad. You’re a hypocrite.”

Thank you for the reminder, dear reader — I did promise to return to that.

The thing here is recognizing nuance — something too often lost in modern politics. While I stand by the fact that I believe the majority of Trump voters actually have closer values to us than not, that does not exclude the existence of real, literal, pieces of shit. Racism is alive and well in America. Homophobia, transphobia, sexism — all of it is real, valid, and too often impacts us. There are those who cannot be reached or are not worth reaching. My dad is one of them — that doesn’t mean your dad is.

What I am asking is that you do not assume those worst of the worst traits. Have a conversation (wherever you feel safe doing so). Don’t lead conversations in a way that seeks to argue, but in ways that search for common ground. You’ll be surprised how often you find it.

And where you don’t? Fuck them — we’re going to kick their asses.