Thoughts on the Election

Conversations Over Coffee

Up early thinking on this election. This loss is not based on just the economy. This loss is based on a wave of indoctrination. Indoctrination of people in churches every Sunday and indoctrination of (mostly) young men from all demographics through a social media web.

Please do not discount the power repressing women has had in the movement behind Trump. Do not discount the diet of toxic masculinity / machismo men have been fed through podcasts and YouTube videos. Don’t discount the potency of “man camp” style fellowship in churches. Organic, far-right, chauvinist personalities (Jordan Peterson, Joe Rogan, Charlie Kirk etc) layered with Christian nationalist ideology coming from thousands of pulpits week in, week out has been immensely efficacious.

Too many Democrats thought they understood young outreach through influencers. But young people like Harry Sisson and Olivia Juliana were Gen Z representation chosen and platformed by the Democratic Party. They weren’t the Gen Z personalities other Gen Z actually know and are listening to. They were “Gen Z” for the older generations, not their own.

A bevy of people in this country have been fed a steady diet of propaganda in church services you don’t attend and podcasts you’ve never heard of. Trump didn’t have to do much of the work. The organized, well-funded, anti-feminist, conservative Christian ecosystem did it for him.

Remember, Trump didn’t come to Texas at the end of the campaign to counter the Harris/Walz rally (which, incidentally, wasn’t about Texas being in play, but that’s another conversation). Trump came to Texas one last time for the 3 hours of outreach via Joe Rogan. This far-right, masculine-centered ecosystem isn’t officially part of the Republican Party, but it enhances it. It’s very similar to the way PACS (political action committees) and non-profits have been used by the right to fortify the Party message.

The online outlets do most of the indoctrination with Gen Z and young millennials and churches do most of the indoctrination with everyone older than that. Gen X, my generation, has been extremely susceptible to the church messaging and the exit polls prove it.

So don’t get caught up solely in the new take that this was *just* about the economy and we missed it. Sure, the price of eggs and gas play a part. But, please look deeper than that. The anti-woman, anti-immigrant, anti-LGBTQ, racist message people are consuming is potent. Fear of the other has ALWAYS been a lever pulled in this country to gain control. Pay attention to what’s been said and done in the Christian nationalist movement. Learn more about the toxic masculine online community. Just like in Germany, when you’ve indoctrinated folks, it’s easy to get them to follow a strongman.

It will be nearly impossible to fight what’s ahead of us if we don’t understand how we got here…again.

Mendi Tackett

See It. Name It. Fight It.