An old friend posted a comment directed at Republicans who didn't participate in the midterms, suggesting that the results constitute a destructive element from within. The midterms were "sad and pathetic." The commentary this person shared was:

US Democratic Senators winning tonight saying they do not support and plan to block anything from the President is wild.

Republican or Democrat the greater good and a productive house and senate for the American people should be the ultimate goal no matter the isle in which you represent.

But going in an first thing several are saying is essentially "lets fk it up" is a damn joke and the highest level of corrupt and pathetic attitude and behavior.

I guess we all missed cars engulfed with flames, buildings on fire, law enforcement dismantling and cost soaring! Lets get those tampons back in the boys restroom.

WE are the ones your planning to ruin.

Honestly this country could use a reset. Bring on the grid stop.

The individual expressed anger and fear that the country was moving toward socialism and communism, that radical Muslims were gaining influence in government, and that immigration was changing American culture and values. They argued that immigrants should have been expected to adopt the country's way of life and accused the political opposition of supporting policies that would take retirement resources from hardworking Americans and redistribute them to immigrants and people they considered unwilling to work.

All the MAGA dog whistles on display. When I asked a clarifying question, there was no response.

Another friend argued that people who had experienced different forms of government and lived in countries with few practicing Christians would be less focused on defeating individual political figures. They also maintained that, although some fears were exaggerated, other concerns reflected genuine realities rather than scare tactics.

I replied:

All of our presidents, the vast majority of our congressional representatives and senators, most of our Supreme Court judges, a huge majority of our business leaders and overwhelming majority of Americans are Christians. An America with a truly persecuted Christian minority has never been and will likely never be a reality.

The friend questioned my motives for responding and suggested the comment wasn't helpful. I responded:

The fear among the right that Christians in America will become a persecuted minority was implicit in your comment. I was just providing a different perspective based on the historical and current demographics.

The response: "Thank you for your great wisdom. JK."

I've run into this unwillingness to engage in conversation frequently among MAGA supporters over the last decade. Anytime anyone expresses something even vaguely dissenting in the conversation, it often ends with the MAGA supporter taking personal offense.

This inability or unwillingness to engage in discourse seems to be at the heart of all our problems. Both on the right and the left, though mainly, I would argue, on the right, in my experience. These folks have been so insulated in their views that they think anyone who expresses a different opinion is an enemy. And it comes from the top. Trump set this precedent early, and it has only worsened with comments like "Quiet, piggy."

Commentator Lucas Bean wrote about this today:

People form their estimate of what “most people think” based on the people they spend time with. If your friends all think the same way, your coworkers all think the same way, your news sources all say the same thing, and your social media feeds all confirm the same beliefs, your brain takes that sample and projects it onto the entire population. You aren’t lying when you say “most people agree with me.” You genuinely believe it. Because every signal in your environment is telling you it’s true.

The false consensus effect operates in any closed information environment. But MAGA built the most airtight consensus bubble in modern American political history.

Fox News, Newsmax, talk radio, Truth Social, Telegram channels, church groups, rally circuits, Facebook algorithms tuned to engagement. Every input in the system confirmed the same reality: America is with us. The media is lying. The polls are rigged. The silent majority is real. When everyone you talk to agrees with you, and the only people who disagree are people you’ve already been told to distrust, the false consensus isn’t just a bias. It becomes the only reality available. [...]

Tuesday night wasn’t just a political defeat. It was the collapse of a consensus that never existed. The “silent majority” turned out to be a loud minority that had been talking only to itself for years. And when the rest of the country finally answered, the answer was overwhelming.

If they do engage in conversation, it's usually only to engage in whataboutism. You make a criticism of MAGA, and they immediately respond with, "Well, what about..." and express some grievance about something some Democrat has done or has allegedly done. It's deflection, not conversation.

The whataboutism in particular is always troubling. While it is an effort simply to deflect criticism, it suggests something far more sinister. In a way, it implies that if the other side has done it, it's therefore justified.

It's a silly argument at its heart because, if carried to its logical end, it would lead to some extreme and absurd implications. For example, if this were a general argument, anyone on trial for any crime, say murder, could simply say, "Well, what about all the other people who have murdered and haven't been caught?"

At its most extreme, this logic would have provided the Nazis at Nuremberg with an argument along the lines of: "Why are we being held accountable for our crimes when Stalin's regime has been responsible for the deaths of millions?" Of course, the atrocities committed by Stalin's regime would not have absolved the Nazis of responsibility for their own. One wrong does not excuse another, and the wrongdoing of one party does not invalidate legitimate criticism of another.

It's childish, playground-level discourse, and it disappoints me every time I encounter it.