293. Wicked Brew

Do you remember 2021? Because of January 6th, the year was marred by stress and anxiety. But after that mess was over… did you ever find yourself thinking, gloating, or relishing in the huge loss that MAGA people suffered? Maybe right anfter after the election, because the Looney Tunes-like spectacle of “Stop the Count,” Giuliani, and the Kraken lady was insane, perverse, weird, and deserved ridicule. But in 2021? After 2021, my ridicule was directed mostly at anti-maskers and vaccine deniers who were putting us all at risk.

During and after 2021, the U.S. was focused on recovering from supply chain issues, developing vaccines, and addressing worldwide inflation—not on the suffering of MAGA people, who were apparently super pissed because people were getting student loan forgiveness and the country was undertaking an actual infrastructure program.

In 2024, we got our asses whooped, and it was a legitimate win. But now, in the first quarter of 2025, MAGA people are exhilarated and enthused about all the rights that many Americans are under threat of losing—including the right to serve in the military for some, the right to legal representation before an immigration judge, and even the right to peacefully assemble on a college campus. Just ecstatic. The falling stock market, the unknown effects of massive federal layoffs on the communities they live, and the pesky egg prices that refuse to come down don’t seem to worry the red hats as long as liberals are suffering.

One thing I’ve been wondering this year is how many degrees of separation these people have from the affected population. Don’t they have a friend of a friend who married an immigrant? Or know of a family in their neighborhood with a transgender family member? A federal employee being swept away by a blunt sledgehammer? And if they do, why do they default to being okay with the vitriol, hatred, and scapegoating of these very real and tangible humans? Is this at the core of our separation—a lack of empathy for those who are not us?

I’m not a federal worker nor a transgender person, but I can feel my chest constricting when I think about what it’s like for federal employees who have endured months of uncertainty and victimization—a group of people who have nothing in common except receiving a paycheck from Uncle Sam. Or a person who is a million times braver than most people I know, who chose to enlist in the military, only to be pushed off a cliff because of the gender they identify with. My heart breaks when reading their accounts. Do MAGA supporters not have that part of themselves?

I have that part, and I’m not even that great of a human. I sometimes forget to clean after myself, I have blamed my dogs for my farts, and I have no belief in a just universe or religion. But I would get no joy from non-criminal people losing any freedom they currently have or being unable to attain a freedom I currently enjoy. Of course, this doesn’t’t count felons and insurrectionists, screw them. 

Alternative Panel, adapted from my friend Roger!