{"id":454569,"date":"2025-09-27T05:19:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-27T05:19:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/454569\/"},"modified":"2025-09-27T05:19:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-27T05:19:11","slug":"donald-trump-polarize-or-die-the-new-maga-gospel-u-s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/454569\/","title":{"rendered":"Donald Trump: Polarize or die, the new MAGA gospel | U.S."},"content":{"rendered":"

The brutal murder of MAGA activist Charlie Kirk<\/a> has shaken the country. A little over two weeks after the incident, it\u2019s clear that this tragedy marks a turning point in U.S. politics in recent decades. However, what\u2019s most alarming isn\u2019t the atrocious act itself, but how it\u2019s being exploited by political leaders, media figures, and billionaires to accelerate and deepen a political rift, manifested in a historic surge in polarization and hate speech.<\/p>\n

This deliberate exploitation is based on the erosion of empathy: one sector of society loses the ability to understand those who think, live, or feel differently, nullifying the indispensable space for recognition of others that makes a complex and multicultural society like the United States viable. It opens the door to attacks against minorities, critics of power, and adversaries of the MAGA movement<\/a>, and helps consolidate authoritarian populism. Thus, used as an ideological spearhead, Kirk\u2019s reprehensible death has exposed a dangerous mechanism: the intentional loss of empathy as a driver of polarization, hatred, and dehumanization. This is today the most serious and immediate threat to democracy in the United States<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As soon as the attack made the headlines, Elon Musk, owner of X and with 226 million followers, launched his first poisoned barb: \u201cThe left is the party of murder,\u201d fueling the climate of violence. He then added: \u201cEither we fight back or they will kill us,\u201d calling on Republicans to \u201cfight or die.\u201d It\u2019s worth recalling this quote from Musk, uttered in February: \u201cThe fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy.\u201d He wasn\u2019t joking.<\/p>\n

As expected, Trump was not far behind: \u201cFor years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world\u2019s worst mass murderers and criminals. This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we\u2019re seeing in our country today, and it must stop immediately,\u201d he said<\/a> in his televised address following the assassination. He then threatened to take action against organizations and individuals on the progressive left considered by his administration to be promoting extremist violence. Almost anyone fits under that definition: politicians, social organizers, journalists, or comedians like late-night host Jimmy Kimmel<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Threats aren\u2019t just a bad old habit of President Trump\u2019s; they\u2019re his trademark. What\u2019s new is his promise to issue edicts against those who disagree with MAGA leaders. Upon his return from the U.K., Trump warned the major networks that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) would revoke their licenses if their hosts criticized him. As Iker Seisdedos pointed out in this newspaper, Trump has thus launched a direct campaign against freedom of expression, now joined by Vice President J. D. Vance and other prominent government spokespersons. In other words, a witch hunt against freedom of expression<\/a> \u2014 exactly what Trump and Vance had promised to combat.<\/p>\n

For this reason, the months leading up to the midterm elections will be a test of endurance for American society. It will decide whether manipulation from those in power can deepen the rift to an irreparable point, or whether society reacts by demanding a clear and decisive shift.<\/p>\n

The polls aren\u2019t providing encouraging news. Polarization has reached historic levels: Republicans and Democrats are further apart than ever on key issues \u2014 the economy, immigration, guns, foreign policy, and more. The political center is narrowing, while the number of voters who identify as very liberal or very conservative is growing. A July Pew Research Center survey revealed that 80% of Americans can\u2019t agree on basic facts, either because they receive information from opposing sources or because they interpret reality in radically different ways. Both situations reflect the phenomenon of information bubbles. And, returning to empathy, there is a very worrying fact: the divide is no longer merely ideological, but affective and emotional: more and more Americans perceive their political adversaries as an existential threat. It\u2019s as if Republicans were from Mars and Democrats were from Pluto.<\/p>\n

Polls don\u2019t directly measure the effects of this radicalization, but one need only look online to enter a cauldron of suspicion and contempt for those who think differently. This distrust is a dangerous brew, as evidenced by Kirk\u2019s murder. It\u2019s no surprise that analysts are already talking about a possible open internal conflict. In the first six months of 2025 alone, 150 acts of political violence were recorded<\/a>, almost double the same number as the same period last year. And this is before any supposed FBI plan to criminalize trans people as violent extremists has even been implemented, something many see as a potential source of support for MAGA.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t believe the country is on the brink of civil war, but it\u2019s worth asking some uncomfortable questions: If the MAGA leaders \u2014 with near-absolute power \u2014 are aware of these facts, why do they continue to inflame tempers? Why doesn\u2019t Trump demand that the social media barons moderate the impact of their algorithms<\/a>, which reward users\u2019 irrational anger over sanity and respectful debate?<\/p>\n

The answer I come to is hackneyed but remains key: MAGA cannot be considered just a democratic political movement. It has colonized the Republican Party, but it is not just an ideology, either. It is a power project that has already conquered branches of government to dismantle representative democracy and replace it with authoritarian populism, led by a charismatic leader and supported by economic and technological elites.<\/p>\n

The most serious aspect is that MAGA defines its identity by denying and disdaining diverse groups \u2014 racial, sexual, religious, cultural, immigrant, or gender. In that sense, although Kirk defended freedom of expression on campus, he acted as a white, Christian<\/a>, sexist, anti-trans, and anti-immigrant inquisitor. His policy was zero empathy: he didn\u2019t hesitate to label minority groups as enemies, repudiating and dehumanizing them without compassion. A skilled and charismatic communicator, he was a walking algorithm of youth indoctrination, a ceaseless machine of social polarization. That\u2019s why he was a champion of the MAGA cause and is now the perfect martyr to perpetuate it.<\/p>\n

But pushing society to the breaking point carries enormous risk for MAGA leaders. In their eagerness to radicalize their base and provoke visceral reactions in their adversaries, they could overestimate their ability to push society to the limit and underestimate the majority\u2019s rejection of extremism. Societies require bridges to heal gaps and rebuild a sense of belonging, encompassing the widest possible audience regardless of their political differences. Instead of building them, the Trump administration is blowing them up.<\/p>\n

Today, Americans are facing a countdown to defuse the bomb of polarization and save democracy. With the government against them, civil society will be crucial in this challenge. The Democratic Party needs to recharge<\/a> with fresh ideas and respond with greater inclusion and democratic firmness. Universities that have not yet buckled must strengthen programs in critical thinking, humanism, and resistance to media manipulation. The media must continue to investigate without fear of power, even as Trump intensifies his campaign to silence and subordinate them. But the greatest burden lies with citizens: they must remain vigilant, defend their rights, protest for freedom, and demand accountability from their authorities. Politicizing a tragedy like Kirk\u2019s murder is not only immoral, but undermines democracy, weakens the social fabric, and threatens the coexistence of the nation itself. <\/p>\n

Sign up for our weekly newsletter<\/a> to get more English-language news coverage from EL PA\u00cdS USA Edition<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The brutal murder of MAGA activist Charlie Kirk has shaken the country. A little over two weeks after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":454570,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5311],"tags":[78524,32,295,13858,38513,36173,49,978,659],"class_list":{"0":"post-454569","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-charlie-kirk","9":"tag-donald-trump","10":"tag-elon-musk","11":"tag-j-d-vance","12":"tag-jimmy-kimmel","13":"tag-maga","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-us","16":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115274577636488784","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=454569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454569\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/454570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=454569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=454569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=454569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}