WHAT IS MAGAPHOBIA?

There is a dangerous phobia sweeping through our country. It is fueled by the media, politicians, and celebrities whose hatred for Trump has eclipsed their ability to recognize the humanity in anyone who supports his vision of America.

MAGAphobia is the widespread, irrational fear of me and tens of millions of others who voted for Trump.

MAGAphobia began years ago. It appeared subtly before metastasizing into a fear-borne virus that alters people into unrecognizable versions of themselves.

This phobia is different from the often bandied about term, “TDS” (Trump Derangement Syndrome), the unofficial name given to the open hatred of Trump that the Never Trumpers display. The globalists and elitists suffering from TDS have good reason to loathe the man leading a movement to bankrupt their companies that poison us, eviscerate their agencies that smother us, preserve America’s sovereignty, and orchestrate the demise of the days when American taxpayers fund their financial abuse.

But law-abiding, peaceful Americans do not.

It is the TDS community who masterfully created MAGAphobia. Its diabolical use of psychological warfare on American citizens has decimated normalcy and basic human decency in the people whose fear of Trump and people like me is very real.

Endless examples of this exist. Some of the recent ones include opinion pieces like Ja'han Jones' November 10 MSNBC article comparing the popularity of the MAGA movement to slavery. In it, he states, “MAGA ideology — and all the racism, misogyny and other bigotry that comes with it — is mainstream."

No it's not, Ja'han.

My own governor here in the state of New York has, in fact, led her own MAGAphobic crusade. Kathy Hochul commonly shares her negative opinion of Trump and the millions of us who voted for him. Recently she looked right into the camera and told me that I am anti-woman, anti-American, and that I have been trashing America for years.

To frame this more clearly ; The person who commands power over the state in which I live openly expressed her contempt for me and has made it clear that I should be chased out of my home state.

And Trump is the one I should fear?

Maybe if she came to my home I could show her the folded flag and the picture of my husband with our four small boys just 6 months before my husband was killed in Iraq. Perhaps she’d be surprised to hear of my years working as a Veterans Services Officer, or the nonprofit work I’ve done since. Maybe it would help her understand that “people like me” have sacrificed more for our country than she ever will.

Maybe she would even feel a twinge of remorse for making a mockery of the very freedom my husband gave his life in service of, and the endless pain felt by my family as a result of his loss.

But probably not.

Rhetoric like this is what gave birth to the severe phobia millions of people have in relation to the MAGA movement and anyone in it. These people walk up their sidewalks, past their signs telling everyone that “Hate has no home here” only to sit at their keyboards or on their phones, posting on social media about how terrible people like me are- people who they label as Nazis, racists, transphobes, anti-woman and anti-American.

Yes it is frustrating and can be emotional to be on the receiving end of such hatred. It is not easy to separate the people whose fear is very real from the people who project false fear in pursuit of power - and the people who are just nasty by nature.

I believe millions of people voicing fear are innocent people genuinely convinced that fear is justified. These are people of various races who are surrounded by others convincing them that they are a target of White Nationalists. They are members of the LGBTQ community whose lives are now thrust into a spotlight because of the extreme lengths the Left went to to put it there while simultaneously accusing anyone who objects to those extremes of being transphobic. They are our neighbors, co-workers, family and friends who absolutely believe that we can either be good people or secure our borders. That we can either care about women or defend the safety and well being of infants in the womb.

These are the people whose fear is so profound that, with the exception of a small minority, they vent that fear through anger, hate, and cruelty.

Those of us targeted by TDS and MAGAphobia did our best to ignore it for a while. We overcame the censorship, name-calling, and shunning, and refused to yield. But since push turned to shove, since we’ve seen people arrested and imprisoned for opening their businesses, praying on a sidewalk, or defending their rights as parents, the masterminds of this divide got exactly what they worked so hard for: divided communities, families, and country.

MAGAphobia is a dangerous lie.

But:

Those of us who are excited about this new day in America did not just give President Trump a mandate; we gave ourselves one, too. It is now our responsibility to live up to the very principles we have fought so hard to defend. It will not be easy. But it is absolutely necessary.

Yes- vindication, renewed hope, and relief are here just in the nick of time. We are celebrating. We are fallible human beings who are taking a moment to enjoy the shift in power and yes the memes can be fun - for a minute.

That minute has to be over now. For a cycle to break, someone must be the one to break it.

Let that someone be us. Let's prove that this America is better than the years we have just endured.

God Bless America.

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