“MAGA: The Klan Took Off Their Hoods and Put on Red Hats”
by Lauro Amezcua-Patino, MD FAPA (Psychiatrist)
Ah, MAGA. The political movement hit America like a slow-motion car crash we all saw coming but were somehow still surprised by. If you think MAGA started with Donald Trump, you haven’t been paying attention — or living in Arizona. Trump didn’t invent MAGA; he just gave it a catchy name, a fresh set of merchandise, and removed the last shred of dignity from its followers. In Arizona, MAGA has been brewing for decades, long before anyone cared about “covfefe” tweets and walls that Mexico was never going to pay for.
To be clear, I wasn’t always looking in from outside the GOP. I was a registered Republican. Many of us were — until the party got hijacked by conspiracy theorists, bigots, and people who believe facts are a leftist agenda. I’m now an Independent because the only thing scarier than MAGA is the fact that the Republican Party still pretends this whole circus is just a phase that’ll pass. Spoiler: It won’t unless the real Republicans take a stand, burn the red hats, and start a new party with an actual backbone.
But let’s take a stroll through memory lane, shall we? Arizona has a rich history of sowing the seeds of MAGA long before Trump stepped into the political arena. You don’t have to dig deep to find the roots of this mess. We’re talking about a long line of figures like Barry Goldwater, Evan Mecham, and Joe Arpaio — men who didn’t need to hide behind Twitter because they were too busy building the foundations for the MAGA mindset with good old-fashioned racism, xenophobia, and authoritarianism. If you want the full breakdown, feel free to take a deep dive into Arizona’s political history in this guide. It’s a real page-turner, but spoiler alert: It’s got a disappointing ending.
MAGA Was Always Here — Trump Just Gave It a Hat
You see, Trump didn’t create MAGA. No, no — MAGA has been lurking in the corners of American politics for decades, waiting for its moment in the sun like a racist cicada. Trump ripped the Band-Aid off and handed out red hats like participation trophies. Think of MAGA as the political version of Voldemort — he was always there, waiting, gaining strength. And when Trump came along, he was like the Death Eater who finally said, “Screw it, let’s stop hiding. What’s the worst that can happen?”
Well, a lot. We’ve gone from quiet racism to public tantrums over imaginary election fraud and people chanting “Lock her up!” like it’s the national anthem. It’s as if the Klan members of the past thought, “Why hide behind a hood when you can scream at reporters on TV and get invited to rallies?”
Trump: The Mascot, Not the Mastermind
Here’s the thing: Trump isn’t some political genius who masterminded MAGA. He’s not Machiavelli. Hell, he’s not even Homer Simpson. He’s more like that guy who accidentally became famous because he brought a keg to the party. Instead of beer, he brought chaos, division, and ignorance that should come with a warning label. Trump’s appeal wasn’t his policies (because, let’s be real, he didn’t have any coherent ones). His appeal was that he gave a voice — and a red hat — to people who were already there, simmering with resentment and looking for someone to blame for their lot in life.
You could explain Trump’s rise by looking at economic anxieties, the failures of neoliberalism, or the widening gap between the rich and poor. But honestly, that’s giving too much credit. MAGA doesn’t care about any of that. MAGA is about fear — fear of “others,” fear of change, fear of losing power. And Trump didn’t create that fear. He just put it in a rally, threw some hats at it, and shouted, “Build the wall!” The rest is history.
From Barry to Joe: Arizona’s MAGA Primer
Let’s not kid ourselves, though. Trump didn’t emerge in a vacuum, and MAGA didn’t just appear out of nowhere. Arizona has been a breeding ground for this rhetoric long before Trump came along. Barry Goldwater laid the groundwork with his opposition to civil rights in the 1960s, wrapping racism in a neat little bow of “states’ rights.” Then came Evan Mecham, who somehow managed to turn ignorance into a governing philosophy, cancel Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and still act surprised when he was impeached. And finally, the pièce de résistance — Sheriff Joe Arpaio, a man who turned racial profiling into a professional sport. Arpaio was MAGA before MAGA was cool. He didn’t need Trump to tell him how to make brown people feel unwelcome. He had that covered decades ago.
Arizona has been nurturing MAGA for a long time. Trump was just the national face of something growing in the desert like a cactus — ugly, thorny, and impossible to ignore.
The Red Hat: A Hood, But Make It Fashion
And here we are, in 2024, where the red hat has become the new hood. Let’s be clear: The hat isn’t just a hat. It’s a symbol. It’s a declaration. It’s like a portable billboard that says, “I believe in conspiracy theories and don’t care about facts.” In the old days, bigots at least had the decency to hide in the shadows. Now, they slap on a hat, scream about caravans, and continue their day.
The difference now is there’s no shame. Remember when people used to pretend at least they weren’t racist? You know, they’d say things like, “I’m not racist, but…” and then follow it up with something incredibly racist. MAGA doesn’t even bother with that. They go straight to the racist part and skip the preamble. It’s like if the KKK took off their hoods and thought, “Why are we hiding? Let’s wear this proudly!”
A Party in Crisis: The Real GOP vs. MAGA
The real tragedy here isn’t that MAGA exists. It’s that the Republican Party still doesn’t know how to deal with it. Every time a Republican leader gets asked to denounce MAGA, you can practically see the fear in their eyes as they try to figure out how to walk the tightrope between decency and keeping their base. Spoiler: They almost always choose the base.
But the only way forward is for the real Republicans — the ones who believe in actual policies, fiscal responsibility, and not burning the Constitution for a photo op — to stand up and say, “Enough.” They need to divest themselves from MAGA like it’s an insufficient stock that’s about to tank the entire market. Because let’s be honest, the only future for the GOP is to cut ties with this insanity and start a new party. One that isn’t based on grievance politics and conspiracy theories but on actual principles. You know, the stuff we used to believe in before Trump turned every debate into a WWE promo.
The Only Option: A New Republican Party
MAGA isn’t going away. These people aren’t going to wake up one day, take off their hats, and say, “Wow, I can’t believe I believed all that nonsense.” No, they’re in it for the long haul. So the choice is simple: the real Republicans can keep pretending this is all normal and watch the party burn down, or they can take a stand and create something new. A party that doesn’t kowtow to cults of personality doesn’t traffic in racism and doesn’t pretend that every election is rigged just because they lost.
As for me? I’m an Independent now. Because until that day comes, I refuse to wear that hat — or pretend that the party I once belonged to hasn’t completely lost its way.
What’s Next for the GOP?
So, what do you think? Is there hope for the Republican Party, or are we stuck in MAGA-land forever? Should the GOP break away and start fresh, or is it too late? Let me know in the comments — unless you’re wearing a red hat, in which case, I’d love to hear how the deep state is behind this blog too.