'My Son Was Brainwashed by MAGA'

We take a look at this totally macho column written by a crestfallen father.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Scott Vorgies. Here's the story. It was printed in The
Guardian and the headline says, my son was struggling, then
he fell for Trump's toxic brand of quote masculinity. I'm heartbroken.

(00:20):
Names have been changed to protect the innocent. I'm not
going to read the entire thing. Let's just hit the highlights,
and I wonder how many people have the strained relationship
with a child with a sibling, family member, co worker, friend,

(00:42):
Facebook acquaintance, in some instances, a spouse. Let's see if
we can figure out where this is coming from, and
let's see how long I can go in really trying
to give this a good amount of gravity, because this
is a strained relationship between father and a son. It
breaks my heart as well, and I'm going to see

(01:04):
how long I can go before I just absolutely start
making fun of one of the people involved. Let's see
says I didn't get a call from my son on
Father's Day this year. Our political disagreements have made things hard.
I'm a fifty nine year old progressive and a special
education teacher, and I'm voting for Kamala Harrison November. Nick

(01:28):
is twenty one, and he would say that he holds
traditional conservative values, but he's conflating those values with radical
maga ideas, which correlate the right with patriotism, manhood, intelligence, independence,

(01:50):
and honesty. Right first paragraph, He's son would say he
holds traditional conservative values, but he's conflating those values with
radical maga ideas, correlating the right with let's pause when

(02:13):
we find the word here, that's offensive, patriotism. Apparently that's wrong,
that's offensive. My daughter years ago said something about Yeah,
she was talking with some friends and she said, yeah,

(02:35):
I had to remind myself that, you know, an American
flag isn't just something that's associated with the Republican Party,
you know, because I think a lot of what she hears.
If she sees people out flying the Republican flag, the
first thought that seems to come into mind is, oh,

(02:57):
that's more of a Republican thing. And the reason why
she hears that stuff is and this would have probably
been four years ago, so she would have been middle school.
The reason she hears that stuff is usually from people
who are much more liberal, who see people fly in
the American flag and are disgusted by it. Patriotism is

(03:23):
not a positive thing in the eyes of some people.
That's wrong. That's a radical maga idea. Patriotism, what else manhood?
Remember the headline of the story is my son fell
for Trump's toxic brand of masculinity. The author here gets

(03:43):
more into masculinity and manhood in just a moment. Intelligence
that's lumped in. First of all, I'm a little befuddled
as to how this author would lump intelligence into a

(04:04):
radical maga idea. I don't presume that the author thinks
that Trump is intelligent, But apparently intelligence is an offensive
thing that is a radical mega idea, as well as
independence and honesty. This is this is the description here

(04:29):
by the author what his son is finding his political
roots in patriotism, manhood, intelligence, independence, and honesty. So now
we get a little background. The author says, Nick's mom
and I wanted to teach our son that democracy is

(04:50):
an active sport. You don't just sit back and watch.
We lived in Houston, in the belly of the petrochemical beast.
Fossil fuels very, very bad. So we lived in Houston,
in the belly of the petrochemical beast. And I remember
going to a demonstration against Halliburton, the Iraq War and

(05:13):
Dick Cheney's role in the company groups brought puppets was
almost like street theater, and we rolled Nick along in
his stroller. That was the community we were plugged into, artists, musicians, teachers, writers.
That's how Nick grew up. Nick was a sweet kid,
really quiet on the upper end of the autism spectrum.

(05:36):
Whether he is or he isn't, this is what So
he says he can have difficulty interpreting social cues. Now
that now we apparently we have the Trump maga steam
roller preying on autistic people. Says Nick loves animals. He
can't tolerate cruelty to animals, which feels iraq given his politics. Now,

(06:02):
what are you talking about. Yesterday we talked about how
the President of the United States looks at Trump supporters
and says that they are the unhooded members of the
ku Klux Klan who came out of the woods with
no hoods, bare faced because they had an ally in
the Trump White House. So not only are Trump supporters,

(06:26):
you know, this threat to democracy, they're also members of
the KKK who would gladly lynch, murder, intimidate, threaten, crossburn
you whatever. Now we also have Trump supporters apparently are
people who would gladly commit cruelty to animals. They're just

(06:50):
walking around kicking puppies, shooting cats, punching hippopotamusses in the rumpuses,
or whatever it is that they might do. Yeah, Trump
supporters hate animals, old people, ice cream. They're just horrible

(07:12):
people and they're racist. The author continues. We moved from
Houston to the Bay Area in twenty seventeen after Trump
won the election. Oh, they had to get some place
and surround themselves with like minded individuals. Nick was fifteen
or sixteen when he said that he liked Trump. I

(07:34):
can understand how Trump appealed to a childish sensibility, as
he's this clown who does whatever he wants. I also
know that when you come of age you want to
reject your parents' beliefs. My father was a Reagan Republican
who was really old school values wise. A lot of

(07:57):
my political development was a rejection of his values. So
I wonder now how much of Nick's fascination with MAGA
is a reaction against the way I brought him up.
I want to come back to this point. I'm going
to put a big mark by it, and then I'm
going to look at it later and go, what did
I mean to come back to here? I will forget.
Let's find out. He says, my father was a Reagan

(08:18):
Republican who was really old school values wise. What does
that mean? A lot of my political development was a
rejection of his values? What did you find in that? Which?
In nineteen eighty four, even even Mondale I think, voted
for Reagan in nineteen eighty four, the country was awash

(08:44):
in Reagan Republicanism, old school values wise. And at least
if you weren't, you weren't hateful and mean and demonizing
the other side, at least not to this grand scope
in this country. But he was so turned on, The
author was so turned off by it. A lot of

(09:05):
my political development was a rejection of my dad's Reagan
Republican old school values. So what does he What does
he have to say next? My favorite line in the
story one that goes without saying. And I'll tell you
what it is next. Scott Voices News Radio eleven ten

(09:27):
kfaby eemail on the Zonker's custom was in box from
Craig says, this Dad versus Sun's story sounds like your
standard Vader versus Luke saga. Hopefully Vader becomes good again
in the relationship and helps America become great again. And
more importantly, Luke needs to stay away from the Democrat
I mean darkseide. Thank you Craig for that assessment of

(09:50):
the story we're relating here from The Guardian. The author
the headline says, my son was struggling, then he fell
for Trump's this toxic brand of quote masculinity. The author
here the dad, fifty nine year old progressive, not Democrat,
progressive who is a Kamala Harris supporter. His son is

(10:14):
twenty one years old. His name is Nick, really not
his real name, and he says that, you know, whereas
I'm progressive, my son is a Trump supporter, and our
political disagreements have fractured our relationship. I didn't get a
call from my son on Father's Day. Talked about how
were he grew up. We would take him to political rallies,

(10:36):
demonstrations against Halliburton or the Iraq War, Dick Cheney. We'd
go to these protests. That's how our son was grown up.
And he says, you know, my dad was a Reagan Republican,
and a lot of my political development was a rejection
of my dad's values. And so he says, I wonder

(10:56):
how much of Nick's fascination with Maga is a real
against the way I brought him up. So this is
what this dad has said to this point. Here's the
next line that really goes without saying. Quote, I've never
been a macho kind of man. You don't say, really

(11:24):
tell me more. He says, I've never been a macho
kind of man. You know who doesn't use the phrase
macho macho men unless you're in the village people, or
you're hanging out with miss Elizabeth.

Speaker 2 (11:43):
Miss Elizabeth, Miss Elizabeth and who is that?

Speaker 1 (11:46):
That was the the what would you call her? She
was the ringside arm candy for Randy macho man Savage.
People who are macho men don't generally refer to themselves
as macho. Again, unless you're Randy Savage or in the

(12:09):
village people.

Speaker 2 (12:10):
Well then you're mucho macho.

Speaker 1 (12:11):
You could be mucco macho. And you can make an
argument that perhaps the village people weren't exactly the most
macho got that that's a different conversation for a different day.
And as far as I'm concerned, well, let's have that conversation.
You had a construction worker, had a sailor, you had

(12:33):
a cop, you had an Indian. For some reason, we're
gonna we're gonna dress up as different jobs. What's your job?
Tanto works for me? That's pretty macho in the name,
all right. I've never been a macho kind of man.

(12:54):
To me, our biggest responsibility as humans is to look
after each other. Men have been given places of privilege
in society. So when people talk about being a man,
that means to me, what do you use your privilege for?

(13:16):
You know who doesn't feel like men have been given
a place of privilege in society? Married men. Not to
say that I I'm not privileged to be where I
am and all that, but I absolutely know who truly

(13:37):
runs the household, and I'm fine with that. It's made
our kids wonderful kids, these young adults they become that
does exclusively due to their mother. As far as my
privileged place in society, get to do whatever women let.

Speaker 2 (13:59):
Me do, well, I don't understand why this author finds
himself to be so privileged as to speak for all liberals.
When he talks about the conservatives, HM very privileged of him.

Speaker 1 (14:16):
So what is what do we have? How does this
tie back to Trump? He says, I think that Trump
appeals to a perceived loss of masculine power by Trump's
log Now, what does that mean by Trump's logic, says
the author, Because we're treating LGBTQ plus people like humans.
Some men feel a loss over that, as their outrageous

(14:40):
privilege has diminished somewhat, at least on a surface level.
Nick the son was vulnerable to that because he was
becoming a man. So you've got people treating LGBTQ plus
people like humans, and over here you got macho men

(15:00):
going no, no, we're not gonna and that has pushed
him into this toxic brand of masculinity. What else? Nick
and I would get into arguments at the dinner table
over things like immigration. He would say that there is
an invasion of people coming across the border. But I

(15:23):
could usually move him when I got into the emotional
human thing. I'd show him photos of families being separated
from their babies because of the Trump administration, and he
couldn't tolerate that. Yes, and it has been well proven
that the pictures shown of kids in cages during the
Trump administration were pictures taken when this was going on

(15:45):
at the border during the Obama Biden administration. This has
been proven time and time again. Kids weren't put in cages,
babies weren't separated from their families. But for this thing
that happens on the border every day that people like
the author apparently ignore, and that is human smugglers trying

(16:09):
to get into this country after they either kidnapped or
coerce families into Let me take your kid, that gets
me entry into America. I gotta get here with this kid.
We could and then I'm in. I just basically dumped
the kid or sell the kid into human trafficking, and
then I'm in the country and I don't give a
rip about that kid. That happens every single day, and

(16:35):
it's up to the border patrol to try and figure
out who's doing what down there. The author says that
Trump is ripping babies away from families. He goes on
to say, my wife and I divorced in twenty twenty,
and she moved to Texas where the men are left

(16:55):
San Francisco and went back to live in Houston. Huh
So he went and lived with her the boy and
now he's in Texas, where Texas is having an influence
on him. Yes, that involves guns. He went and bought

(17:16):
a gun. He's of age, even though I am against guns.
No kidding, You don't say he doesn't. He says that
one of his right wing friends is really wealthy, and
it means that Nick hears all this stuff about people
who aren't rich are basically parasites. I doubt that's how

(17:40):
it's phrased, says Nick has a girlfriend now who he
met online in one of his right wing forums. My
ex wife says she's a perfectly lovely girl and is
not Marjorie Taylor Green. She's a country Catholic kid and
says she's also Latina. Feelings on immigration have softened after

(18:03):
he spent time with her family. He's got something at
stake now, No, he doesn't. The number of Mexican or
Central American people who come to this country, who gain
entry into this country, often by legal means, say please
close the border behind me on my way. We don't
need to have open borders in America. I'm so honored

(18:26):
to be able to come here, but you've got to
close the border behind me. You have no idea what
I was fleeing here, ask him.

Speaker 2 (18:36):
So.

Speaker 1 (18:36):
The author sums up and says, when Nick and I
talk these days, it's mostly over text. We barely speak
on the phone. I hope that I'll reach an economic
status where I can fly to Texas more often. I
want to be physically present with him if there's a
conversation going on, Even if he's just telling me to
blank off or calling me a horrible name, that's something

(18:58):
I can work with. Even if we are argue, I
can always tell him that I love him.

Speaker 2 (19:04):
Wait a minute, This is a guy with I mean privilege, right,
and he doesn't have a great job, with all kinds
of money, with all kinds of privilege that he can
go see his son, which doesn't want to see him.

Speaker 1 (19:20):
Yeah, I don't know why he didn't just go over
to your mancard dot com and just take out a
interest free privilege loan, a loan that you wouldn't have
to pay back here. Just take the money. It's fine,
you know, Thanks man, Thanks bruh. So how do you
think this guy looks at how his son got, how
he fell for Trump's toxic brand of masculinity. And he's

(19:44):
a Trump supporter and he wonders how he got this way,
and the closest he comes to it is suggesting that
perhaps sometimes kids take a different political view than their
parents did. He said, well, I did that against my
Reagan Republican father. Maybe my son's just doing that against
my values. Now, I suspect that the root of how

(20:04):
your son got this way has to do with how
you said you brought him up, taking him to protests,
rallying against Halliburton, rallying against the Iraq War, rallying against
the rich, Occupy Wall Street, rallying against Bush and Cheney,
you know, being immersed in this community. Says we were

(20:25):
plugged into artists, musicians, teachers, writers. That's how he came up.
That's how he was brought up. I'm guessing that for
most of this the people that Nick grew up around
at these rallies, these protests, or some of the angriest, bitter,
sad people that you'll find in this country, people who

(20:49):
have all these problems largely brought on by themselves and
their own decisions, but they're more than happy to blame
someone or something else, the rich Republicans, Trump, Dick Cheney,
the man, you know, whatever, cops, what just find something
like I've screwed everything up in my life, but rather

(21:09):
than own up to it and face my own responsibilities
decisions I've made, I'm just gonna blame them or toxic
masculinity or whatever. So many of these people are so
bitter and angry. I told you the morning after the
election of twenty twenty, do not fall into this camp.
It's so easy to slide into bitterness into anger. You know,

(21:32):
if I know a lot of people that listen to
this radio station, or if not Trumps supporters, they're not
exactly in love with Biden and Harris. I know. I
get the emails every day. I understand, and there were
a lot of people that were emailing that morning going, oh,
I'm just so afraid for my country, and which on
some level I get. But at the same time, I said,
you can't get bitter, you can't get angry, you can't

(21:55):
get desponded, you can't give up hope. And so look
at the different ways. Is that these two different political
persuasions then get together one protest anger, yelling, screaming, fighting
against everything from the rich to cops to Trump to
whatever Nick here goes to Trump rallies positive, laughing, playing music,

(22:22):
having a good time, and saying we have to make
this country great again. Use the phrase here, it's it's
a positive environment, but Trump is calling names and all
the rest of that. Yeah, he's certainly not perfect, but
the environment there is a lot more positive. It's got

(22:45):
a much more positive vibe than some of the protest
movements that this kid grew up in. You want to
know why he doesn't want to be a part of that.
Probably because he doesn't want to be bitter and angry
and start blaming all of his problems in life on Trump.
I bet this guy blames his divorce on Trump, his
lot in life on Trump. I don't know what kind

(23:06):
of relationship he has with his father, you Reagan Republican
or had with his father. This guy seems bitter and angry.
His son has chosen to be around a more positive influence.
Who can blame him?

Speaker 2 (23:25):
And ladies, he's single.

Speaker 1 (23:27):
Oh, it's been a while since we had the catchphrase
thank you. Lucy Scott Voices mornings nine to eleven on
News Radio eleven ten KFAB