Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

Ask Rich: Think MAGA members are unintelligent and uncouth? They’re not.

Ripped MAGA sign
Ask Rich: An ex-Trump supporter and MAGA activist answers your questions
Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

In this ongoing series, Logis, a former Donald Trump supporter and founder of Perfect Our Union, answers our readers' questions about leaving the MAGA movement. Send your questions to AskRich@thefulcrum.us.

I spent more than half a decade meeting or communicating daily with fellow MAGA Americans. Those myriad exchanges and conversations were often with highly intelligent, educated, successful and accomplished professionals.

Attorneys. Doctors. Financial executives. Small-business owners. Former public sector workers. Ivy League graduates.

I left MAGA in the summer of 2022. I’m working to build a new community for those who have also left MAGA, or are having doubts about support for Trump and Trump-endorsed elected officials and candidates. Given my activism, I got to know many members of the community well and I want to dispel the myth that most MAGA Americans are unintelligent, uneducated and uncouth.


I’m withholding the writer’s name, but here’s a comment (unedited) a recent “Ask Rich” column received:

I'm wondering if any MAGA CLAN members have an IQ above 20? I'm sure it's going to take awhile to find one. I'll be waiting for your answer. The over/under is 6 months.

Do I understand, to some extent, why MAGA Americans and those in opposition provoke “us versus them” reciprocal acrimony (even if most who believe such comments don’t publicly state it)? Yes, because all of us, whether we care to admit it or not, are capable of disdaining those with whom we disagree, those we deem as threats to ourselves and our democracy. Impugning anyone not on our side is opprobrium that, at times, is easy to succumb to.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

Millions — perhaps, billions — of words have been written and spoken about Trump voters being uncouth and of low intelligence. To those who say such things, I guarantee that by doing so you continue pushing them away from you, and strengthening the already-strong bond between Trump and his supporters.

Though I was responsible for my actions and rhetoric, I can also acknowledge that I allowed myself to be influenced by those who were well-intended – but, as I came to determine, mistaken.

If those with impassioned pro-Trump and anti-Trump feelings converse long enough, they’ll discover (maybe uncomfortably, at first) that there are a number of issues where they concur. I know, I know — the horror!

And in those exchanges, I’ll venture to say, the antipathy derived from “educated vs. uneducated” preconceptions will dissipate. None of us have come to our political conclusions and outcomes wholly on our own; this is actually great news, for it confirms that we can change our minds, or at least try to understand each other’s sincerely held beliefs. Attempting to see another’s perspective does not mean accepting it as correct; each of us is an amalgam of experiences, upbringings and a variety of inculcations. One doesn’t have to change one’s mind to reasonably compromise.

Our political climate would be made less antagonistic and divisive by de-stigmatizing the supposed “weakness” of changing our minds about issues, policies, candidates, etc. Reconsidering our previously held beliefs, or even just admitting a mistake, doesn’t indicate a lack of intelligence or good character; it reflects maturation and evolution. In fact, it takes a lot of mature thinking to question statements we hear ad infinitum rather than just accepting them as fact.

Progress in our history — the continued perfection of our Union — would have been impossible without the majority of Americans realizing that a modernization of some of the laws and opinions of yesteryear was mandatory.

What a smart approach, don’t you think?

Read More

Sacred Succession: The Pope's Final Gift to Democracy
a person standing on a sidewalk with a hat on
Photo by Chris Weiher on Unsplash

Sacred Succession: The Pope's Final Gift to Democracy

When the bells of St. Peter's Basilica tolled on Easter Monday, announcing Pope Francis's death at 88, they rang for the world's 1.3 billion Catholics and all of humanity. During the moment of transition for the Catholic Church, we witnessed the conclave, a ritual of power transfer that predates modern democracy yet might offer surprising lessons for our contemporary political moment.

The death of a pope represents more than a religious milestone. It is a moment that transcends theological boundaries, offering insights into how institutions navigate succession, how power transfers in an age of global uncertainty, and how ancient traditions might illuminate modern challenges.

Keep ReadingShow less
The American Pope

The newly elected Pontiff, Pope Leo XIV is seen for the first time from the Vatican balcony on May 8, 2025 in Vatican City, Vatican.

(Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

The American Pope

Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost made history on Thursday by being elected as the pope, marking the first time an American has been chosen for this role within the Roman Catholic Church. At 69 years old, he has taken on the papal name Leo XIV.

Originally from Chicago, Prevost has dedicated much of his ministry to Peru. His election occurred on the second day of the cardinals' conclave in Vatican City, after four ballots were cast.

Keep ReadingShow less
President Donald Trump speaks during a rally at Macomb Community College on April 29, 2025 at Warren, Michigan.

President Donald Trump speaks during a rally at Macomb Community College on April 29, 2025 at Warren, Michigan.

Getty Images, Scott Olson

​​The American Schism in 2025: Understanding the Other Side

In distilling lessons from my research onAmerican Schism, I often refer to a secret sauce or magic formula that U.S. citizens deployed at times during our history to productively bridge major societal divisions. To be clear, in these periods, the rifts endured but relying on the formula’s specific ingredients led us to better outcomes as compared to other eras when this formula was abandoned. In the former moments, we often forged new policy solutions — in the latter, we often experienced violent episodes.

One of the three key elements of this magic formula is what I label deep empathetic listening (stay tuned to this series for future discussion of the other two elements). Sounding simple but too often forsaken today, this form of listening is not easy work. It is analogous to a routine practice from high school debate club: first, through research and critical thinking, one constructs a rational argument for a particular point of view supported by data and carefully vetted sources. Then, perhaps a week later, one is assigned the same but from the opposing point of view. It is perhaps not surprising that our civic discourse has collapsed today — with current communication methods and platforms such as social media, critically researched data is sparse while sanctimonious outrage is omnipresent.

Keep ReadingShow less