‘Make it make sense’: MAGA’s ironic voting is broken down by the internet

When it comes to convincing Americans to vote against their best interests, no one does it quite like Trump.

Users on X were quick to point out the irony of GOP voting practices, counting off five bullet points that MAGA supports have used to shoot themselves in the foot.

Social Security is called the “Third Rail” of politics for good reason, candidate can go near it without receiving a swift and brutal shock from their base. No candidate but Donald Trump, of course. According to a study by AARP, Trump was bafflingly able to convince the majority of the nation’s elderly to vote for him. 56% of voters aged 50 to 64 went red. How does this make sense? It doesn’t.

While Trump himself promised voters that he wouldn’t touch Social Security, one of his Cabinet picks are ready to get his hands all over it. Elon Musk, Chair of the to-be created Department of Government Efficiency has shared his plan to cut $2 trillion with a “t” from government spending. While many of Trump’s supporters tout this as a win, claiming victory over what they believe to be wasteful Democrat spending practices, the reality is far more grim. Most of the U.S. government’s spending budget is mandatory, and is spent on social programs like Social Security and Medicare – two things that old people desperately depend on. If Musk has his druthers, Social Security and Medicare budgets could be reduced by one third. The government may pay less, but elderly Americans will pay more.

Meanwhile, men voted against women, the Center for Reproductive Rights sheds light on how. Trump and his allies intend to roll back reproductive rights across the nation. 17 states have already restricted or banned abortion, and under Trump’s presidency, the number is likely only to grow.

Immigrants voted against the best interests as well, if Trump’s “mass deportation” plan is to be considered. Trump spent a large majority of his time on the campaign trail railing against immigrants, saying that undocumented migrants were “poisoning the blood” the country in a chilling echo of Nazi blood-purity sentiments of old. While some immigrants who are now U.S. citizens will likely see themselves as safe, Trump’s anti-immigrant language has caused deep cultural damage, and will likely place immigrants under threat of violence, no matter their legal status.

As this user points out, politics and logic are not bedfellows. It wasn’t logic that convinced poor and working class Americans to vote for Trump, considering that Trump’s tax plan will raise taxes on every American save the richest 5%. Trump’s tariff plan will cause similar economic turmoil, and corporate executives around the country have said the plan will cause the price of goods to significantly rise.

How did Trump manage to pull off this Houdini act of disappearing economic benefits and human rights? This user has the TLDR answer: propaganda.

It was propaganda that convinced Trump voters, including those who dedicate their lives to enforcing the law, to vote for a convicted felon and rapist. Trump’s propaganda machine continually twisted fact and laid blame, leading much of his base to believe that Trump was an innocent victim of political persecution. Trump was also successfully able to convince his base that should a Democrat win the presidency, their rights would be next in line on the chopping block. Trump’s election win is one of the biggest political bait-and-switches of all time, and many of his voters still don’t understand they’ve been fooled.