[Writer's Note: This is an open letter to MAGA. Acknowledging that MAGA supporters typically do not engage with content longer than social media posts, this piece is offered in the hope that someone who cares about a MAGA supporter may read it and help bridge a communication gap that has proven extraordinarily difficult to close.]

Dear MAGA,

Over the past decade, I have attempted to reach you through numerous approaches. Despite the hostility you have directed toward me and others who vote for Democrats, I remain deeply interested in understanding the groupthink mentality you use as a defensive barrier against uncomfortable truths regarding Donald Trump.

A recent experience within my own social circle prompted me to reconsider my strategy. I consulted someone well outside the group — my mother — who opened her response with: "As an outsider who's just making an observation, this is what it looks like to me."

The specific topic of that conversation is irrelevant here. What mattered was her deliberate framing, designed to prepare me to hear a perspective different from the one I was hoping for. I understood she was about to give me advice I would not welcome. That did not make her wrong or unkind. It made her someone positioned outside the situation who could perceive what I could not. She did not ultimately change my mind, but she did compel me to pause before deciding how to proceed.

I recognize this may strain credibility given my Twitter history — particularly since Trump blocked me in August 2015 and has never reversed that decision — but I write this as someone genuinely attempting to help, having observed the MAGA movement from an unusually close vantage point throughout its existence.

Having endured severe cyberharassment from MAGA supporters during the 2016 campaign, I consider myself uniquely positioned to address your behavior. Those among you who identify as "good Christians" provided this Jewish woman with ample cause to withhold forgiveness.

What fundamentally occurred was this: Trump granted implicit permission when you began donning those red hats in 2016. Once you were permitted to redirect your grievances onto chosen scapegoats, Trump sustained your engagement through tactics such as shouting "FAKE NEWS!" whenever accurate information about him surfaced. This kept you tethered — and kept the grift operating.

You supported him for reasons that ultimately harmed you as much as anyone else. Some of you can acknowledge this. However, too many have not yet personally felt the consequences of his tariffs or his drastic reductions to the government agencies that maintain essential American functions. You expressed outrage that Barack Obama wore a tan suit while serving as president — a brief, manufactured uproar that consumed conservative media airtime in August 2014 — yet you remain unconcerned that Trump has dismantled Washington, D.C., and transformed the Oval Office into what could be described as the most ostentatious Hobby Lobby in Moscow.

I understand the human need for belonging, particularly if you have frequently felt isolated. Participation in MAGA provided acceptance for qualities that previously invited rejection. But all groupthink carries inherent risks, even within groups formed for legitimate purposes.

There is a reason the word "cult" provokes such strong reactions among you. It resonates because the behavioral parallels are present: the ideology revolves around extreme devotion to Trump, who leveraged social media to achieve a degree of influence approaching total compliance. As documented by researchers at institutions such as Bethune-Cookman University's Center for Spiritual Life, cults employ specific behavioral techniques to dismantle individual autonomy and establish social control. This framework helps explain the coordinated social media campaigns conducted by paid operatives who repeated identical falsehoods until sufficient numbers of you absorbed and amplified them.

Trump's strategy of overwhelming Democratic strategists succeeded in 2016 because the political landscape had never encountered anything resembling the MAGA online apparatus. The scope of that apparatus later became a matter of public record: the Mueller investigation and U.S. intelligence findings documented that coordinated networks of accounts — including those operated by foreign actors — amplified pro-Trump and anti-Clinton messaging across major platforms throughout the election cycle.

The most conspicuous illustration of this manipulation was, of course, January 6th. Many of you still decline to characterize it accurately, and Trump's pardons cannot alter the established facts of that day. On January 20, 2025, his first day back in office, Trump pardoned approximately 1,500 individuals charged in connection with the Capitol attack, including some convicted of assaulting law enforcement officers.

As someone observing from outside your circumstances, I will always interpret your behavior differently than you do. I perceive self-inflicted harm — whether or not you recognize it — and see no justification for continued sacrifice on behalf of someone who has demonstrated profound indifference toward you. Have you observed that he consistently deprives you of resources, primarily your money? According to the author's analysis, it costs the average American family in a Red State nearly $6,000 more annually to live than it did before Trump's tariffs were implemented.

The questions I posed in 2016, 2020, and 2024 remain pertinent:

Before Trump, would you have voted for a convicted felon?

Before Trump, would you have accepted someone with ties to Jeffrey Epstein as the GOP presidential nominee in 2012 instead of Mitt Romney?

Before Trump, would you have permitted anyone to fracture your family over political differences?

I cannot answer those questions for you, but I would prefer to believe you would not have done those things. Because you did not — before Trump.

I do not know how you will make amends to those you have harmed once Trump is no longer a factor. Because first, you will need to make amends to yourselves.

You were deceived, MAGA. You were subjected to harm, falsehoods, and exploitation, and I am genuinely sorry that happened to you. You inflicted pain on others because you did not recognize that your anger was actually directed at Trump for hurting you.

Once you arrive at that understanding, I hope you can begin to recover — along with the rest of us.

The original version of this commentary was published on Substack.