this post was submitted on 07 Sep 2025
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Ye Power Trippin' Bastards
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I hate to be defending a .ml user, and Diva of all people, but you asked so here you go:
All of this is going to get an anti-trans Democrat like Gavin Newsom elected to office. This is what people mean when they say 'Blue MAGA'. It follows the exact same "cult of personality" populist playbook as MAGA.
I would have to very much disagree that this is equivalent to:
I'm not a party line supporter by any stretch, but equating what you posted against... This nonsense... is, at best, misleading.
More accurately though, its outright disinformation to encourage people to believe an equivalence in the cult behavior that just doesnt exist.
I will happily change my mind when I see something remotely similar to the randomly selected images that come up immediately in the results that I just posted.
Until then, "blue maga" is just nonsense.
'shut up and vote blue if you know what's good for you, minorities'
I see a flag for Ukraine, the american flag, etc.
I don't see a picture of Newsom's face on a giant flag. I see the kind of banner thats been getting hung on an overpass for half a century.
I can't comprehend how you think those pictures look remotely the same.
I also don't appreciate the bonus made up racism you decided to add in there.
Edit:
Just to be clear, is this palestinian maga?
Because it just looks like people supporting the Gazans to me. Your "bluemaga" example looks remarkably similar. Can you clarify?
the sign they're flying says 'newsom's [dick] is bigger ' totally normal political messaging and nothing cult-like.
the trump overpass and the newsom overpass are both flying gadsten flags too, pretty much exclusively a right wing libertarian thing flown by chuds.
I agree thats weird, but its specifically related to what has been annoying Trump of late. Less about Newsom and more about trolling Trump.
Which I absolutely agree is weird messaging, btw. I hate this.
Thats not actually a gadsden flag though, if thats the one I'm thinking of. Note the extra text on top, that flag is poking fun at the gadsden flag wavers.
it's so fucking weird, I hate it too
I think that's just a Gadsden flag, libs have been talking about 'reclaiming' it for months
Sweet milky cheeses that is disturbing. Contextually, clearly a response to Trump's use of AI, but what a shit choice of imagery....
What I'm afraid of is not "blue maga", which I will stand behind my statement of "does not exist". Still not remotely hitting that maga territory.
No, what I'm afraid of is this style of messaging taking over politics for the future to come. Where it isn't about what the actual policies are, but memes and trolling bullshit.
I think the case I would make is that they are definitely emulating trumps style because they think it will help them 'win' same type of triangulation they always do.
we can set 'blue maga' aside as we're probably not going to agree on that, but there's absolutely a contingent of Democrats who see restricting trans medical care as a nonpartisan issue that they can work with Republicans on.
what worries me is how quickly they jumped to finding compromise positions with Republicans, at the expense of minorities who are expected to then vote for them or they get called 'pro Trump's as I so often get accused of.
I would agree that is Newsom's approach, and potentially the party leaders (though I think they are also incapable of doing it well, but thats a whole separate matter).
Edited to add: Btw, this is why I'm worried about the policy>soundbites>memes transition. Its going to lead to exactly the type of "fascist-friendly" compromises you're referring to, imo.
Definitely agree to disagree :)
And disturbingly damn true.
I will say I agree with both here, depending on timing. If we're talking at the general election - yes, a protest vote is fundamentally a pro-Trump vote. This is entirely a FPTP created problem, where the choice is between two dogshit options.
If we had proportional representation, ranked choice, approval, score, whatever, elections in the USA would be in a much better position for a whole host of reasons, but mostly because we wouldn't have this A/B restriction.
Before even any primary has happened? No, screw that, rip into them. Replace them with someone better if possible. Thats what I've been working toward with the WFP, the only 3rd party near me with anyone actually trying to run. Didn't work out last election but I'll keep trying.
Which was a long-winded and rambling way of saying - when it comes to FPTP, timing is important, and protest votes can be effectively a vote for the (much, much, much) worse option.
I do get the issue with FPTP, I wish we had something to break the stasis. I am in a blue state, some of our federal reps run un-opposed and it gives me a jaded outlook on electoral participation; the result has always been a forgone conclusion in my state since as long as I've been of voting age.
I usually vote third party as a vote of no confidence, but then people act like this is some battleground where you're literally the enemy if you don't vote the right way
Especially running unopposed, I entirely understand a protest vote. I do think too often everyone assumes everything is a battleground, to me the biggest concern is strategy. I absolutely loathe the "part time candidates" like Jill Stein for the record, who only ever shows up at election time, and does absolutely nothing outside of election years. Just grifters wrapped in a different color imo.
I also think too often people who live in a "safe state" underestimate just how much of a battleground others can be though, which is why I'm not a fan of considering all democrats to be the same either. The leadership sucks, and so, so, so many of the long-standing elected representatives do, but using the "D" next to your name under the current structure of voting is substantially beneficial, and fracturing the vote with a third party in a local/state/federal election by competing on who can be more progressive is flirting with the risk of losing out entirely to regressive fascists, which also really sucks for us.
I just hope we avoid the accelerationist timelines, which I think will be far more horrifying than most people realize. Maybe its from me visiting places that have seen civil war and devastation, but I'm really hopeful that we never have to see that here (and still get rid of the fascists).
I don't like the green party either at this point, I liked Ralph Nader when he ran because he actually had a track record of being critical of the automobile industry. I definitely haven't voted for them since though.
I've had enough relatives live through civil war and famine to not want to find out about it either. I'd like to think that cooler heads prevail.
You tend to see it as much on Lemmy, but on Bluesky there is constantly people posting in support of Newsom as the presumptive nominee and yelling at any trans person they meet for not toeing the party line. The difference there is that the Democrats do have some folks, like Mamdani, that are clearly on the right side of history. But you have way more Schumer's that have absolutely zero conviction to call Trump out for what he's doing.
That doesn't make "blue maga" any more real though, nor does supporting Newsom (ew) in any way make them equivalent to the cult of maga.
I'm all for calling out the regressive policies and political figures who are clearly in the wrong on many topics, as well as pointing it out the truth to supporters, but I'm not into disinformation campaigns. That is the type of bullshit that got us here.
It fluffing does if you're trans!
I can only quote my trans friend/former coworker - "At least he isn't trying to have me killed".
I'm not here to debate Newsom, who I think sucks, his position on trans folks being one part of that. But again, calling him/his supporters equal to maga.... that I cannot do.
From the perspective of an Australian, where the Democrats would be considered right-wing, I just fail to see the distinction. If you want more information, go look on Bluesky.
I don't do bluesky, but I absolutely agree dems are right of center. The difference though is like saying "Drive east for 2 hours" and "drive east for 5 hours, catch a plane for a 4 hour flight, then drive another 2 hours".
Both terrible. One option is drastically worse though. There is a massive difference in policy (for the record, inclusive of the safety of trans folks) between the two, and it absolutely matters in FPTP elections. Unfortunately genocide isn't a major differentiator... Which is why we need to get away from FPTP, which is how we've gotten Mamdani on the ticket, NYC mayoral race is ranked choice. This is completely atypical unfortunately.
You don't have this problem in Australia, thankfully.
Also, there is zero equivalence in the images as shared. So I will continue to call out "blue maga" for what it is. Nonsense.
I'm not a member of those oppressed groups in the US that are aggrieved so I simply cannot put it eloquently. I really do implore you to go and read their stories. If not on Bluesky, there are other spaces. From where I'm standing though, it's pretty clear they aren't doing anywhere near enough to fight back against the complete destruction of institutions and the violation of the rights of millions of people and citizens.
My friend I mentioned is one of them.
She just moved this past winter, after more than 10 years of where she was. It was a purple city, she mostly felt that people accepted her or just ignored her if they didn't. When Trump became president in 2016, she felt uncomfortable as the ones who didn't accept her became more outspoken.
Those same people have become far worse, by February she told me she felt afraid at night. Terrified of walking alone, terrified of living alone, as the people who once ignored her started making absolutely awful comments. She became afraid that she would be beaten or worse.
She has since moved to a blue state in a blue city.
We agree, they aren't doing enough. The part I don't think you're understanding is that "not enough" is better than "beaten and maybe dead". With FPTP, we get two choices - shitty or horrifying. Suggesting that someone shouldn't vote for shitty because they could be better, and letting the outright horrifying come into power, that is completely unacceptable.
So you fight for better before the general elections. You work to see RCV (or other options, RCV just has the most behind it right now) provide better opportunity, or to get someone better in a primary.
Once its election time, though, you pick from the options you have. Protest voting in a risky town/district/county/state is may just make that horrifying person you do not want in get the win - its literally risking lives. We're seeing that right now with how the Trump admin, and the emboldened bigots, behave.
So, please understand that people who say "vote blue no matter who" are not saying "We can't do better!", but instead "We don't want people killed or put into concentration camps".
Just so you know, I chatted with my friend last night, and her direct response was - again - "They suck but they aren't trying to kill me, you know?". Personally, I'd rather her have a story to tell than to be disappeared or killed. She agrees, which is why she has worked with campaigns before and will continue to.
You can't make things better if you're dead.
I don't think most of the people talking about Blue MAGA think that they are currently in total control of the party the way that Trumpians are. I'd say it's closer to something like the Tea Party during the Obama years. It's the start of things, the pushing in the wrong direction, the cult of personality coalescing around people like Newsom, the abandonment of the fight for LGBTQ+ and especially trans rights. Heck, even things like doing absolutely nothing when they had the numbers to enshrine federal protections for Trans rights.
I think where the communication issue between you and I is coming from is you think I'm doing the "both sides are exactly the same" schtick. But what I'm talking about is other aspects. Yes, some policy stuff which is concerningly fascistic in nature, the march ever towards the right. But moreso the populism, the blind faith, and the lack of conviction for any meaningful message other than "we're not them".
I guess some of that has always been the case though. It's always been wild to me how party politics work in the US. The diehard nature of partisanship. Over here, no one outside of party members themselves has so much faith in any one party. Even the fact you have to declare voting intentions when you register is absolutely insane to me, it feels like such a massive violation of the secret ballot. But I guess that's what happens when you can vote third-party and still pick "the lesser of two evils" at the same time.
The problem is, the nonsensical "blue maga" is creating a false equivalence, railing against people saying "Vote Blue No Matter Who" does, in fact, push the "both sides" narrative. I get that you aren't intending it that way, but that is absolutely what people will read out of it, its what people do read out of it. There are magas picking up on it and reading it as "So clearly its fine for us, they do it too!"
So forget the politics itself for a second and look at the difference between what I posted and what you posted (even include what Diva posted). There is a drastic difference between the cult around Trump - people literally wrapping their cars, homes, even themselves in "TRUMP!" - and "Here are some stickers and shirts with no name on them" or even "Here's a random banner with Newsom's name on it, but explicitly making a reference to upset Trump".
These are nowhere near the same thing. Even this:
I would say is wrong. I don't think you're seeing a cult of personality around him, more accurate would be people rallying behind Newsom because he is doing more than others to directly work against Trump and the fascist administration. He sure as hell isn't anyone I'd want running the country either, but when it comes down to it...
"We're not them" is unfortunately still too important. Not losing to fascists is far too important.
I think what you're seeing as a cult of personality around Newsom is a view skewed by media presentation (inclusive of here on Lemmy). My friend, for example, still uses instagram and all the other corpo nonsense out there - an entirely separate discussion - and will regularly share his posts and memes. I can tell you exactly what she'd say about him too, "He's a complete twat waffle". So why does she share it, why does she say "Vote Blue"?
Its directly related to this. She has such little faith in the Democrats, and so do I, about so many things. What we are sure of though is that any Republican win goes toward a speed run in the wrong direction.
A complete lack of proportional representation, FPTP rather than score/rcv/whatever, this is the core problem. Without this being resolved, strategic voting is key.
Undermining it with something that broadcasts as "Look they are the same!!" is just disincentivizing progressive voters, creating apathy, and effectively pushing for a Republican win. Lets be clear here - there is zero opportunity for a new party to spring up for the next general election or even midterms and have any degree of success. Even getting on a ballot as a third party can be a nightmare, even worse to get recognized as one, state-dependent.
It would be great if that were an option here.
It isn't (yet). And if republicans stay in power, it likely won't be ever - just look at how Trump was pushing for redistricting to gerrymander their way to additional control.
So when I see "bluemaga", yeah, it pisses me off. In no way, shape, or form is "Vote Blue No Matter Who" remotely close to the cult that is maga, and there are reasons why people say to vote blue. For people I care about, its about survival. Still hardship that they do not deserve and should never have experienced in the first place, but they will survive to fight for better.
To me, that is far too important.