![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/21\/2025\/07\/7EC7582C-1429-4D64-B216-D30F2C8F3002-300x200.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nWhy \u201cMake America Great Again?\u201d Don\u2019t get my question wrong. I put \u201cMAGA\u201d and \u201cMake America Great Again\u201d in quotation marks because by them I refer to the movement, not the general hope of most Americans. Why the specific contemporary movement with Donald Trump at is head? Why are so many Americans passionate about it and so invested in it?<\/p>\n
I have read and watched\/listened to many attempted explanations. Most of them have part of the truth. Few capture all of it.<\/p>\n
Of course, intelligent, reasonable MAGA partners, people associated with the movement, would say the reason for it is the general left-leaning drive of Democrats and others to make America weak, vulnerable, too inclusive, morally relative, and \u201cwoke.\u201d<\/p>\n
I think there is more to it than that.<\/p>\n
As I study the MAGA mentality and movement I see people who are afraid of losing their status. What status? Privileged status in society. They hark back to a time when white men and women (mostly men) enjoyed a special privileged status in America. They fear they are losing that status; it is being taken away from them. Is that fear justified? Well, yes, to a certain extent. What I question is whether that fear justifies the reactions of MAGA and Trumpism. What reactions? Well, for one, hatred of \u201cMexicans,\u201d especially Spanish-speaking undocumented immigrants from south of the border, especially Central America and Venezuela. Much MAGA fear and hate is focused on them. Not so much because disposing of them is believed to restore white, male (and female) privilege and status but because MAGA people are just angry and fed up and need a scapegoat. Drawing any kind of line from illegal immigrants to loss of status and privilege by white, lower and middle class men (and women) is extremely difficult.<\/p>\n
Another reason for MAGA rage, however, is the sense of loss of American supremacy in the world. I believe it stems all the way back\/from the dismal end of the Vietnam War. Up through the failure of America\u2019s occupation and combination of Afghanistan. And our seeming helplessness to stop North Korea and other countries who call themselves our enemies and acquire or almost acquire weapons of mass destruction. America\u2019s role as the world\u2019s policeman and its role as the leader of a Pax Americana deeply discourages MAGA people. Who is to blame for it? Who stabbed America in the back? Liberals, of course.<\/p>\n
MAGA has one more cause, IMHO. People\u2019s dismay at the seemingly unstoppable rush toward moral depravity, moral \u201canything-goes-ness.\u201d Abortion, homosexuality, indecency in entertainment, leniency toward crime, etc. MAGA people see America as having become degenerate. It\u2019s not that they think Trump is an exception; it\u2019s that they think their \u201cin\u201d with Trump (e.g., conservative Christian leaders) will influence him to turn back the tide. Or at least appoint people, judges and others, who will contribute to that.<\/p>\n
I would not be so much against MAGA, the movement, the mentality, were it not for the cruelty I see many MAGA people either engaging in or supporting. What cruelty? Well, holding immigrant children indefinitely in what are basically concentration camp-style institutions, with little caring adult supervision. Separating immigrant, migrant families (as was seen on NBC Nightly News in California July 11, 2025). Deporting a whole family because the husband\/father is a terrorist, with no evidence or reason to believe any of the family\u2019s members knew of his plans. Wanting children, young people, who were born in the US and grew up here and are being educated here deported only because their parents are undocumented. (In a recent notorious case a citizen child was given a choice to either leave with his\/her mother or be separated with no supporting family left here.) Applauding the deportation to a mass prison in El Salvador of a man who had been given no-deportation protection by the government, leaving his pregnant wife here alone. Sending undocumented migrants to South Sudan even though their homes are somewhere in Latin America. I could go on.<\/p>\n
Cruelty is never justified. Reasonable, compassionate return to home countries is one thing; what is happening now is something entirely different. MAGA has some legitimate concerns, but it is a movement deeply infected with cruelty, unreasonable fear, hatred and even idolatrous nationalism. Christians ought to speak out against it. Too few are doing that.<\/p>\n
*Note: If you choose to comment, make sure your comment is relatively brief (no more than 100 words), on topic, addressed to me, civil and respectful (not hostile or argumentative), and devoid of pictures or links. Those how express disagreement with what I wrote must give reasons including evidence, and the disagreement must be civil and respectful in tone. Know that no one has a \u201cright\u201d for his or her comment to be published here. Also, this is NOT a discussion board!)<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Why \u201cMake America Great Again?\u201d Don\u2019t get my question wrong. I put \u201cMAGA\u201d and \u201cMake America Great Again\u201d in quotation marks because by them I refer to the movement, not the general hope of most Americans. Why the specific contemporary movement with Donald Trump at is head? Why are so many Americans passionate about it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":12806,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
Why \u201cMAGA?\u201d<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Why \u201cMake America Great Again?\u201d Don\u2019t get my question wrong. I put \u201cMAGA\u201d and \u201cMake America Great Again\u201d in quotation marks because by them I refer to the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2025\/07\/why-maga\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why \u201cMAGA?\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Why \u201cMake America Great Again?\u201d Don\u2019t get my question wrong. I put \u201cMAGA\u201d and \u201cMake America Great Again\u201d in quotation marks because by them I refer to the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2025\/07\/why-maga\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Roger E. Olson\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-07-12T20:52:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/21\/2025\/07\/7EC7582C-1429-4D64-B216-D30F2C8F3002.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"427\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Roger E. Olson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Roger E. Olson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2025\/07\/why-maga\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2025\/07\/why-maga\/\",\"name\":\"Why \u201cMAGA?\u201d\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-12T20:52:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-12T20:52:10+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/#\/schema\/person\/84d70594b349147e27843d59d5db8cca\"},\"description\":\"Why \u201cMake America Great Again?\u201d Don\u2019t get my question wrong. I put \u201cMAGA\u201d and \u201cMake America Great Again\u201d in quotation marks because by them I refer to the\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2025\/07\/why-maga\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2025\/07\/why-maga\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2025\/07\/why-maga\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Why \u201cMAGA?\u201d\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/\",\"name\":\"Roger E. Olson\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/#\/schema\/person\/84d70594b349147e27843d59d5db8cca\",\"name\":\"Roger E. Olson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6fe30530b483e239a4ca15ef464a5902?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6fe30530b483e239a4ca15ef464a5902?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Roger E. Olson\"},\"description\":\"Roger E. Olson is Emeritus Professor of Christian Theology at Baylor University where he held the Foy Valentine Chair in Christian Ethics and taught Christian Theology from 1999 to 2021. He is the author of over twenty book including The Story of Christian Theology and The Journey of Modern Theology (both published by InterVarsity Press).\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/author\/rogereolson\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why \u201cMAGA?\u201d","description":"Why \u201cMake America Great Again?\u201d Don\u2019t get my question wrong. I put \u201cMAGA\u201d and \u201cMake America Great Again\u201d in quotation marks because by them I refer to the","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2025\/07\/why-maga\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Why \u201cMAGA?\u201d","og_description":"Why \u201cMake America Great Again?\u201d Don\u2019t get my question wrong. I put \u201cMAGA\u201d and \u201cMake America Great Again\u201d in quotation marks because by them I refer to the","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2025\/07\/why-maga\/","og_site_name":"Roger E. Olson","article_published_time":"2025-07-12T20:52:10+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":427,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/21\/2025\/07\/7EC7582C-1429-4D64-B216-D30F2C8F3002.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Roger E. Olson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Roger E. Olson","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2025\/07\/why-maga\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2025\/07\/why-maga\/","name":"Why \u201cMAGA?\u201d","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-07-12T20:52:10+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-12T20:52:10+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/#\/schema\/person\/84d70594b349147e27843d59d5db8cca"},"description":"Why \u201cMake America Great Again?\u201d Don\u2019t get my question wrong. I put \u201cMAGA\u201d and \u201cMake America Great Again\u201d in quotation marks because by them I refer to the","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2025\/07\/why-maga\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2025\/07\/why-maga\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2025\/07\/why-maga\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Why \u201cMAGA?\u201d"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/","name":"Roger E. Olson","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/#\/schema\/person\/84d70594b349147e27843d59d5db8cca","name":"Roger E. Olson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6fe30530b483e239a4ca15ef464a5902?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6fe30530b483e239a4ca15ef464a5902?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Roger E. Olson"},"description":"Roger E. Olson is Emeritus Professor of Christian Theology at Baylor University where he held the Foy Valentine Chair in Christian Ethics and taught Christian Theology from 1999 to 2021. He is the author of over twenty book including The Story of Christian Theology and The Journey of Modern Theology (both published by InterVarsity Press).","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/author\/rogereolson\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/58"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12803\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/21\/2025\/07\/7EC7582C-1429-4D64-B216-D30F2C8F3002.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n