By Nada Ling

Note: The term Blue MAGA refers to the tribal ideology of the Democratic Party – a mirror opposite of Red MAGA which dominates today’s Republican Party.

Americans watched in horror, the first 2024 presidential debate between two old men, Joseph Biden (age 81) and Donald Trump (age 78). Particularly for President Biden, his incoherent performance is a stark reminder that Father Time is undefeated. Many of his Democratic supporters must have the sinking feeling of watching a slow-motion train crash. 

The real shock from the debate isn’t that President Biden exhibits noticeable signs of cognitive decline. This has been evident in the past months in various gatherings. The true horror and more insidious, is how the mainstream media (MSM) never critically questioned Biden’s cognitive health and his mental fitness for the next four years if elected. On the contrary, when clips of President Biden’s odd behaviors go viral on the internet, the MSM simply dismissed them as a right-wing conspiracy. 

This blue MAGA bubble, enabled by the media and tribal ideology of the Democratic Party, was instantly and completely shattered by the Presidential debate when it was televised live and unfiltered. At a fundamental level, this Democratic delusion is no different from the red MAGA bubble that the MSM often ascribe to fervent Trump supporters Trump who only engage news sources that are in blind agreement with their world views. 

The red MAGA bloc is often described as “low information” voters who don’t know all the facts and are prone to conspiracies. For example, the ‘stolen election’ falsehood repeated by Trump is proven to be not substantiated in a court of law. However, on the other side of the political spectrum, just how “highly informed” is the blue MAGA bloc if their sources of information apply all kinds of ideological filters and gatekeepers? 

Simply put, blue MAGA is the other side of the red MAGA coin. In today’s highly politicized objectivity-be-damned America, it is a feature, not a bug.

While at it, let’s list other important issues in recent years that the blue MAGA tribe has been misinformed, misled, or outright lied to.

  • Meritocracy matters. Universities made standardized SAT/ACT tests optional in the last few years and they found out the hard way that meritocracy matters. Many top schools have reinstated test requirements. This really needs not to be said and should not take years to figure out. Meritocracy is the fundamental force that truly makes America great; it is what drives innovation and creativity. The push for better equality must not do so at the expense of undermining meritocracy. While the goal of DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) is laudable, it should not become a rigid ideology. Its failure is predictable once it morphs into a stifling litmus test. 
  • Objectivity matters. This is exemplified by a complete meltdown in the Covid origin coverage where objectivity reporting was nowhere to be found. The lab leak hypothesis was labeled a racist right-wing conspiracy in 2020. Only four years later the New York Times finally was willing to publish an op-ed stating it is actually the likely origin. Moreover, it was the Biden Whitehouse that blocked a bipartisan push for a pandemic review. Millions died from COVID-19, yet we have no curtailment on dangerous gain-of-function experiments and no reform on future pandemic responses. This only deepens distrust in the government.
  • Same tariff policy, differences in labeling. Both Trump and Biden imposed tariffs on Chinese imports, Trump’s policy was labeled as “isolationism” while Biden’s was “de-risking from China.” The ease of throwing labels isn’t good for an honest debate and much-needed trade policy reforms.
  • Conflating legal and illegal Immigration distorts discourse. President Biden just issued an executive order last month restricting asylum requests after record-high illegal border crossings; he could have issued this order years earlier. Let’s be frank, Biden’s move is as cynical as Trump tabling a bipartisan bill for immigration reform. Both sides are playing this issue to increase the chance of re-election. America was, is and hopefully will remain a nation of immigrants, but it is best to do so in a legal manner. But the blue MAGA bloc is quick to label anyone voicing concerns with the level of illegal crossings as racist and anti-immigrant. The irony is, of course, the Democrats were also against illegal immigration merely a decade ago. Ideology blinds common sense.
  • Defund the police, a big-time blue MAGA fail. Let’s reform policing to minimize the abuse of power, but the call to defund the police was utterly detached from reality and predictably failed. Rising crimes drive voters to the Republican Party, an exact opposite outcome from the blue MAGA extremism. 
  • Quality of life issues truly matter. Shopliftings are no longer prosecuted in blue states such as California. Store aisles for toothpaste and cold medicine are locked down to prevent theft. This is NOT normal, even in third-world nations. So-called “petty crimes” are as much a quality-of-life issue to voters as violent crimes. Such blue MAGA initiatives are not just bad policies but also bad politics. This is why despite former President Trump being a convicted felon and flawed character, his chance of winning the election is high in 2024. The saying that “all politics is local” seems to escape the mindset of blue MAGA politicians.

As America celebrates its Independence Day on July 4th, it is a useful reminder that a great legacy of President George Washington, among many, was that he chose retirement instead of seeking more terms. President Biden can still leave a good legacy if he steps aside, and push for an open convention in August selecting his replacement. The new presidential candidate would win the election against Trump if s/he adopted a set of moderate policies. 

Then again, to paraphrase Warren Buffett, “Investing is simple but not easy” and so is politics. To truly remove information bubbles of both political extremes may require a fundamental reset of American politics that values common sense above tribal ideology.