MAGA is stealing food from someone you love
Verbs matter. SNAP isn't lapsing, MAGA is deliberately taking food from the mouths of children and we need to start using that language
Friends,
I haven’t talked in a while about how we talk. The reality is overwhelming enough, and being picky about our words seems like a small thing. But it truly isn’t. The way we talk with each other bleeds into the way we talk with “civilians” in our lives. So let’s talk about what to say and what not to say, how to frame issues and what to avoid.
MAGA has engineered this shutdown to normalize the complete shutdown of the government and destruction of programs that the regime doesn’t like; ie programs that help Americans. In its consolidation of power, this shutdown is a tool, rather than a problem they have any interest in solving.
The point is to increase peoples’ pain so that the regime can consolidate power more quickly. The regime wants to make the private sector and states try to fill the gaps in order to feed people who need it. The beauty, from the perspective of the sociopathic MAGA/Project 2025 folks, is that if we succeed in feeding our neighbors, they can prove that the program was never necessary in the first place and kill it forevermore. And if we can’t manage to feed the people the regime plans to starve, well, the hunger, cruelty, and pain itself is a net positive.
In the richest country in the history of the world, the billionaires are choosing to starve the children rather than fulfill their side of the social contract.
So….in addition to helping fund food banks and feed hungry people, we need to be precise about how we talk about the situation.
Use the active voice: MAGA is doing something to someone and we need to call it out.
As I was watching
talking with at , Anat reminded me (actually everyone listening) of something incredibly important. SNAP benefits aren’t lapsing. They’re not expiring. They’re not going away. MAGA is actively stopping a program that feeds children and the elderly.We have to make clear to place the blame where it belongs—at the feet of MAGA, the Broligarchy and the wealthy few…who bully and starve the rest of us to build their increasingly overstuffed wallets.
We also need to personalize the pain that our neighbors will be facing. In another campaign that Anat worked on, they used the phrase “someone you love….” as a way to personalize the problem to people who weren’t directly affected. So…we could say “Someone you love may have to put their kids to bed hungry…." or “Someone you love might not have enough to eat..” This personalizes the situation and is much more effective than talking about millions of kids that might be hungry. One person is a tragedy…millions are faceless statistics.
Here’s a full message that combines all the things we need to say. We don’t need to use all the parts, all the time, but it can give us guidelines about how to talk about MAGA cruelty:
No matter what we look like or where we call home, or what’s in our wallets, most of us would do whatever it takes to feed our families. But right now as Trump bulldozes our White House to build his Throne Room, SOMEONE YOU LOVE could go hungry because this MAGA regime and the corporate cowards who support them are stealing food from our families, while they cut our healthcare, raise our prices, and abduct our neighbors. By joining together we can ensure that all our families are fed, and FREE AMERICA from rule by the bullies for the billionaires.
Sadly, institutional Democratic leaders haven’t clocked the fact that words matter, that we must go on the offensive and that they need to connect with us, the grassroots, who are looking for some electeds to lead the way, like we elected them to do.
So—we’ll have to be the leaders we seek.
COMING UP THE WEEK OF NOVEMBER 3:
Freedom Over Fascism is now LIVE twice a week, with a video quickly to follow and an audio podcast swiftly after that. We’re live most Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 1pm ET.
This week:
Monday, Nov 3, 11:00 am ET: Chronic Illness discussion with
.Tuesday Nov 4, 1:00 PM ET: Conversation with
of about creating community and this cultural and political moment.Wednesday, Nov 5, 1:00 PM ET: Solo live event…AMA. (I’m not interviewing anyone here because of the next item).
Wednesday, Nov 5, 2:00 PM ET: I’m a guest on
to discuss whatever they ask me.Friday, Nov 7, 12:30 PM ET: Anti-fascist Book Club with
, including of discussing On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder.Saturday, Nov 8. Breathe.
