In Reply to: Re: It’s a massive cult. I have no other explanation* posted by russsmith on September 23, 2026 at 11:44:37
understanding what's going on with the right is "kayfabe":
kayfabe (American )
[kay-fayb] / ˈkeɪ feɪb /noun
1. Wrestling. the portrayal of staged events, narratives, and characters as real.
2. an elaborate, performative fiction.
If you're not into wrestling, you can only see what's going on as a bunch of people who believe in something that's not real and are stupid enough to get duped over and over again. But in the world of wrestling, that agreed upon illusion is the key ingredient that makes the whole thing work. And it's not just something that is delineated by the performance in the ring (or whatever it's called in wrestling)-- it extends into forming a whole narrative outside of the performance, and becomes a bit of a world building.
It's not an accident that Trump has such close connections to wrestling, It's not a coincidence that wrestling is something very popular in MAGA or that they had a WWE event outside the White House to celebrate the 250th. This is part of their operating system, so to speak, which is why telling them that something they believe is not true or giving them facts or telling that Trump has been lying to them all along. At a deep level, I think a lot of them fully understand that. But they are entertained. They are happy to live in that make believe world and telling them that they're believing in something that's not real, I think only means that you don't get it.
Maybe there's an additional layer to this. Maybe that person you're arguing with actually completely believes what she's saying. But at some level, this kayfabe thing is a factor here in some form.