Father Grieves 'Losing' Autistic Son to Trump's MAGA Brand: 'Feels Ironic'

A father complained to The Guardian on Monday, August 12, 2024, that he 'lost' his beloved son to Donald Trump's MAGA movement. The 21-year-old Nick (not his real name) was a traditionalist, a conservationist, who followed MAGA ideologies. However, being a progressive himself, the father had frequent political differences with his son, which led to a broken bond. 

"He was a sweet kid," said the father (who also kept his identity under wraps). "He was really quiet. He's on the upper end of the autism spectrum, so he can have difficulty interpreting social cues. All he wanted to do was follow whatever the big kids were doing." Speaking about his son's personality, the man added, "He can't tolerate cruelty to animals or people who are vulnerable, which feels ironic, given his politics now." 

But, it wasn't always like this. As the father, who is also a special education teacher, explained, Nick had a rather liberal upbringing growing up: "I remember going to a demonstration against Halliburton, the Iraq war, and Dick Cheney's role in the company. and we rolled Nick along in his stroller. That was the community we were plugged into- artists, musicians, teachers, writers. That's how Nick came up." 

Until one day, Nick mingled with older kids at school who were into building computers, hacking, and the dark web. That's when he was exposed to the extreme right-wing message boards. To supposedly emulate the popular kids in desperate need of acceptance, Nick began echoing their messages and around the same time, he discovered ex-president Trump and the MAGA campaign. 

The father added, "He was 15 or 16 when he said that he liked Trump. I can understand how Trump appealed to a childish sensibility: he's this clownish figure who does whatever he wants." Additionally, he clarified, that he's never been a 'macho' man, a trait that Trump and his campaign promote in men: "To me, our biggest responsibility as humans is to look after each other. For me, manhood is all about using your energy to make life better for the person next to you."

Another critic of MAGA, former Rep. Denver Riggleman, was among the high-profile names who were on board to endorse Kamala Harris for the 2024 presidential nominee. In his explanation, he cited the example of the Jan 6. Capitol Riots when a violent mob attacked the building in an attempt to overturn the 2020 elections. 

Riggleman, a Republican who was previously endorsed by Trump in two separate campaigns, broke away with him over the Capitol Hill riots, citing, "I've seen the data from Jan 6. Trump & his minions are dangerous." Meanwhile, he said Trump's "MAGA extremism is toxic to the millions of Republicans who no longer believe the party of Donald Trump represents their values and will vote against him again in November," as per The Hill. Nick's father echoed Riggleman, saying now that his son has Trump followers as his friends, they feed him notions like poor people are 'parasites,' including his parents who aren't wealthy so he thinks they are just 'lazy, stupid hippies.'