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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   2608 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for July 5, 2026

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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To the extent that it exists, where is the best place to get an intellectual/highbrow MAGA perspective that isn't merely anti-anti-Trump? The American Affairs publication, N.S. Lyons' substack, as well as Scott Greer and gummibear737's Twitter account, look to be good places to start. Michael Pettis is a name I frequently hear from people engaging in trade war apologetics. Any other person/publication worth checking out?

I consider myself a moderate country-club Republican sympathetic to Doug Burgum and Jeb Bush who wants the war on fracking to cease, though more of a reliable "hold my nose for Trump" type at that than a Lincoln Project/Bulwarker that isn't meaningfully conservative and is gung-ho on reflexively swallowing progressive tropes and validating the most extreme elements of the other side of the aisle. Being temporarily based in a blue-collar European town and seeing people cursorily reading the headlines of state-owned media while being unable to criticize Trump on his merits has made me inadvertently more sympathetic to him, with me making post-hoc rationalizations of untenable policies as they keep gish-galloping and I don't want to give them credit where it happens to stick.

I have seen MAGA defined by putting Trump over the party; if that’s accurate, you’ll have a hard time finding Trump-agnostic MAGA Republicans. I think that definition is probably a little uncharitable, and there is some constituency who have picked up the slogan without any strong feelings about the man.

The principled MAGA perspective derives from national self-interest. Defense, trade, foreign aid: Americans as a people are selling ourselves too cheap, and should act as a people to get a better deal.

For obvious reasons, this will not be very appealing to random Europeans.

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