2025 |
Not-so-strange bedfellows: MAGA, Pseudo-science
2025
Perplexity.ai replied after an analysis of 58 sources.
The correlation between MAGA support and pseudoscientific beliefs appears to be significant, with several overlapping characteristics between the two phenomena.
Shared Characteristics
Belief-Dependent Realism: MAGA supporters and pseudoscience adherents both demonstrate belief-dependent realism, where understanding is based on faith rather than empirical observation. This manifests in the MAGA movement through unwavering devotion to Trump despite contradictions or controversies.
Information Control and Echo Chambers: Both groups tend to restrict information sources and reject mainstream viewpoints. MAGA supporters often rely exclusively on certain media outlets like Fox News or OANN while dismissing alternative perspectives.
Similarly, pseudoscience is characterized by selective filtering of information that reinforces a particular worldview.
Resistance to Scrutiny: A defining trait of pseudoscience is imperviousness to critical examination, which parallels the MAGA movement's resistance to self-reflection, particularly regarding claims about the 2020 election. Approximately 70% of Republicans continue to assert that Biden was not legitimately elected despite evidence to the contrary.
Us vs. Them Mentality: Both groups foster divisive thinking. The MAGA movement frequently portrays "elites," the "deep state," and "liberals" as enemies, while pseudoscience adherents often view the scientific establishment as part of a conspiracy against them.
Specific Examples
MAHA (Make America Healthy Again): RFK Jr.'s coalition, which emerged from the MAGA movement, has been described as "a cargo cult science" that mimics scientific processes without understanding core principles. This group promotes pseudoscientific health claims including:
• Unfounded theories about autism rates
Promotion of extreme diets (like "steak and salt")
• Support for unproven treatments like ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine
Cult-Like Characteristics: The MAGA movement has been analyzed using cult assessment frameworks. According to Steven Hassan's "BITE" model (Behavior, Information, Thought, and Emotional control), MAGA checks all the boxes of cult mind control. This includes restricting information, demanding purity of belief, and appealing to followers through primal emotions.
QAnon Connection: QAnon, which has significant overlap with MAGA, has been described as a "big tent conspiracy movement" that incorporates various pseudoscientific beliefs including flat earth theories and government conspiracy theories. This movement demonstrates how political ideology, religious belief, and conspiracism can intertwine.
The correlation suggests that both phenomena may appeal to similar psychological tendencies, including confirmation bias, pattern-seeking, and the desire for simple explanations to complex problems.
The correlation between MAGA support and pseudoscientific beliefs appears to be significant, with several overlapping characteristics between the two phenomena.
Shared Characteristics
Belief-Dependent Realism: MAGA supporters and pseudoscience adherents both demonstrate belief-dependent realism, where understanding is based on faith rather than empirical observation. This manifests in the MAGA movement through unwavering devotion to Trump despite contradictions or controversies.
Information Control and Echo Chambers: Both groups tend to restrict information sources and reject mainstream viewpoints. MAGA supporters often rely exclusively on certain media outlets like Fox News or OANN while dismissing alternative perspectives.
Similarly, pseudoscience is characterized by selective filtering of information that reinforces a particular worldview.
Resistance to Scrutiny: A defining trait of pseudoscience is imperviousness to critical examination, which parallels the MAGA movement's resistance to self-reflection, particularly regarding claims about the 2020 election. Approximately 70% of Republicans continue to assert that Biden was not legitimately elected despite evidence to the contrary.
Us vs. Them Mentality: Both groups foster divisive thinking. The MAGA movement frequently portrays "elites," the "deep state," and "liberals" as enemies, while pseudoscience adherents often view the scientific establishment as part of a conspiracy against them.
Specific Examples
MAHA (Make America Healthy Again): RFK Jr.'s coalition, which emerged from the MAGA movement, has been described as "a cargo cult science" that mimics scientific processes without understanding core principles. This group promotes pseudoscientific health claims including:
• Unfounded theories about autism rates
Promotion of extreme diets (like "steak and salt")
• Support for unproven treatments like ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine
Cult-Like Characteristics: The MAGA movement has been analyzed using cult assessment frameworks. According to Steven Hassan's "BITE" model (Behavior, Information, Thought, and Emotional control), MAGA checks all the boxes of cult mind control. This includes restricting information, demanding purity of belief, and appealing to followers through primal emotions.
QAnon Connection: QAnon, which has significant overlap with MAGA, has been described as a "big tent conspiracy movement" that incorporates various pseudoscientific beliefs including flat earth theories and government conspiracy theories. This movement demonstrates how political ideology, religious belief, and conspiracism can intertwine.
The correlation suggests that both phenomena may appeal to similar psychological tendencies, including confirmation bias, pattern-seeking, and the desire for simple explanations to complex problems.
