Bryan José Rojas Galofre wanted to give his wife a lovely honeymoon to see the beach for the first time and perhaps a glimpse of President Donald Trump, whom she supports.
Their January 2025 road trip from Wisconsin to Miami, however, turned into a nightmare, according to the couple: Rojas, a Venezuelan immigrant whose wife and young children are U.S. citizens, was detained following a stop at a Trump hotel security checkpoint.
He spent more than three months in ICE custody in Florida. Rojas also faced accusations of gang affiliation; he says he feared being deported to El Salvador and lost his stable job and work permit. The family says they’ve lost their house and car, had to deplete Rojas’ 401(k) and are in debt.
“In the end, it was a bad decision,” Rojas, 34, said
“I’m his fan. I believe Trump is a good president,” she said. However, Zaragosa noted this political loyalty co-exists with the disappointment she feels over the months her husband spent in detention.
“What he is doing to migrants isn’t fair,” Zaragosa said of the president. “What happened to my family wasn’t fair.”
“I believe Trump is a good president” … but what he did specifically to “my family” is bad… chefs kiss level of schadenfreude this morning - topped off with a little Republican my abortion is the only good abortion level of hypocrisy.
What will it take for these morons to realize the unique horribleness of this administration?
When you can’t change these people after getting hit in the face with a brick - you have to admit - Hope for progress should be muted
This political bloc preys on particularly stupid people
“We’re innocent people that got caught in the dragnet, but it’ll work out and the dragnet is good” - every deluded Republican voter that still doesn’t realize this is exactly what they want.
“I never thought the leopards would eat MY face”
“But I mean I’m still going to support the leopard, obviously”
Nothing. Their egos are “protecting” them from having to admit that they support the man/movement that ruined their family’s life
Humans lived in tribes for millions of years. Tribalism is hard-coded into our brains.
An attack on the tribe is considered an attack on every individual within the tribe. Saying “Trump is racist” is an attack on everyone in the MAGA tribe and makes you an enemy of the tribe. Not someone to be trusted. Someone to fight back against.
Things that are obvious to anyone outside of the tribe won’t even be considered by anyone within the tribe. If there’s any doubt, the other members of the tribe will tell them “no, we aren’t racist, they are the racists!” The obvious thing becomes a lie and rejected.
Even when something impacts your life, you may think “well that was just a mistake” so you can continue feeling happy to be in the “good tribe”.
No one is good at questioning these things because we don’t want to think of ourselves as not all that much more evolved than apes. So we develop ideologies to paint over how we really think.
Are you able to question your tribe? What are the things that are obvious to anyone not in your tribe that you can’t consider?
Whose faces do the leopards you hang out with want to eat?
Thinking fast and slow.
Thinking with a tribal brain is thinking fast.
I think you confused a cult with tribes.
You can be in a tribe and not follow a cult.
MAGA is a cult that demands sacrifice without benefits.
I’m the fellow witchdoctor of my tribe. Would you like some Fentanyl?rhe
A cult is just one example of this pattern. Humans in groups will have a tendency to follow the same pattern whether it’s a political movement, religion, social media, criminal gangs, workplace department, or even a fandom. The person seen as the leader is not questioned, anyone that asks questions is ostracized, proving loyalty is rewarded. People will knowingly tell lies since that proves loyalty to the tribe. People will pretend to believe the lies since that’s also rewarded. With social media it gets really stupid since the reward is usually just a number beside a “like” icon.
When you go along with a lie long enough, you may start to believe it’s true.
You’re describing herding, which works on many mammals.
This also has a term.
A tribe is just a group. They don’t have to herd themselves, cult themselves, or lie to themselves.