RAISING A DAUGHTER IN THE AGE OF MAGA CHRISTIAN NATIONALISM
As I sit here on a late Saturday night, as winter is starting to creep into northeast Ohio, my house is finally quiet. My 13-year-old daughter just headed to her room to watch whatever it is kids watch on YouTube these days, as I’m left alone at my laptop with my thoughts, as I can’t help but wonder what her place in this country is going to look like if this MAGA Christian nationalism movement keeps rolling the way it has been.
I can’t stop myself from thinking about November 2026, about the hope that Democrats take back the House and at least attempt to put a guardrail in front of the Trump administration, because we can’t keep going like this. I’m careful, however, not to get too hopeful just to get let down.
Go back to JD Vance’s speeches leading up to the 2024 election. Go back to the comments made by the pastor at Pete Hegseth’s church. Listen to what they’re actually saying about women: that their place is in the home, in the kitchen, or in the delivery room.
And I’m supposed to tell my daughter she can be anything she wants in a country where people in power are openly pushing the idea that she shouldn’t?
Then there’s the guy at the top.
We have a president who bragged on tape about grabbing women without their consent, who thinks it’s hilarious to humiliate a woman reporter asking a valid question by calling her “piggy” or whatever other insult pops into his demented head in the moment. A guy whose public behavior would get most of us fired from our jobs in about five minutes, but somehow qualifies him to be the leader of the free world.
When I was a kid, I grew up thinking it was normal for a child to look up to the president, which I did. You didn’t have to agree with every policy, but there was at least some expectation of dignity. Now we’ve got a president who acts like a middle school bully with a social media account, except he’s older, a narcissist, and probably wearing diapers while he’s doing it.
Just the other day, he referred to former vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz as “retarded.” That’s not a slip-up. That’s who he is. That’s the language he uses. That’s what his base cheers for.
I don’t even have the energy to list all his childish antics that his MAGA base celebrates and claims “that’s what I voted for”. The list is too long, and I don’t have that kind of time.
What’s really sad is how many people didn’t give two shits about politics until Trump came along and started speaking their language: stupidity and hate. Suddenly, people who never knew the first thing about policy are experts on “the deep state”.
This MAGA base, however, doesn’t want to fix anything; they only want to “own the libs.”
The problem is that you don’t have to become a liberal to see how messed up this is.
You can be conservative. You can be independent. You can be somewhere in the middle, but at some point you have to ask yourself:
At what point do you see through the bullshit?
At what point do you realize Trump is the swamp you thought he was going to drain?
At what point do you admit this is the most blatant, in-your-face corruption and incompetence we’ve ever seen in this country?
Owning the liberals isn’t putting food on anyone’s table. It’s not lowering anyone’s medical bills. It’s not keeping our kids safe. It’s not making us respected globally. It’s just turning us into a punchline if you watch anything other than FOX with their hosts verbally performing fellatio on Trump daily.
You don’t even have to become a democrat to admit this isn’t normal. Grow a spine and take back your party, the Republican Party.
This isn’t about left vs. right anymore. It’s about basic decency vs. proudly being a demented douche. It’s about democracy vs. cheering for strongman cosplay because it makes you feel tough online. It’s about the future our kids are going to inherit while we’re all busy trying to one-up each other in the comments section of our local news Facebook accounts.
So yes, I think a lot about my daughter's future.
I’m thinking about whether she’s going to grow up in a country that values her voice, her body, her choices, or one that tells her to shut up and stay home and be grateful for what your husband provides you.
The time for me to stand up for her is now, which is why I maintain a blog.
We don’t have to agree on everything. We don’t even have to like each other’s yard signs, but we do have to care enough to say, “This is not normal”.
The time is now to make our voices heard, to stand up for democracy, and to protect our children’s future, especially our daughters.
