Given their proclivity for ignoring facts—like over 230,000 Americans dead from COVID-19 and 8 percent unemployment—we know that the MAGA mind is a place devoid of facts and logic.
But surely the MAGA mind stretches beyond: Trump is king, Hillary is Lucifer, and capitalism solves everything? There must be more to MAGA than 50 shades of white spouting the same hate-filled talking points?
Sadly, the most diverse MAGA gets is posting pictures of leaves changing color in the fall and changing their iPhone background color to black. The reason I know this is because I initiated a series of pranks via the Cameo app to reveal how MAGA-heads’ aperture does not extend beyond Trumplandia, how they’ll say anything for a quick buck, and how vacuous their intellectualism is. We’re talking a level of vacuousness so deep that I’m half-expecting Lou Dobbs to claim that Memphis, Egypt, was named after Memphis, Tennessee, after the Ancient Egyptians were inspired by the pro-growth policies of President Trump.
If that seems harsh, consider the evidence. In August, I fooled Chief Trumpkin Tomi Lahren into recording a video message on Cameo for her fans in India. Without sparing a thought to think what she was saying, Tomi gladly praised President Trump for being, “Wise like an owl...or wise like an ullu.” As anyone who has ever eaten at an Indian restaurant knows, “ullu” is an insult in Indian culture (similar to “dumbass”). Maybe if she’d ever had a poppadom in her life, Tomi would know this too. But because she hasn’t, “ullu” became a trending topic in India and millions of Indians watching cable TV news got to know Tomi as the dope who was tricked into insulting her political hero because checking facts seemed like too much hard work.
But it’s unfair to single out Tomi Lahren, because she’s far from the only MAGA-lord to know nothing beyond MAGA-land. For example, Second Amendment girl Kaitlin Bennett blindly recited a script that encouraged South Asians to vote Trump because he protects Americans’ “God-given gun rights, because he’s pro-gun, or is a gandoo.” As South Asians—and Americans curious enough to google—know, “gandoo” means “asshole” in Hindi. Perhaps more revealing and alarming was Bennett’s willingness to parrot the line that gun rights could be God-given. Maybe she thinks that Trump’s “Two Corinthians” refers to two firearms. Or maybe she thinks that the Second Amendment was named after the book of Second Corinthians. Either one is frightening.
Of course, it’s not just the MAGA gals—MAGA guys are just as gullible. In the case of former Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the notoriously and ruthlessly anti-immigrant blowhard was pranked into singing the line “immigrants we get the job done” from the song “Yorktown” in Hamilton. When I saw that he fell for it, I initially felt bad—he comes across as a cuddly grandpa on Cameo. But a cursory search on YouTube reveals what a monster he was as sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona. Any sense of remorse was quickly vanquished after being reminded of how cruelly Arpaio wielded his power.
MAGA may vocally resist egalitarian-minded initiatives like affirmative action and Black Lives Matter. But when it comes to their own, they believe in equal opportunity: anyone can be an ignoramus in MAGA-land, not just the old (Arpaio) or the young (Lahren, Bennett). Case in point: Seb Gorka, self-proclaimed expert in Islamic terrorism, was fooled into thanking “Iblis” (a name that is synonymous with “Satan” in Arabic) for supporting President Trump. He was joined in this endeavor by Corey Lewandowski, Joe Arpaio, and Tomi Lahren (once again), despite being fed a clue that described “Iblis” as an Arab. Given that Lahren clearly learned nothing from being pranked by me before, one could be fooled into thinking that she was educated at Trump University (and not UNLV).
MAGA loves to call out liberals for being snowflakes. But maybe the snowflakiest of them all is Lahren herself. Late Friday night, Twitter received a copyright claim on the Lahren “ullu” prank from Cameo’s general counsel. I can’t say for sure, but I suspect that this was in response to a request from Lahren (the only other explanation I can think of is that Cameo’s general counsel proactively patrols Twitter for copyright claims on Friday nights—but this seems unlikely). As a result, this video was taken down.
Having the video removed doesn’t bother me too much—I had already succeeded in making my point about how dopey MAGA grifters like Lahren are. Besides, the video was no longer relevant, nor was it attracting any more views, likes, comments, or retweets. And taking the video down doesn’t change the fact that a million people already saw it or that most Indians know her as a Trump fan who was fooled into insulting Trump. It also doesn’t take down the bootleg copies of the video that continue to float around Twitter and YouTube. And it doesn’t remove the copy of the video saved on my phone or the copies that continue to circulate in WhatsApp groups all over the world.
Lahren shouldn’t worry too much anyway. The pranks revealed how far apart MAGA and the rest of the country are. Her core audience is largely unaware that her ignorance saw her exploited via the same prankster twice (although MAGA world will never turn down an opportunity to project grievance no matter how far-fetched such a claim may be). And the folks that laughed at her expense (and at the expenses of Corey, Arapio, and Gorka) are people who didn’t like them to begin with.
Ultimately, such a wide gulf is detrimental for every American, since we all live in the same country. The only beneficiaries of such division are America’s foes. Fortunately, we still live in a country where we get to choose our leaders. On November 3, we can reject the leader who thrives on division and elect a noble public servant who seeks to heal these divisions and unite the country.
