MAGA is a Codebreaker

Jean, please tell me you’re watching this

I like to believe Baudrillard would describe MAGA as a Codebreaker.

Throughout the simulation there’s something he calls the Code: signs and symbols (and symbolic modes of communication) which make up what we call reality.

A good example is the cognitive dissonance that results from watching people vote for a candidate with no substantive policy, but instead for a formless idea of “democracy,” which could be argued is the function of Baud’s Hyperreal: The symbol overriding the substance behind it.

Both the brainwashed herd and resulting demoralized masses are ostensibly part of the Code, and when Baud describes it he’s clear that he doesn’t believe it’s even possible to become aware of the code while you’re in it, because it has so many layers of reflexivity you can’t really tell when the simulation is simulating awareness or when you’ve observed something “true.” Even if you could observe it, you’d still be subject to influence of these powerful signs and symbols, and likely to be subservient to their structures of meaning.

I’ve always maintained that Baud’s call to action was to recognize the futility of breaking out while still making the brave attempt. It’s also been clear to me that no academic or respected intellectual could ever be the one to lead that charge.

In 2016, I finally came to understand the relationship between WWE and Donald Trump. Not just his friendship with McMahon and history with the org, but the essence of Trump and what his function is in the culture. This is where MAGA really started to make sense to me.

It boils down to that classic moment when someone says WWE fans are drooling hillbillies because wrestling is “fake.”

If you’ve ever witnessed it, there’s really no response better than the nod. Because if you know, you know, and you’re not ever going to explain anything to that person. You know the pieces on the board but the game itself is futile; you could win without your opponent even knowing they’d lost, and by nodding, you just did. (A relevant concept to the 2020 presidential election)

I’ve often described the Code as a kind of tyranny only humor can defeat, and that’s why something like ‘Pataphysics is so interesting as an anti-tyrannical strategy, as it lampoons the very premise of “empirical” arguments from science or the validity of credentialed authority.

WWE in many ways is a ‘Pataphysical sport: a game within a game, a satirical finger in the eye of the elite, an antagonistic reclamation of artful performance, a stage to defiantly model the world stage, a self-aware statement of independence and you guessed it… Joy.

I believe in his later years Baud fell in love with America as the prime example of simulation, hyperreality, the perfect test bed for his theories. Before he died I believe he also recognized the beauty and importance of the place, and the fundamental ungovernable DNA of its citizens, and by laying out such an impossible route to victory, he was daring Americans to rebel.

WWE is essentially the background material for MAGA, a joyful invitation to haters and losers: Feel free to misunderstand and label and insult us, we know you will. Because we know your entire belief system, in fact; it’s amazing how we know so much more about you than you know of us. And the reason for that is your ideology is the normative media narrative which everyone’s been ingesting for decades, while ours, well, tends to be more evasive… like a guy dancing on stage to YMCA.

“It doesn’t make sense! He’s not a good dancer! He’s appropriating a gay anthem! It’s fake! It’s all fake! DOESN’T ANYONE HERE SEE THIS IS FAKE?”

The response is a nod.

Sure, it’s fake. And entirely genuine at the same time. As if the Code itself could be subverted by its own methodology. As if you could literally break brains and defeat tyrants by having a bit of fun.

It’s why they think Joy is campaign, it’s why opponents of MAGA can never think of anything original. You can’t fake Joy; you just feel it. And to feel Joy, it has to be based on something true. It’s not a smile to hide anger and hatred, or the toothy grin of the predator. It’s not choreography in a hospital ward, it’s not a photo op to prove you’re not a robot, it’s a goofy dance by a guy they tried to kill. It’s all your own.

And most importantly, while you know it makes you a target, that’s not why you do it.

In a way MAGA is a codebreaker because it simply doesn’t give a shit, but it’s more than that. The tyrant can’t appropriate MAGA, because it’s not a gimmick. There’s a real result we’re clamoring for here, and it involves the prosecution of dozens, the firing of thousands, and deportation of millions. The movement to save America is fun, it’s joyful, and by far the most inclusive movement in the world, but it’s far from a joke. It’s the dismantling of nearly all legacy institutional authority, and the reigniting of American prosperity.

Breaking the Code is why it’s a threat, and why they want us dead.