On Instagram, I mostly follow garden, homestead, farm, and animal husbandry accounts. These are topics near and dear to me, and that's my online break from politics. While I don't spend as much time on social media as I used to, I've met some amazing people through that community and have learned so much over the years.
One of those people — someone whose content I enjoy and someone who has even helped me out with some issues with my own animals — announced recently that she was rebranding. I was kind of excited about this initially. I've watched her account grow over the years, and according to her, it was never her intention to become an "influencer." She's not there to make that sort of work look glamorous like so many try to; she actually teaches something with her posts, shares her photography, and has even started blogging about it. She's also turned her hobby into writing books, teaching classes, and speaking engagements.
But in her rebranding announcement, she said she would no longer be using the words "farm" or "homestead" because of their association with "extremist right-wing...mentality." (She said a little more that would probably make you mad, but I don't want to give her a public lashing.) I'll admit that I had a feeling she was a liberal as I noticed in the past that she followed prominent Democrats on social media, but I didn't care. I don't need to align with someone's politics to enjoy learning how they plant their gardens or raise their animals.
At the same time, I don't want to associate myself with someone who is that ridiculous and narrow-minded. Farming is something people have been doing for thousands of years across every continent where it's physically possible. Without farms, most of us would starve to death. And quite frankly, it's offensive to many people who live outside of the United States and other developed nations. Please, go tell some small community in Africa or Latin America that lives or dies based on how their farms perform that they're right-wing extremists. They probably won't care because they're too busy working their tails off to eat.
I was telling this story to a friend of mine recently, and he rolled his eyes. "That sounds just like my mother-in-law," he said. Apparently, he'd gone to visit her recently, and she was taking down all of her red, white, and blue decor from her very patriotically decorated home.
He asked her why she suddenly felt the need to do that. She said, "Donald Trump stole the flag from us." When he asked her to elaborate, she said, "I see all those flags at those MAGA rallies, and that's what it means to people now. It's no longer associated with the United States. It's a Trump thing." Okay...
I thought these might be minor, isolated incidents, but the more I pay attention, the more I realize they're everywhere. Last week, you may have seen that Vanity Fair put out an article entitled "Why are Americans So Obsessed with Protein? Blame MAGA."
Lifting weights and drinking protein shakes makes you an extremist btw pic.twitter.com/j5JBGyRfy3
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) May 5, 2025
I skimmed the article because I don't like to waste my time and energy on garbage, and that's exactly what this is. If I had to sum up what I skimmed, it was something like, "Trump has taken away Roe Vs. Wade and trans visibility, and now he's encouraging men to make us eat protein."
It essentially blames the fact that many people have been more focused on their protein intake over the last few years not just on "MAGA," but also on the rise of the "manosphere" and "men's rights movement." Fun fact: Men and women need protein. Fun fact number two: Most of your body wouldn't function without protein. Fun fact number three: That was true long before Donald Trump was even born.
How is this a right-wing or "gendered" issue, as the magazine states? So much for the party of science.
And how delusional do you have to be to see these extreme "right-wing" and "MAGA" symbols in such mundane, everyday things that people have been doing for hundreds and thousands of years? It makes you want to ask, "Do you see MAGA in the room with us right now?"
At the very least, it's like the teenager who has such a big crush on someone that they can't eat or sleep because that's all they can think about. I've been there more times than I care to count, but it's intense. It's like you can't focus on anything else. And everything reminds you of them. They played your song on the radio — that had to be a sign. Look at the way your Cheerios sit in your cereal bowl — it looks just like your crush's profile. Now, you're doodling their name in your notebook or casually driving by the football field to see if they're out practicing. You smile when someone says their name.
That's how obsessed the left has become with Donald Trump and the MAGA movement, only they're motivated by rage, not love. It's an unhealthy way to live, and I just can't entertain it. Based on how many people have joined the MAGA movement over the last year, I'm guessing I'm not alone.
