The MAGA Mindset: When Reality TV Met Political Reality

At first glance, I almost believed this meme. Why? Because we live in a timeline where a failed game-show host—whose entire brand was built on firing people—somehow convinced America's most gullible voters that he was a "stable genius." The same man who stole his signature policy ("Build the Wall!") from a literal joke in Arrested Development (Season 4, Episode 8, for the curious).

But here's where the meme gets it half-right: Science actually suggests a link between celebrity worship and lowered cognitive performance. A 2021 BMC Psychology study of 1,763 adults found a weak but measurable correlation—even after controlling for income, education, and self-esteem.

Key takeaways:

• Celebrity obsessives scored slightly worse on vocabulary and problem-solving tests.
• The study couldn't prove causation—maybe dumb people love celebrities, or maybe loving celebrities makes you dumb. Who knows?
• Either way, the variance was tiny (<5%). You'd need a microscope to call it "proof" of anything.

Yet here's the kicker: The MAGA crowd will cite this study as gospel while ignoring its caveats—then turn around and claim Taylor Swift fans are "low-IQ" for liking pop music. The lack of self-awareness is almost impressive.

This meme isn't just wrong; it's meta-wrong. It's a perfect snapshot of the MAGA brain in action: Grasping at straws to "own the libs," even when the straws are peer-reviewed and say the opposite of what they think.

So no, BMC Psychology didn't 'prove' Taylor Swift fans are dumb—but it absolutely exposed how MAGA propaganda weaponizes half-truths