There is a famous quote that starts with, “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out, because I was not a socialist.” It ends with, “When they came for me—there was no one left to speak for me.”
Recent poll numbers show more and more Americans disapprove of Trump’s second term. One voting bloc that shows a steep decline is with Hispanic voters. I’m not surprised, considering how this administration has handled the ICE raids.
While many marginalized groups feel this administration is “coming for them,” the diehard MAGA base continues to support Trump. I suspect one reason is they don’t believe anyone is coming for them. But some in that group, Boomer MAGAs in particular, might feel different in the near future, as it seems they may now be coming for the Boomers.
The other day I watched a podcast with conservative commenter and former Fox host, Tucker Carlson, and Charlie Kirk, a right-wing political pundit and cofounder of Turning Point USA, discussing—or should I say bashing—Boomers. They weren’t holding back on how they felt about Boomers. To put it simply, they hate us. They see Boomers as the source of all society’s problems.
It was enlightening watching Tucker turn on his previous audience from Fox. Now, I am not saying all Boomers watch Fox (I don’t) but Fox News has an older average age demographic compared to other news networks. At one point, Tucker called his onetime audience at Fox News repulsive, narcissist, idiots, and called them the worst, horrible people, and he unabashedly claimed to hate them.
Carlson and Kirk didn’t pull any punches. It made me think of a recent news clip I saw of White House Deputy Chief of Staff, Stephen Miller, who, when speaking out about DC protestors, called them a bunch of aging hippies, and told the Boomers to go home and take a nap. Although at one point, I believe he said they were ninety, which is not a Boomer, but the Silent Generation. Yet , I suspect most “old people” get tossed into the Boomer category these days.
There has been a lot of Boomer hate on social media, and while some criticisms might be valid, I don’t think these swells of Boomer hate are necessarily organic, it might be strategic. Carlson and Kirk’s anti-Boomer tirade gave validation to those in younger generations feeling frustrated at the state of today’s economy and environmental concerns, enforcing what many of them believe, is that the Boomers caused all of today’s problems.
And why did I say this wave of Boomer hate from the right might be strategic as opposed to organic? It’s an age-old tactic: demonize a group, tell the people a certain group is the reason for your problems.
But why the Boomers, if a good portion of them support the current regime? For one thing, my generation is dying off, and the younger generation is the growing voter base for those currently in charge. They don’t really need us anymore—and we are a financial liability.
For example, sixty percent of elderly people in nursing homes are on Medicaid. Medicaid has just been cut, and I am already hearing stories of families being informed their elderly family member will have to move in a few months, because unless they can pay the hefty monthly bill they can’t stay because Medicaid will no longer be covering the care.
Kicking someone’s grandma out of the care home onto the street has historically been perceived as politically incorrect. Yet if younger generations see these faceless elderly people as evil parasites, they might not put up such a fuss at talks of cutting Medicaid—or Medicare—or Social Security.
Those are all social programs that benefit aging and elderly members of our population. They are programs the right has been wanting to get rid of for a long time. If they can convince younger voters that old people don’t deserve the care, then it’s easier to dismantle. Plus, it sways the younger voters to their side by validating their feelings about the Boomer generation.
It’s a little like convincing the population that the members of the LGBTQ community are destroying society. It makes it easier to get rid of DEI, shut down programs that cost money, like suicide prevention, healthcare and government resources for the LGBTQ community, while garnering the votes from those who have been convinced the LGBTQ community is the cause of society’s problems.
Well said Bobbi.
You should go back and listen more carefully. You are wrong! You are stirring discontent into our generation for what reason? Please rethink your platform. Freedom is in Christ or Lord! Let go of your anger. It is preventing you from seeing the truth.
I should go back and listen more carefully, to whom, exactly?
How am I stirring discontent? And no, I am not angry. But I am also not blind to what is happening.
One truth we can rely on—history repeats itself. It’s foolish to ignore the signs. A common tactic employed by people in power—or people who seek power—is to demonize a vulnerable group to divide the people. To give people a scapegoat to focus their anger on.
In our country, this is an age old tactic. For example, after the Civil War, it was a common tactic to tell poor people the now freed slaves were the problem. They were the reason they didn’t have jobs, or why the country was struggling. It worked brilliantly, because instead of the struggling people working together, they were divided—racism flourished—just like the powers that be wanted.
They continue to do it today. And yes, I believe the Boomers—my generation—is the group who might be demonized next. Of course, I am not saying we haven’t screwed some things up and deserve our share of criticism.
But did you listen to the discussion between Tucker Carlson and Charlie Kirk on boomers, that I mentioned in the post? It was pretty nasty. Although I will concede Carlson did most of the bashing, yet Kirk didn’t seem to disagree.
As for Christ, AKA Jesus, his teaching is actually the point of what I am saying. Jesus didn’t demonize a group of vulnerable people. If anything, he wanted to protect them. He taught to love the foreigner, our neighbor…to feed the hungry children and take care of the elderly. Jesus was not about division; he was about unity and love.
My blogpost didn’t promote division; it was pointing out the powers that be that are actively promoting division contrary to Jesus’s teachings, to control us.
As for your comments abut the Lord, thank you for your concern, but I am good with my Creator.
Thanks for the great article Bobbi! I never watch Tucker Carlson, and then saw the episode you referenced with Charlie Kirk about a month ago. Tucker was going off about how bad boomers were to the extent it caught my attention and made me question why are you hating on me when you’re six years younger than I am?! He was venomous -to where it was impossible to have any respect or even cordial feelings toward him. I wanted to look up why he had such a narrow view because it seemed almost lazy in thinking. I thought the same word that you wrote: caricature. Now I think it has much more to do with his attempt at relevance with younger people, who blame the economy on old people, that whole school of thought, any indeed might believe it to a degree himself. But they have an excuse, they haven’t experienced as much in life yet. I would’ve thought someone of his caliber would have enough sense to take in other factors. In large part I still think that, I don’t think he’s that shortsighted. I think he’s knows there’s more to it and is using the emotional punch it packs. In any case, I have almost no respect for the man professionally. Your article isn’t responsible for that view, but you certainly nuanced a lot of context and background.
Thanks.