MAHA stole once reliable progressives. With the right strategy, we can win them back.

An online pipeline turned the earthy crunchy into the new right, but by learning from their tactics, we can reverse the trend.

This timeline we find ourselves stuck on is never short on dystopian imagery. From a wrestling pit on the White House South Lawn to masked men zip tying innocent civilians in the streets, the daily sights of our new reality are often shocking and exhausting.

One sight that never begins to look normal, no matter how many times I’m exposed to it, is former hippies who suddenly identify with the far right. There is something uniquely unsettling about seeing someone who used to espouse a “live-and-let-live” ethos now spouting about small government (except when it comes to your personal life and choices) and arming ourselves – literally and figuratively – against the powers that be, all while proclaiming the need for fermented foods and wild game for a healthy diet.

Should this be so surprising, though? After all, hasn’t this person’s views about politics and the wider world always been built upon an innate distrust of authority?

Isn’t the hippie-turned-homesteader’s thirst for historical or mythic answers to society’s problems or their need to find “natural” cures for their health concerns more fundamental to them than any political identity ever was?

Viewed from this angle, the conversion from lefty to far right – right into wanting to knock down “the deep state” – should be seen less as a political conversion and more as a manipulation of the former hippie’s remarkably consistent beliefs. This is someone who always felt on the outside of our political culture but who ultimately would socialize – and vote with – their Democratic friends and neighbors. They still perceive themselves as outsiders, but have been manipulated to side with the far right, based in narratives that question science and data in the name of ‘natural’ cures and vague references to ‘health.’

Like any good conmen, MAHA influencers know their mark. They understand their audience’s distrust of authority and their sense of betrayal at the hands of American institutions, particularly when it comes to health. With a wink and a nod as if to tell their followers that they get it and they know what’s really going on, influencers offer content that scratches that distrustful itch – all while advertising supplements and “natural cures” that “they” don’t want you to know about.

Unfortunately for us all, the MAHA influencer has it easy – too easy, in fact. The insurance industry, big pharma, and the other entrenched interests with a stake in America’s uniquely hellish for-profit healthcare system have given them more than enough material to work with. The influencer doesn’t need to create a boogeyman for their podcast or vlog. Insurers who pick patients’ pockets and drug companies who keep medications unaffordable for the average person have already done that for them.

MAHA already had its foot in the door, playing to the audience’s suspicions. Then COVID came along, creating a split between mainstream left and center-left Americans and our more alternative friends. While the first two rolled up their sleeves for a new vaccine, the latter rejected modern medicine. They didn’t believe the media or the experts (it didn’t help that, despite their best efforts, the authorities often mishandled public response). That’s when MAHA offered them the soothing fiction and the righteous validation they craved.

It will take time and a great deal of effort to welcome our friends home from their excursion into MAHA, but it’s an endeavor worth pursuing.

The people pulled into MAHA’s orbit were never mainstream Democratic voters and they never will be, but it is infinitely better to have them within a big tent. After all, it will take as many friends and allies as possible to force out this wildly destructive and antidemocratic movement. Leaving them in MAGA’s farm league would hardly be a winning strategy.

To bring them out of MAHA, we will need to remember our common ground. We may strongly believe that the solution to inflated healthcare costs and our country’s terrible health outcomes is sweeping federal reform or even single payer healthcare. They may think that individual solutions like paying out of pocket to see a naturopathic doctor or making dietary changes is a better approach.

Remember, however, that at the root, we have a shared baseline: the system is dysfunctional.

We will also need to listen without judgment. Everyone needs to feel heard; MAHA influencers know this and play on it to exploit their audience. Even though it may mean enduring demonstrably false stories about natural cures or historic precedents that never happened, we need to be able to listen to our MAHA-influenced compatriots while resisting the urge to correct or contradict. To do so would only help MAGA. After all, no one wants to be in a party where they feel unwanted or misunderstood.

When we do take our turn to speak, we should be careful to make our conversation partners feel heard by validating their concerns around personal autonomy, distrust of authority, and the corrupting influence of pharmaceutical and insurance interests.

We can also always return to what we do have in common: our belief in the need for a better system of healthcare, lower costs, better outcomes and greater freedom of choice.

The most important thing we can do is resist the urge to debate the issues. A well-reasoned argument may carry the day in a court of law (at least it should), but it does little to rebuild trust in a real life conversation. If we can resist that urge while respecting our partners in conversation and taking care to highlight our common ground, we can rebuild connection and dispel the belief that MAHA is the only refuge for skeptics. When we leave the door open for judgment free conversation, there’s no telling who we can welcome back.

Christian Hanley is a consultant serving Democrats, nonprofits, and labor organizations. He writes on overcoming disinformation at christianhanley.substack.com.