By Tara Devlin
The Right’s Fragile “Warrior” Fantasy
By Tara Devlin Republicans love to talk tough. Every Fox News segment featuring Pete Hegseth looks like a child acting out his favorite war movie. He loves to go on about the “warrior ethos,” and how “strong” people “kill, kill, kill” without mercy.
The irony is that the people who can’t stop talking about violence are the most fragile among us. Republicans cosplay as soldiers of freedom while quivering at the thought of pronouns, drag queens, or basic public health measures. These are not warriors; they’re weak and damaged people whose emotional instability has infected American politics.
Trump’s Meltdowns Are the Blueprint
Their pathetic standard bearer, Trump, is the perfect example. He loves to brag about dominance and strength, yet he has a meltdown over late‑night comedians or an accurate reporting of the crowd size at a poorly-attended rally. His malignant narcissism won’t let a single slight go unanswered because deep down, he knows he’s a useless, unfit fraud.
The performative “strength”—the juvenile name calling, the constant victimhood—is just an act to mask his inner cowardice. Republican voters love to mistake that insecurity for dominance because it mirrors their own fragile emotional state. They think cruelty equals power when in fact it’s a neon sign flashing weakness.
Megyn Kelly’s Performative Outrage
Listening to Megyn Kelly braying for blood on her podcast is patently disgusting. She shows no understanding that even if the boats were carrying drugs, murdering survivors of an attack that already neutralized an alleged threat is not about who the supposed drug dealers are, but about who we are as a people. Of course, we are expected to take the lifelong con man’s word for it, given that dead men tell no tales. Coupled with the fact that Trump just pardoned yet another criminal who flooded American streets with a ton of cocaine, the bloodlust is as hypocritical as it is grotesque.
With their inherent inhumanity increasingly on display, it’s clear that Republicans are inviting us to join them in their distorted definition of strength. To them, cruelty is a substitute for courage because genuine courage would require self‑awareness, honesty, and empathy—qualities they have been taught to resent. The right‑wing ecosystem rewards the loudest bullies, not the most competent or moral leaders, ensuring that the most damaged voices get rewarded — and keep getting louder.
Megyn Kelly’s Divisive Distortion
A perfect example of the harm Republicans inflict on America is Megyn Kelly’s recent attempt to supposedly “fact‑check” Lawrence O’Donnell. She mocks his observation that Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s anti‑vaccine crusade led to deaths during the pandemic. Then she repeats the tired myth that gets lots of play in right wing media — namely, that vaccines supposedly caused widespread myocarditis in young men. Just repeating the word “myocarditis” is supposed to lend validity to the distortion. Of course, this isn’t the truth.
What the Data Actually Shows
Medical data shows that contracting COVID puts young men at higher risk of myocarditis than receiving an mRNA vaccine. In other words, the very group Megyn pretends to care about would be worse off if they believed her.
The “best” propaganda has a grain of truth. Cases of vaccine‑related myocarditis do happen, but they are rare, generally mild and most patients fully recover. We’re talking about less than ten cases per million doses. Meanwhile, actual COVID infection multiplies that risk several‑fold and brings additional dangers like blood clots and heart inflammation that can lead to lifelong complications — and even death.
If Kelly were remotely sincere about public health, she wouldn’t cherry‑pick studies or omit context. But sincerity doesn’t pay in right‑wing media. Suspicion does. Division does.
The point isn’t to inform—it’s to trigger, to sow distrust, to keep people too angry and confused to ask who benefits when the truth gets buried. The truth is COVID-19 infection poses higher, longer heart risks to children than the vaccination. If Megyn wanted to help young men avoid myocarditis, she’d tell them they would have a better chance with the vaccine.
Republican Party Runs on Damage and Fear
This is the heart of the problem. The Republican Party and its media apparatus thrive on damage—emotional, intellectual, and moral. They promote weak people because weak people are easier to control. A population living in fear will hand over its rights if you promise them someone else to blame. That’s why their entire message revolves around victimhood wrapped in macho rhetoric. They need their base to believe they’re under attack so they’ll never stop to ask who’s really holding the knife.
Republicans aren’t strong. They’re terrified. They fear diversity, progress, equality, and science because facing reality means admitting they’ve been lied to and used. Their version of strength is a tantrum, their version of patriotism is submission to authoritarianism, and their idea of freedom is the right to hurt others without consequence. The truth is simple: if they ever sought real help instead of projecting their internal misery onto the rest of us, America—and the world
Tara Devlin’s post & video can be found at Political Voices & Substack
Tara Devlin hosts a Friday night program that can be found at Youtube.
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