Dixie

Sometimes laughing at your enemies backfires—they are embarrassed, and therefore enraged. Rather than accept the critique, they double down on their thinking (the “true believer” effect).

There there is laughing with your enemies.

Studies show that the most effective way to reach racists, authoritarians, and Trumpers is by…listening to them. When they explain themselves, and feel heard and respected, then they are open to counterarguments.

This sucks! It might work at Thanksgiving, with your crazy uncle, but we cannot patiently hear out every Trumper in a tantrum. They don’t deserve it and there isn’t enough time.

That’s why a strong Southern accent works. In a comic monologue, like the Liberal Redneck I featured last time, the drawl just disarms so many conservatives from any part of America—it signals that they have already been heard. The criticism is respected because the speaker is “one of us,” not an elite coastal snob, but a down home Dixie boy.

Have you seen Tennessee Brando? He’s less a comedian and more a political analyst who chuckles a lot. Brando disassembles the logic of MAGA politicians, exposing their self-serving lies, but he delivers his message in deep redneck. He’s talks against classic Southern backdrops like a backyard full of old trees, or a fridge covered in stickers.

He’s a more coherent version of my brother in Virginia (Hi, Brian!), down to the Allman Brothers T-shirt, bandana headgear, and detailed analysis of populism and southern history. Give Brando a try.