Why MAGA can't hear the Trump boos

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Why MAGA can’t hear the Trump boos
Once you understand the MAGA reaction to the NBA Finals boos, everything else snaps into focus

By Sophia Tesfaye
Senior Writer
Published June 11, 2026 6:45AM (EDT)


(Salon) The most revealing moment of Donald Trump’s week was not the boos that rained down on him at Madison Square Garden on Monday night. It was the almost instantaneous insistence, by him and his media ecosystem, that the boos never happened. What we witnessed this week — the feverish, almost liturgical insistence that a crowd loudly booing the president of the United States was actually chanting “USA!” — is something more disturbing and dangerous than ordinary propaganda. It’s now clear that the crisis we face is not a lack of information; it is a profound detachment from reality, cultivated by right-wing media and anchored by a president who demands that his followers reject the evidence of their eyes and ears.

Because once you understand why MAGA can’t hear those boos, everything else — from the right’s election denialism to Trump storming out of interviews — snaps into focus.

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The moment the boos rang out, MAGA influencers and accounts on social media spun the boos into cheers with a speed that should terrify anyone who still believes in the existence of a shared factual reality. White House communications aide Margo Martin posted a clip on X claiming, “Chants of ‘USA’ in Madison Square Garden!” The official White House account posted a photo of Trump saluting, captioned, with absolute, unironic authoritarian flair, “King of New York.” Fox News’ official social media account blasted: “‘USA! USA! USA!’ Chants erupted throughout Madison Square Garden during Game 3 of the NBA Finals with President Trump in attendance.”

When asked about it himself, Trump offered his trademark gaslighting: “I think mostly cheers. It was loud and it was very enthusiastic.” Even Trump’s 19-year-old granddaughter was drafted into the delusion, posting on Instagram that “the atmosphere was amazing.”

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This is not spin in the traditional sense. Spin acknowledges reality and tries to tilt it. This is something more extreme: the construction of an entirely separate reality in real time, one that rejects the evidence of the senses. This is what the great media critic and cultural analyst Jay Rosen has long called “the post-truth” condition. For MAGA, contrary evidence is not something that prompts reconsideration. It is something that triggers the construction of an alternative explanation. ........................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2026/06/11/why-maga-cant-hear-the-trump-boos/