The Realignment 589 | Danielle Lee Tomson: When the Story Breaks: MAGA, Liberalism, and the Battle to Define Reality
Jan 8, 2026
Danielle Lee Tomson, a scholar and author of the forthcoming book 'Under the Influence,' dives into the authenticity gap between our expectations and reality, focusing on MAGA influencers. She argues that powerful storytelling is crucial for political movements, highlighting how populists craft narratives that resonate with people's pain. Danielle critiques liberalism's failure to provide deep, meaningful stories and suggests that the left must unite various factions to build a cohesive narrative. Personal anecdotes illustrate the systemic issues underlying this authenticity crisis.
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Authenticity Gap Explains Political Realignment
- The authenticity gap is when cultural expectations no longer match lived reality and people feel destabilized.
- Storytelling fills that gap by making contested realities tangible and mobilizing people toward alternative systems.
A Cousin's Death Sparked Personal Disillusion
- Danielle recounts her cousin's opioid overdose as a personal authenticity gap that exposed systemic failures.
- That life-or-death loss made her receptive to narratives blaming elites and institutions for harm.
Technocracy Left A Storytelling Void
- Technocratic liberalism took for granted its own legitimacy and neglected first-order questions about meaning and the good life.
- That intellectual vacuum let populist movements offer coherent deep stories that resonated somatically.
