Too Smart for MAGA? Or Just the One Telling the Truth

What it’s like to be attacked by the very people who should respect your service, your sacrifice, and your truth...My Most Emotional/Personal Post

*Editor’s Note from Dr. John Petrone: This is a re-posting of an earlier post so my new subscribers and future subscribers can get know me a little better.

If you’re new here—welcome. We the People United is where I speak as someone who has lived every layer of the American experience—from military service to manual labor, from public education to hard-won grief.

This post is very personal. It’s also political. It’s about what happens when you dare to tell the truth in a family, or a country, where denial feels more comfortable than reality.

If it hits home, I hope you’ll share it. I know I’m not the only one living this.

I’ve served this country, this family, and this truth. And still—I’m the one they attack.

About half my family—and half my longtime friends—are MAGA diehards now. They live in the echo chambers of Fox, OANN, Newsmax, extreme bloggers, etc. They proudly proclaim their “love” for Trump on social media for all tosee. They don’t just disagree with me. They attack me. Talk over me when I am trying to make an educated informed point. Dismiss me. Gaslight me.

“Why would I ever listen to you about tariffs? You can’t even balance your checkbook.” “Oh, Dr. Petrone thinks he’s so smart.”

Let me respond—not with ego, but with truth. Because I’ve lived a life none of them are qualified to diminish (even though some have tried, imagine that?).

I’ve worn the uniform. I’ve worked with my hands. I’ve led a high school. And I’ve grieved in silence.

I served six years in the United States Air Force as an aircraft maintenance crew chief—turning wrenches on the flight line, in hand numbing cold and scorching heat.

After my honorable discharge, I helped build military aircraft for Grumman Aerospace, continuing my service to this country through industrial craftsmanship and national defense.

I also worked blue-collar jobs: paving and plowing roads, cleaning storm drains, scrubbing dishes, and bartending in the family restaurant. I didn’t study working-class America from a classroom—I lived it.

Then I put myself through school and earned:

• AA in Aircraft Technology and General Studies

• BA in Political Science and History

• MA in Educational Leadership and Administration

• Ed.D. in Educational Leadership and Management

I taught high school U.S. History, World History, U.S. Government, and Economics. I served as a high school principal for a decade, leading a school through everything from budget cuts to student tragedies! Now, I’m an Associate Professor of Educational Administration, at a university preparing the next generation of school leaders, understand, I am not bragging, I am just speaking facts!

I don’t parrot talking points from the echochamber like they all do. I teach the systems they don’t and will never understand.

But more than that—I’ve been there when it counted.

When our 58-year-old father collapsed, I was renting a small studio apartment downstairs in our home. My mother was there, but she didn’t realize what was happening—she thought he was choking. I was in my 20s. I performed CPR for 40 minutes. He died in my arms.

When my sister was dying of a glioblastoma, I didn’t just visit—I stayed five days and nights by her side in hospice, holding her hand, wiping her feverish brow, singing to her, playing her favorite music, playing her favorite T.V. shows, etc. until the end.

And when our 90-year-old mother died during COVID, none of us could be in the room. But I was there on FaceTime, telling her how deeply I loved her (BTW she always referred to me as the “Thinker”, hence my graphic). The nurse said she cried as I spoke.

That’s what showing up looks like. That’s what family means to me.

So no—you don’t get to mock me, talk over me, spewing uninformed nonsense from a distance and pretend you understand what I’ve lived.

The people attacking me haven’t lived my life. But they feel entitled to ridicule my educated opinions.

That’s the cruelty of the MAGA movement. It convinces people that emotion beats experience, and that shouting beats sacrifice.

They ignore the fact that I’ve buried our family, led our youth, and taught the very civics they pretend to defend. They don’t want to understand—they want to feel superior. And attacking someone who’s done more, sacrificed more, and endured more than they ever will makes them feel safe.

But I’m not here to make them feel safe.

I’m here to speak the truth—no matter how inconvenient it is.

So yes—call me “too smart.”

But before you do, ask yourself:

Why is it easier to trust a man with 91 felony counts than your own brother who’s been there for you in every way that matters? Why are you more outraged by my truth than by Trump’s lies? What are you really afraid of—my intellect, or your own reflection?

To those still standing in truth: you are not alone.

If you’ve been mocked, gaslit, or ridiculed by the people who once called you family…If you’ve been told you’re “too educated,” “too sensitive,” or “too political”…If you’ve been cast out for refusing to bow to the cult…

I see you. I am you.

And you’re not wrong. You’re not crazy. You’re not un-American. You’re just awake.

And we need you.

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Thank you for standing with me. For remembering what this country was supposed to be. And for never backing down when truth is under attack.

Let’s keep fighting—together.

—Dr. John Petrone Veteran | Educator | Truth-Teller We the People United