Well, congratulations to Amanda Marcotte. She’s finally cracked the case of why grown children stop speaking to their conservative parents. It’s MAGA, of course. What else could it possibly be? Certainly not the four years Junior spent at a liberal university learning that capitalism is evil, socialism is wonderful, and Mom and Dad are ignorant Neanderthals who deserve neither respect nor an invitation to Thanksgiving dinner.

No, the problem is obviously the parents, who committed the unforgivable sin of having opinions that weren’t approved by the campus sociology department.

Somebody Get Mandy a Pulitzer

In her latest Salon article, Marcotte takes Vivek Ramaswamy’s controversial campaign ad featuring Amy Acton’s estranged mother and somehow turns it into a grand theory about MAGA parents and their grown children. Slow morning, Mandy?

According to Marcotte, conservative parents are angry because their adult children have cut them off, and Republicans are exploiting that resentment to win elections. She even suggests these parents want to punish their liberal offspring at the ballot box.

But the framing of Ramaswamy’s ad also suggests there is another audience his campaign has in mind: aging MAGA voters who are obsessively angry about the phenomenon of parental estrangement.

Good grief, Amanda. You could find a MAGA conspiracy in a box of Cheerios.

Oh, but Mandy’s not done yet.

She trots out political researcher Joshua Stein, who argues that conservative parents expect respect from their children regardless of how they’ve behaved.

Well, excuse me, but since when did parents have to prove themselves worthy of their grown children’s respect? What exactly were those first eighteen years all about? The sleepless nights, the worrying, the sacrifices, and all those times Mom and Dad put their own needs aside? Apparently, none of that counts anymore. Raising a child to adulthood was just the probationary period, and now Junior gets to decide whether Mom and Dad have earned a passing grade.

I feel so bad for her “MAGA parents” — this is why you shouldn’t pay for your kids to be brainwashed at woke universities. https://t.co/IYFLosO7Vp

— Brigitte Gabriel (@ACTBrigitte) November 6, 2025

Four Years of College and Suddenly Junior Knows Everything

Here’s something Marcotte might want to consider. Maybe some of these grown children aren’t distancing themselves from their parents because Mom and Dad are terrible people. Maybe they’ve spent years absorbing progressive politics and have decided that anyone who doesn’t agree with them is morally and intellectually inferior.

I’ve seen this attitude in real life, and I doubt I’m the only one.

And where might Junior be picking up some of these attitudes? Well, Amanda, when Washington’s top public schools official is reportedly calling MAGA parents fascists and theocrats, perhaps we ought to be asking what kind of example the adults in education are setting. It starts early Mandy.

Washington’s schools chief just called MAGA parents fascist and theocrats on his Facebook page. Chris Reykdal runs a nonpartisan office overseeing more than a million kids, including the ones whose families he just smeared. https://t.co/iUezOvKJb7

— Jason Rantz on Seattle Red (@jasonrantz) August 17, 2026

And somewhere between freshman orientation and graduation, Junior becomes an expert on everything wrong with America, capitalism, and the parents who raised him. Throw in a steady diet of progressive politics on social media, a little DSA propaganda, and suddenly Mom and Dad are ignorant, intolerant, and hopelessly out of touch. Four years of college and a TikTok account, and Junior’s got the whole world figured out. Imagine that.

Junior Knows Best, Just Ask Him

And if Amanda needs a few examples of grown children who have decided their conservative parents are beyond redemption, perhaps she should watch this little collection of family heartwarming moments. Nothing says love and tolerance quite like waiting for the conservative boomers to expire.

One young woman tearfully explains that her parents have spent decades being fed white Christian nationalist theology and Fox News propaganda. They’re “goners,” she announces. She’s convinced her parents have been brainwashed, but has it ever occurred to her that she might be the one who’s been indoctrinated?

But sure, Mandy. Keep blaming Mom and Dad. Never mind that some of these grown children can’t tolerate a difference of opinion without declaring a family emergency. Of course, that probably won’t stop Junior from calling home when his bank account gets low. Apparently, Mom and Dad’s politics are intolerable, but their capitalist money is still good.

I know I’m not telling Victory Girls readers anything they don’t already know, but are we ever going to come back from this? Are these kids eventually going to get a little older, wise up, and think, “Good grief, what was I thinking?” I’d sure like to think so. But the more I see, the more I wonder if we’ve already lost an entire generation.

Featured image original graphic by Darleen Click