I have an identical twin brother, who, like me has been a life long Conservative Republican. We both held our noses and voted for Donald Trump in 2016 but that is where our paths took extremely different turns. It became apparent to me, very early on, that I’d made a mistake. It was a daily barrage of embarrassing, illegal and jaw dropping actions from Trump that I just could not get behind.
Something I would have thought impossible began to happen. Every time I would call/text to say, “this is insane,” the response was the same every time. “Dude, I’m just glad it’s not Hillary.” As things went from bad to worse to dangerous, I thought surely the “next thing,” would be the thing that was finally too much for his conscience to justify. I’ve never been more wrong about anything in my life.
I’m convinced that, at this point, I could call and say, “He did it, he finally did it! He just shot someone on 5th Avenue!” and that same, almost reflexive response would be cocked and ready. “I mean, the Dem’s want to trans my kid. They want to tax me 80%. I don’t have to agree with everything he does, it doesn’t impact my life.” For those who think this example is an extreme almost metaphorical circumstance to prove my point, I’m sad to say that it’s not. I’m convinced that there is no line, no act, so egregious to finally break the spell that most MAGA Republicans have been under for the better part of a decade now.
Have you ever tried talking to a person who says they have to vote for Donald Trump to save us from a socialist government and agenda and asked them what about these $5,000 checks he promised everyone they’d get from the government as long as they voted for his party’s candidates? The mental gymnastics they are willing to stretch to in order to justify a socialist policy from Trump is astonishing. Or how about asking them what about their lives right now, today, is better because Trump & “Republicans” have controlled every branch of government for two years? “That’s not a fair question because just IMAGINE how bad it would be if Kamala Harris and Democrats were in control,” they’ll say.
Even for the one issue voters who make every election about abortion. Ask them if they realize that abortion rates over the last two years have actually gone UP. “Fake news,” is usually the only thing they can come back at that with. These are usually the people who treat politics like a zero sum game, for every policy they feel works to their favor, then there must be a policy somewhere just waiting to be implemented to work against them.
Thankfully, for my brother and I, we haven’t let this destroy our relationship like so many families across this country have experienced. I’ll never be able to understand how he’s been able to support Donald Trump after he came within a Vice President with some decency and respect for the constitution and the rule of law from overthrowing our almost 250 years of democracy. Nor do I choose to believe that a small faction within the Democratic Party will somehow turn our country into something akin to the Soviet Union that he’s absolutely convinced we’ll now be headed for.
People are absolutely fed up. They’re fed up with living paycheck to paycheck while their President brags about a half billion ball room vanity project and an arch full of drones and snipers, apparently . They’re fed up with being told that “stupid presidents” start wars in the Middle East, except for when Donald Trump unilaterally decided to wage war there without Congress’ consent. They’re fed up with his “most beautiful word in the English language,” tariffs, that have caused prices on almost every commodity imaginable when he promised to “lower prices on day 1. Fed up with $4 gas and $7 diesel. Fed up with the blatant and gross corruption that is obvious for anyone paying even a little bit of attention.
In my gut, I’ve always known that we are better than Donald Trump. And Tuesday night was proof.