There was a time ...

[NanceGreggs]

There was a time when I viewed Trump supporters as being naive. Having grown up in NY, I was aware of who and what he was. But I knew that there were voters across the country who were ignorant of his true nature, and were dazzled by his on-air persona as the host of a reality show that had little to do with reality.

Then there was a time when I viewed Trump supporters as unwitting victims of a natural-born huckster, the kind of unsophisticated folk who buy snake-oil cure-alls at county fairs, only to realize they've been 'had' not long after the oh-so-convincing salesman has left town.

Then there was the time that I realized that Trump supporters didn't care that they'd been 'had'. They wanted to believe that the snake oil they were being sold actually cured the country's ills - and they lined-up to buy more.

Then came the time that I saw that Trump supporters were not unwilling nor unwitting victims who believed in pursuing democracy by some alternate route. On the contrary - they were abandoning the principles they'd once laid claim to - they were embracing bigotry and hatred. And they were doing so not in pursuit of forming a more perfect union - but in blind obedience to an immoral, corrupt, power-hungry narcissist.

There was a time when I saw Trump supporters as fellow - albeit misguided -
citizens. Now I don't even see them as fellow human beings. I see them as rabid animals.

I see them as criminals who stormed the Capitol. I see them as unhinged people who attack mask-wearing children on their way to school. I see them as crazed individuals who threaten airline personnel, who scream at cashiers, who threaten the lives of those trying to protect the public's health by adhering to mask and vaccine mandates.

I now see Trump-Humpers as deranged, disease-carrying lunatics who have little regard for democracy - and even less regard for human life.

I've come a long way in the past four-plus years - and I do not take any joy in my transformation from caring human being to not caring that some people are dying as a result of their own allegiance to a sociopath who they still don't realize cares nothing about them, and never will. And at this point, neither do I.

There was a time when I gave my fellow citizens the benefit of the doubt - a time when I held out hope that they would come to their senses, when facts would prevail, when the truth would become self-evident.

I no longer hold onto that false hope. There are those among us who are too deranged to see the obvious - and defeating them is our only chance at saving our democracy.

[secondwind]

1. Well said, Nance..

I have given up on these folks also, even in my own family there is discord and bad feelings because of this piece of SHIT.

[TreasonousBastard]

2. You are not alone. Many of us have gone down that same road...

of hope and trust ending in fear and despair.

[calimary]

3. I totally get where you're coming from, Nance.

I’m right there with ya. I’m beyond caring by now. I never had much patience or understanding or sympathy for injuries that are self-inflicted. Especially when the truth and reality and the well-documented facts are out there for all to see.

There’s just no excuse for this kind of WILLFUL stupidity.

[multigraincracker]

4. Yep, my first thought was, here is a guy that can't

win his own city or state. Here is a guy that only professional wrestling fans could love. Or, here's a guy selling Rolex watches on the street for only a hundred bucks apiece. Now it's down to only those are about one pickle short of a barrel.

I just don't get it.

[Funtatlaguy]

5. Sadly, they are in my family. I hate that I still love them (somewhat).

[Jon King]

6. I see them simply as the mortal enemy of my family.

They have shown to be evil, deranged, and/or gullible, and dangerous. No matter what category they fit into, their support of Trump is going to result in the destruction of the planet's climate, democracy, and my children's future.

I treat them the same as if they were literally trying to bash down our door and come in and kill my kids. I have nothing but hate for them, and wish them all to no longer exist.

Not sure how anyone can still allow them to participate in their family functions or have any 'love' for them left, even if they are immediate family. Its literally like sitting across the Thanksgiving table with people who are trying to destroy the future of the planet and democracy and women's rights and minority voting rights.

Sorry, not sure how someone has love for anyone like that. If they reformed, different story. But all active Trumpers need to be shunned and treated as the evil criminals they are.

[gademocrat7]

7. I absolutely agree with you,Nance.

These despicable people are a menace to society. I have no tolerance for them at all.

[kentuck]

8. There is no negotiation. There is no compromise.

They must be defeated. Is that where we are today?

[GoneOffShore]

9. On point, as always. We must defeat the deranged, and somehow cure them.

[PJMcK]

10. I'm with you, Nance

As I, too, am from New York, it's baffled me how anyone could listen to Trump and think he has a brain.

In all likelihood, I reached the point you describe a bit earlier than you. I've written off friends, golf buddies(!) and even family members because of their allegiance to Trump and his GOP enablers. I just cannot have any respect for anyone who embraces the un-American and un-democratic ambitions of these traitorous threats to our nation.

These are people who have lost their humanity, if they ever really had it. Frankly, they've lost their souls and minds.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

11. Trump is only a symptom...

... of the Christofascist segment of the USA that has existed for years.

They've been taught most of their lives that homosexuality, feminism, abortion and other supposed "anti-God" behaviors and beliefs, that Democrats defend as acceptable, are evil. Hence, Democrats are evil in their minds.

And many of them are right-wing authoritarians who demand ACTION against it. Not just expressions of disapproval, but punishment against Democrats for defending ideas that they've been taught are wicked.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-wing_authoritarianism
Right-wing authoritarians want society and social interactions structured in ways that increase uniformity and minimize diversity. In order to achieve that, they tend to be in favour of social control, coercion and the use of group authority to place constraints on the behaviours of people such as political dissidents and immigrants. These constraints might include restrictions on immigration, limits on free speech and association and laws regulating moral behaviour. It is the willingness to support or take action that leads to increased social uniformity that makes right-wing authoritarianism more than just a personal distaste for difference. Right-wing authoritarianism is characterized by obedience to authority, moral absolutism and punitiveness towards dissidents and deviants.

And among Christians, white evangelical Christians are particularly action-oriented, expected to always convert others to their ways of thinking instead of quietly holding their beliefs in solitary or non-invasive ways. Hence, there's a greater likelihood that evangelicals will have more right-wing authoritarian tendencies.

So it's not surprising at all that over 80% of white evangelical Christians voted for Trump according to exit polls. (And if none of them had voted in 2016 or 2020, both Biden AND Clinton would've won the "white vote" too!)

They flocked to Trump because he was the most vocal about "punishing" Democrats in various ways, such as the whole "Lock her up!" BS about Hillary Clinton.

Here's another idiot cut from the same cloth, running political ads in Ohio now:

EDIT: And there's been all kinds of arguments from religious leaders in the past who conveniently aligned various traditions and policies of the USA with "Christian values", even in regard to slavery in the past! But other less-horrible traditions as well, such as Christmas. And after hearing for YEARS that the USA was favored by God, they now seek religious-based scapegoats when their lives are more difficult instead of ideas based on rational thought.

[czarjak]

38. To be fair, Mikey, we do hate YOUR version of faith!

[colsohlibgal]

12. It's Past Time For More People To Comprehend This

This is not business as usual. That bloated ignorant jerk has unleashed something that had been bubbling up underground for quite awhile.

Look at Trump. How twisted and evil must one be to follow that.

[chia]

13. I was with you 100% until you got to "Now I don't even see them as fellow human beings."

There's a danger in this kind of talk. Of seeing the other as less than human. I expect and hope people here are smart enough to understand the history behind words such as those.

I've been fighting in my own circles against Trump for five years. I hate what he's done to this country, and it's looking more and more irreversible as time goes on. His base are hanging strong, they haven't dissolved and yes, they're a danger to our country.

But they're also our family, our neighbors, our coworkers. And framing them as subhuman isn't going to fix this slide toward civil war.

I'm still with you most of the way, because most of what you say reflects my own journey and no doubt many others'.

I just don't want us to start sounding like them.

[llmart]

17. I disagree with you.

I would suggest to you that you rewatch the insurrection at our Capitol and tell me if those people are behaving like human beings or are they behaving more like rabid animals?

I'm with Nance on this one.

[Walleye]

22. I'm with you. Saying they aren't human misses the whole point. They are too fucking human

We have to acknowledge what people are actually capable of.I really don’t think of them as fellow citizens anymore though

[Tommymac]

14. I see them as this:

That is all.

[Rabrrrrrr]

15. And they are very happy to envision us being killed, and maybe even them pulling the trigger.

It isn't just that they think differently than I do about important things: it's that they want me - us - to be dead because we are "the enemy".

They are people who have been duped. They are naive. They are basically sinfully willingly ignorant.

But they have also had plenty of evidence to change, and they refuse to, because they prefer to live in the reptile brain of hate, anger, and terror. AND they want us dead. Not outvoted, not stuck with no political leaders of our persuasion, but literally eliminated.

[tiredtoo]

16. Great Post

Count me in as one who has followed the same path. I have been saying he has brought out the worst in people. You pointed this out step by step, thanks.

[bucolic_frolic]

18. ignorant low-lifes

sad part is some of them worked hard for their position in life. They found a way to pay the bills and then some. But it's all about self-centeredness, no commitment to community, no deference to others more or less fortunate. It's just them, seething anger, ego, and rank disregard for humanity. It's like a sleepless, hate-filled tailgating party with too much beer and their team lost.

[Texin]

19. I knew they existed, but before tRump, they kept what they were (mostly) on the down low.

With tRump shamelessly giving them the permission to act out on their prejudices as openly and hostilely as they wanted, they aligned themselves with a two bit charlatan narcissist and made him the god of their idolatry.

[Pepsidog]

20. Every Trumper I know is an awful person

[pandr32]

21. I wholeheartedly agree

Every word!

[Walleye]

23. Trump may be only a symptom. But then a heart attack is only a symptom of cardiovascular disease

[housecat]

24. I watched a Star Trek rerun last night

about a "crystal entity" that moved from planet to planet destroying all life, and leaving such utter destruction that no new life would survive there. Everybody on the Enterprise insisted on destroying it, and they discovered that they had the ability to do it. Captain Picard wanted to find a way to first communicate with the monster, despite the crew's warnings. When he started to make what seemed to be a start at some communication, a visiting scientist interfered with Pickard's experiment and blew it up, killed it. Pickard was upset, but thousands, millions, of lives would be saved. The crew told him to get over it.

[FoxNewsSucks]

27. I remember that one.

I was on the side of "KILL IT NOW!"

[housecat]

36. So was I. And the Democrats had better wake up before it's too late

[Joinfortmill]

25. Amen

[H2O Man]

26. Recommended.

There are times when I feel this way, particularly when I see some elected republican spouting the big lie. Also when someone is hostile about the vaccine and wearing masks. Then I spend time at my pond, or in the woods, and remind myself that they are not conscious human beings ..... no more conscious than my lawn mower. And unconscious machines can and do pose dangers.

I'm still on fairly friendly terms with most of the red necks that I've known since high school. Certainly not all of them, but that is the direct result of some identifying me as their "enemy." I do not return their hostility. However, most of my sane friends have cut off all connections to family & friends who are in the cult. I definitely understand why. It is difficult to maintain any relationship with an individual who is entrenched in the cult's shared psychosis -- and that is, by definition, what we are witnessing.

[FoxNewsSucks]

28. They are indeed "deranged, disease-carrying lunatics"

and they have little (I'd say NO) regard for democracy or the lives of others. It should be expected that they will eagerly exploit the kindness, decency and inclination to follow the rules that is a characteristic of liberals to murder us.

That's what I think of them.

[bluestarone]

29. It's TRUE posts like this that come from the heart that

Makes me so PROUD to be a member here at DU!! EVERY word you wrote is EXACTLY how i feel today! THANK YOU so very much for your POSTS!

[wendyb-NC]

30. Well said

very insightful essay you are so good with words. I feel the same way, I have a wariness, that has settled into my perspective The former guy and his toxic hypnotic spell on some people, has been a threat all along. He was a total disaster, that doesn't want to end.

[panader0]

31. K and R

[dlk]

32. When dealing with extremists, they are like rabid dogs

There is no reasoning with them and they can be given no quarter.

[11 Bravo]

33. Spot on, Nance. They are irredeemable shitstains. Each and every one.

[NQAS]

34. This should be in every newspaper and website

In the US. Captures the situation magnificently.

[niyad]

35. Spot on, as always,

[DeeDeeNY]

37. There is no rational thinking from his supporters

They are in a cult.

[czarjak]

39. Being right feels as good as it ever did though.

[napi21]

40. I agree with the OP & all the responders, but can anyone tell me what % of the Pubs are trumpers?

How many do you think would vote for that AH if he runs again in 2024? I watch the polls & shudder when I see the strong support he gets. Do you think those strong supporters are a minority of the Pub party and they are loud and just seem like a lot because of their noise, or are there REALLY enough to put that AH in the oval officer again?