Why does it seem like nothing can break the support the die-hards have for Donald Trump? Why does it seem like their blind spot is so large that he could seemingly say or do anything and they would still have his back? From the outside looking in it seems irrational, but it’s deeper than that.
Many if not most of us lost friends and even family due to our support for Trump, especially early on. We knew the consequences, but we saw the upside so we did it anyway. We tended to excuse his obnoxious personality and even actions we didn’t like because we felt like the good outweighed the bad, especially when he was doing things we liked as president.
Over the years, paradigms like that tend to become ingrained, and what was once a pragmatic alliance for most of us became a cult of personality for far too many. These became ‘onlyTrumpers’, people dedicated to their perceived champion no matter what, even when the bad started outweighing the good and he became a political liability.
Now, when they are asked to abandon the person they spent so many years supporting, there is an irrational knee-jerk desire to reject that request and ignore any evidence supporting it. Toss in the unjust prosecutions or the fact that many of the anti-Trump crowd have historically been obvious grifters and leftists in sheep’s clothing, and the desire becomes even stronger.
Sad examples of the stubbornness and insanity of this worldview are the people who post the ubiquitous picture of a cartoon frog holding the sign that says, “Don’t care, still voting Trump.” To them, Trump can never do any wrong. To them, despite the fact that he had four years and barely made a dent, he is the only person who can possibly sink the Deep State and save the country.
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They are like the battered wives in horrible, abusive marriages who nevertheless defend and stick with their abuser. Their acquired Stockholm Syndrome doesn’t allow them to see the countless times Trump has betrayed not just them but the causes and beliefs they profess to hold dear. Turns out, it wasn’t just a grim but slightly humorous saying — Trump really could literally shoot a random passerby on New York City’s 5th Avenue in broad daylight and a disturbing percentage of these people would insist the victim had it coming.
There is a certain guilt associated with asking even the most reasonable Trump supporters to abandon their champion. There is also a reluctance to even broach the possibility that something we have put our blood, sweat and tears into over the last several years may have been a waste. It’s human nature. I know. I felt it myself as I considered changing my support last year. Nobody wants to think they have wasted time and effort and even put their personal relationships at risk for nothing. It’s the classic sunk cost fallacy at work, and it’s super powerful.
Except, it wasn’t a waste, and it wasn’t for nothing, not yet anyway. The irony, however, is that if we continue on this path, the future will erase all the good things that happened in the past. With Trump, the Republican Party is headed for an electoral wipeout of epic proportions. There is no mathematical way he can possibly win the general election, no matter who the Democrats run. He’ll drag the House and the Senate down with him, and with it any possibility of mitigating what the Democrats have in store. We will lose everything we gained and more, and the party will be destroyed, perhaps permanently.
As much as I loathe to admit it, the ‘neverTrumpers’ of old, the ones I spent column after column refuting back then, will ironically have been proven right. At this point, Trump’s legacy is being demolished by his own stubborn actions and irrational desire for power and revenge. His diehard remaining supporters need permission to jettison Trump, not just for the country’s good, but for his own. His legacy deserves that.
Well, here’s your permission, if you will consider it. Electing a Republican who can pardon Trump and preserve and build on his accomplishments is the best thing we could do for the MAGA movement, full stop. I hope enough people will come to realize that before it’s too late.
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