Ever since the 2016 election I’ve been stupefied by the people who voted for and continue to support Donald Trump. This in spite of overwhelming evidence as to his malevolence and criminal behavior that threatens our very Republic. Most alarming for me is that many of these people are long time friends and acquaintances who have always seemed charitable and morally upright. Many are regular churchgoers and civic minded people reminiscent of Ozzie Nelson* who was a decent fellow who could always be counted on to do the right thing. He was everyone’s ideal next door neighbor.
Almost from the beginning, I have tried to understand why people I always thought decent and reasonable would give their allegiance to a man like Trump, someone that most of us knew from the get-go was a scoundrel and sorry human being. Increasingly I’m astonished to hear many of these same people tell me that they really don’t like Trump but they will vote for him anyway. Somehow, however indefensible, they add that they recognize his faults, including his threats to constitutional government, but, that being said, will vote for him anyway. As they say here in the South, “go figure.”
I’m especially frustrated because I really thought I knew these people. We did things together, went out to dinner, rubbed shoulders in community affairs and, in some cases, raised our kids together. They were good neighbors and predictable as friends.
I’m afraid we never really did know one another. I’ve found that there is a dark side to many people that has always been there. We simply did not know it because in “the good old days,” we seldom ever asked about each other’s politics, religion or party affiliation. We accepted one another as friends or colleagues in a cordial and respectable way. That has all changed now.
Recently, several high profile politicians and political pundits including Senator Mitch McConnell, Bill Barr, former Attorney General for Trump, and John Bolton, a Trump Security Advisor, have all warned that a second Trump administration would threaten the very foundations of our democratic republic. BUT, when questioned, they all said they would vote for him again in 2024 if he is the Republican nominee.
During the past several years, I have relentlessly asked my Trump supporter friends if they would vote for that sleaze-bag again and to a person they all answered that they would. And they do so with a cocksure attitude of why not? Most often they answer after acknowledging how awful Trump is and proclaiming they don’t like or support him. Go figure.
Unfortunately, we really don’t know one another, our friends or our neighbors. There is a dark side of humans that lurks just under the surface of our public face. It was there in Germany, in the 1930s, when decent German people voted for Hitler as Chancellor that led to the horrors of World War II and the Holocaust.
It is here today, released from its dormancy by an evil man from Manhattan. The scapegoat of the Weimar Republic has been replaced by the Democrats who need to be destroyed at any cost, including our sanity and democratic republic. Too many decent Americans will cast aside their moral compass and vote for Trump.
*The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, a 1950s hit television show.