Shame

Lately, I have seen a few videos of normal Republicans/conservatives saying they were not going to vote for Trump, and those videos are kind of hard to watch because I can imagine the shame and embarrassment of realizing that they are the reason for America’s current state of affairs. We’re undergoing a historic period with multiple crises – pandemic, economic, and civil protests – because of who Americans chose as their president. Their decision has had dire consequences.

Some said they were lifelong Republicans and did not vote for Trump because they recognized how unfit he was. They were beseeching us to vote Joe Biden. These were the smarter ones. Others said that they were looking for change in 2016 so they voted for Trump, thinking an outsider and a businessman could do the job. And still others said they just could not bring themselves to vote for Clinton.

All have declared that they would not vote for Trump, that Trump would need to be voted out.

I applaud them for their courage in assessing their prior choices and their courage in saying out aloud they were wrong. That’s really hard to do – to admit you were wrong.

I welcome their return to sanity, but I do wonder if they have thought deeply enough because it is not just Trump who needs to be voted out; it is the entire Republican infrastructure, probably all the way down to the local level. There are some exceptions: at the Congressional level, only Mitt Romney would be the exception because he had the fortitude to think for himself and recognize that what Trump did was wrong. State governors who chose not to follow Trump on how to handle the coronavirus pandemic are probably okay because they were thinking about the people first rather than blindly following Trump. So, Ron De Santis, Brian Kemp, Doug Ducey and probably Greg Abbott don’t qualify for the exception because they rushed to re-open too quickly. I’m still on the fence in regards to Greg Abbott because he is starting to show regrets in rushing open some facilities.

Those regular Republicans who are regretting their 2016 choices, have they thought about what they can do to avoid making the same kind of mistake in the future? Just because they vote out Trump this time doesn’t mean they won’t vote in someone in the future who could be worse. We need to make sure they truly, truly understand how they made the choice they made in 2016.

I think there are a couple of things these Republicans need to do in order for me to believe that they truly understand that it was not just the 2016 vote that was wrong, but probably their entire world view or their environment was wrong. Trump did not spring up out of nowhere; somehow, they were ready for him.

Now directly to those Republicans, here’s what I need in order for me to believe you truly understand what you did:

1.       Vote out ALL Republicans at the national, state and local level, not just Trump. The Freedom Caucus, or the tea party, is a particularly noxious group and has got to go. Such a vote is the only way to ensure that the party receives the message that they need to reflect on who they are and come to terms to the damage they have done. Frankly, this kind of voting needs to be done for at least 2 or 3 decades. Senators serve for 6 years, staggered in 3 “groups”, so it would take 18 years to replace all of them.

2.       Change your affiliation from Republican to either Independent, Democrat or some other third party. Get as far away as you can from the Republicans.

3.       Stop watching Fox News, and Rush Limbaugh, InfoWars, Breitbart, OANN and any other conservative networks that blindly support Trump. You need to change your environment that led you astray. The Sean Hannitys, Laura Ingrahams, Jeanine Piros of the world had been saying that the coronavirus was either exaggerated as a threat or was fake news designed to bring Trump down. That’s the kind of drivel you’ve been listening to. Switch to something else, maybe Joe Scarborough or Nichole Wallace. They are both conservatives whose belief system is closer to yours. But get out of that noxious news environment in Fox and Rush Limbaugh; they are leading you astray.

4.       Get off of Facebook and Twitter because you are unable to discern what’s reputable news and what’s not. Just stay away. Heck, most of us are unable to tell what’s reputable or not.

5.       If you are an evangelical, pick another church – a non-evangelical one. All white evangelical churches are suspect as most, if not all, are complicit in supporting Trump. Again, you need to get away from the noxious environment that is leading you astray.

If you did these things, you might lessen your chances of making the same horrendous decision again, if we ever get that chance again.