Slow Learners

Not a day goes by that I don't see some damn news story that involves a former Trumper finally coming to their senses. If you read any sort of news, blog, magazine, or certain gum wrappers, you've probably seen it, too. "I Voted For Donald Trump. Here's Why I Wouldn't Again." "I Voted For Trump Three Times. Then He Deported My Husband." "I Left The Republican Party Because Trump Clubbed My Dog."

More and more, there seem to be people turning away from Trump. Realizing that he has conned half the country, and they fell for it and begged for more. People who understand now the damage he's doing to our country.

Truth is, I am way more pissed off at these people than I am the ones who have stayed loyal to him.

Oh, sure, I see a lot of other articles saying that we should welcome these people. Now is not the time to say "I told you so." If we're going to defeat President Bleachdrinker, we'll need everyone to come together to do it. The more people against him, the better.

This is all true, I admit. But I will never be that kind of saint.

I wish, I wish I were a wonderful enough person to extend a hand and welcome these people back into the fold. I would like to feel like Mother Theresa in that regard. But the truth is that I'm so mad at them I could chew through concrete.

I want to grab these people, shake them, and scream,"Where the hell have you been for TEN GODDAMN YEARS?"

The ones who are still loyal Trump suck-ups, I can't forgive them, either, but I can manage to hate them about five percent less. At least they're owning it. They're standing by their vote, too stubborn or stupid to know any better.

The ones who have changed their minds? That tells me that they're capable of changing their minds. They could have learned in time to prevent this. They just didn't.

A few years back, I had a conversation with a co-worker who was not quite a Trumper. She hadn't voted, in fact, wasn't really on either side, and didn't see anything wrong with Trump offhand. When I pointed out that he'd literally tried to violently overthrow the government, she said,"Oh, who could have seen that coming?"

"I could have," I said. "I did. Back in 2015, when he was campaigning, he was very open about that."

I remember the moment. He was asked if he would respect the results of the election. Offhand, casually, he said,"I'll respect the results if I win."

And that scared the hell out of me, right then. I felt a chill come over me, because with that one sentence, I instantly understood what he was capable of.

That's the thing---That's why I'm so furious with the recently converted types. It's not as if Trump really tried to hide any of this. He never really made any serious attempts at concealing his approach to governing. All along, every step of the way, he was completely open about his intentions. The people who didn't see it chose not to see it. They could have; they just ignored it until it reached crisis levels.

These people would start a GoFundMe when their house burned down, when in fact an arsonist walked in and said,"Gonna torch your house now, is that okay? Yes? No, you just stay right there, I'll take care of this. Got any kerosene?"

My sympathy, at the moment, is reserved for the people who were smart enough, decent enough, to see this coming and try to prevent it. My kindness doesn't extend to the people who were warned repeatedly and didn't bother to help until it was too late.

I saw a bumper sticker the other day that said,"Have the day you voted for," and that's about where I stand on this.

We've been warned about this for ten years. We've warned each other, the media warned us, and hell, Trump himself warned us, every goddamn time he opened his rancid mouth. He showed us what he was with every word, every action, his entire first term.

If you didn't listen until now, that's on you.

And I also have to point out that it's not as if the recently converted people have suddenly learned compassion. They really haven't---They didn't care about any of this until it happened to them. All along, as it happened to others, they couldn't be bothered.

And that's why we're in this mess, when we should have been able to prevent it.