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| Cassidy Hutchinson, former aide to WH chief of staff Mark Meadows |
I do not say this lightly. They are not evil people. Their intent is not to harm anyone. To the contrary, most are good people that have the same values I do. They believe that by supporting Trump they are supporting polices that are in concert with their values.
They believe themselves to be the real patriots and see Donald Trump as their fearless leader. An antiestablishment president that bucked the system. Unafraid to be reject the kind of political correctness that has become the bread and butter of conventional political rhetoric.
As I said, many of his polices resonated with me, too. But when lines are crossed the way Trump crossed them on January 6th it should erase any support he had gotten - despite those policies. A true patriot would understand this and recoil from the idea of supporting him after yesterday. The Associated Press reports the following:
Cassidy Hutchinson, a little-known former White House aide, described an angry, defiant president who was trying that day to let armed protesters avoid security screenings at a rally that morning to protest his 2020 election defeat
Hutchinson’s testimony was the most damning evidence to date about how the former President attempted a coup d’etat. A pretty violent one! He knowingly encouraged an armed angry mob to march on the capital yelling “Hang (Trump’s own VP, Mike) Pence’. To which he replied ‘He deserves it!’
Trump actually wanted to go with them and lead the march. But he was rebuffed by his security detail for their fear of his getting hurt. He settled instead on inciting them.
Any patriot that truly loves his country would realize that they could no longer support a man like that. Even if they voted for him. That was the case with the many former White House staffers under Trump who testified at the hearings. In so many cases these Republican patriots were MAGA people right up to January 6th As was Cassidy Hutchinson. She too voted for him.
This morning, Mick Mulvaney, Trump’s own acting Chief of Staff was interviewed on CBS. He had defended his former boss against all the witnesses testifying against him at those congressional hearings. That ended yesterday after Hutchinson’s explosive testimony under oath. Mulvaney believes her. He no longer wants to see Trump as the Republican candidate for President.
And yet the MAGA people are out there and still cheer Trump on - continuing to deny reality. Calling all of the conservative Republicans - some of whom worked for him in the White House and surely voted him – traitors.
I know it isn’t easy to walk away from a man that promotes policies that one so strongly supports. I get the argument that it is policies that matter, not the character of the man making them. But there has to be a realization at some point that an in individual like Trump is so evil - it overrides those polices. And that he should never be supported again. That so many ordinarily smart and ethical people still do is pure insanity! I have no better explanation for it.
It is as if there is nothing anyone could say that would dissuade them of that support? Are they so blinded to reality? A MAGA person may believe he is being patriotic. But They are not. The cost of decay to our body politic is way too high. That decay may, God forbid, cause the death of our wonderful democracy.
My message to hard core supporters of Trump - especially those that are among my coreligionists - is to come to your senses and stop supporting Trump. What will it take for you to wake up?! Stop idolizing a man who would be king at any cost including risking the lives of his own VP and possibly his own supporters at at a rally that he knew included gun toting extremists. Stop trying to deny or explain away his behavior that day. Stop considering all the conservative Republican witnesses that served him and voted for him who are now testifying against him - traitors.
The time has come. Do it now. We can surely find a better conservative candidate that will promote the values and policies we support, and will be a true patriot that never does the kinds of things Trump did.
Nikky Haley anyone? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if she were the first woman to become President?
