I took a little flight down to a deep red southern city last week to see an older relative I like

[struggle4progress]

One thing she likes about her church book-discussion group is that they never talk politics

That is probably all to the good because most of them seem pretty conservative politically, and she is not -- but she does enjoy getting to know people as people, and hearing different perspectives on big philosophical issues, which they all express with diverging opinions and enormous civility

So I dragged her off to the group: she really likes to attend but doesn't always have the energy to drive there nowadays

She has repeatedly told me in the last few years that she thinks one particular person in the group is a really dedicated Trump fan, since what he says often seems to echo the all-too-familiar party line, even when everyone there is carefully avoiding any direct discussion of politics

She's been curious to hear what his current take on stuff is but doesn't want to spoil the cordial relations so never asks

After the hour-long discussion, his wife and my relative wandered off to the powder room, so I was there making pleasant chit-chat with him

And he tells me he's planning to vote for Biden. So I asked if he saw Trump's uninspiring press conference at the CDC. And he nodded. Then he told me he's a conservative Republican. So I told him that I'm a liberal Democrat but that I don't think anybody has all the answers and that dictatorships don't work because none of us is as smart as we think we are and that, y'know, the country really works better if we have lots of compromises to create workable policies that don't meet anybody's test for ideological purity

It was a decent conversation. I didn't tell him anything about my relative's views, since i figured if he wanted to know he could ask her himself, instead of me putting words in her mouth, especially since she sometimes sounds even more left-wing than I do when I get wound up, and she had been making an effort not to jinx the friendly ambience

Anyway, it sounds like the conservative Trump enthusiast has had enough

I told her about the conversation when we were driving away, which she thought was interesting

We can beat Benedict Donald in November. I mean, yeah, we can still snatch defeat from the jaws of victory by getting too over-confident and goofing off, but we certainly can win

So I get home, and now I'm getting paid at work for not showing up for the next two weeks because of the state of emergency here

*sigh*

[MyOwnPeace]

1. Nice insight........

I continually like to believe my "inner thoughts" and believe that there are too many people in this country that can see what a fool we have in OUR White House and will do the right thing to fix it.

I WILL work to GET OUT THE VOTE, but I still believe that the majority will do the right thing.

[Scarsdale]

3. Remember

the majority did the right thing last time voting for Hillary, yet look what happened. We need much more oversight. The gop is hindering the laws to protect voter rights for some reason. I think the fix is already in, unless something changes DRASTICALLY. Maybe this virus "hoax" will open some more eyes?

[calimary]

9. And we need numbers! BIG numbers of people voting.

BIG numbers. Numbers that will overwhelm any Russian nogoodniks’ attempts to hack or meddle.

Numbers. BIG numbers. We have to wash the GOP OUT-OUT-OUT of power EVERYWHERE. From the White House on down.

The republi-CONS with their fucking top-down/trickle-down ideology can’t do squat to help the little guy. They’re just not wired for it. The short-sighted/me first kiddies need to move over, step aside, and let the adults take charge.

I might add - Joe Biden looked and acted a lot like an adult last night.

[not_the_one]

11. Doing the right thing doesn't always work, hence the turd in OUR White House.

Doing the right thing, getting slapped in the face, and NOT DOING ANYTHING ABOUT IT left us with the turd.

Hillary won the election. SHE should be in our White House. We wouldn't now be facing a pandemic with idiots in charge, and the complete dissolution of our country.

Remember, in 2016 the turd was already priming the pump with "if I don't win the election it is because it was rigged, and I am NOT GOING TO ACCEPT THE ELECTION RESULTS".

The turd has already stated that he could lose the 2020 popular vote by 5,000,000 and he could still win the Electoral College. I think only Putin could help him do that.

We need to start putting out there THAT is UNACCEPTABLE. Period.

If we win the popular vote overwhelmingly, and they somehow manipulate the EC to win, we should immediately go into full general strike mode, and stay there until the wrong is righted. Make the current, coming pandemic lockdown look like child's play. Except it will be to save our country, not a few lives.

This will do two things. It will put the winner, Biden, in the White House, and it will solve the EC problem. Never again will the minority be able to force their tyranny on the majority. We can make it legal after the election by amending the constitution to reflect it. And DON'T say that it can't be done. If it can't be done, it will be because we can't be bothered enough to do it, and we are lost.

We need to be prepared to do it, the Democratic Party needs to be prepared to stand behind it, and we MUST be willing to see it through. We either PUT UP, or SHUT UP.

We can NOT let this country be completely destroyed by an electoral "technicality" that was nothing more than part of a misguided attempt to placate STATES WHO WANTED TO KEEP SLAVERY.

Now THAT is an ABOMINATION.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

2. Thanks for sharing your story. We're grabbing some of those that held their nose....

and voted for Trump because of life-long party loyalty, probably because they were raised that way.

I really miss the good 'ole days of civil conversations and debates when most everyone acted like ladies and gentlemen. Those engagements are very rare these days.

KY..........

[safeinOhio]

5. 4 years ago I thought there was no way he could get elected

and was wrong, so no predictions this time. I went and voted for Hillary anyway. I will be voting again, but this time I'm not taking anything for granted and will try harder.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

7. I'm with you and that's all we can do. I regret I don't have more to give.

There's so many great candidates and causes with so little to spare to give. And, things are going to get much worse as charities become overwhelmed this year.

Agree about tRump. I never dreamed the GOP would allow him to get beyond the primaries. I do believe they could have got rid of him but these power-mad jerks saw the populism explode around him and let it go. So, here we are. Hundreds of additional people will die because of it.

Sad days we are in......

[Chainfire]

4. That is a nice hopeful anectdote

However, it certainly does not reflect the overriding views of the new American Red Menace. Even the ones who may be beginning to have doubts have so much emotional energy invested in Trump that when ever the begin to question Trumpism, they go to Fox for a revival and are born again.

After gloating, and singing Trumps praises for over four years, it is hard to admit you may have been wrong all along. People don't like to admit being wrong, even to themselves.

[marble falls]

6. The election is ours to lose if we get complacent, We not only have to win, but turn out and ...

turn out 'bigly'. We need to sweep in as many down ballot Democratic candidates as we can and de-gerrymand the nation in every state. And then do it again in 2022. We need every state legislature.

[oldsoftie]

10. Yes, winning by a large margin removes the "stolen election" argument

If you lose by 10%, You cant blame votes by the dead, illegals, multiple voters, etc for THAT kind of ass whippin'

[marble falls]

13. They can't fix them all. We can contest them all.

[oldsoftie]

8. And yet many folks will tell you "Oh, he'll vote trump when he's in the booth"

Some people dont want to believe that some trump voters no longer like him and will not vote for him. Now, they may not be like this man & actually vote for Biden, but NOT voting fro trump is still a trump vote LOST

[kimbutgar]

12. A lot of those MF45 supporters still think the virus is a hoax and are not taking precautions.n

They might get sick and die and won’t be around to vote for the dear leader in a November.

[Karadeniz]

14. Good to hear! Thanks for sharing!