Thank you. I appreciate the clarification.
Look, you just were 'like here's my heart on my sleeve", and then endured what may initially come off as a harsh rebuke from a few hubski peoples. We mean the best :). You typically responded with some variety of "Thanks, and I'll reflect on all of it." That was awesome. I'm also in the biz of Trumpist redemptionings, but I... need some time. So much in flux right now, and we're not technically out of the woods yet. Someone in my field scheduled a mini-conference on the 20th and all the Americans are like "how" :(.
I am not trying to be a Trump apologist by any means. There is a lot to worry about with his supporters, regardless of what he does now. The GOP establishment has jumped the shark and should be abolished. When I initially read the memo, I started getting visions of the military getting involved in determining the winner of elections and spoke hastily. necroptosis corrected me and I do appreciate that. As for kleinbl00 's response, I am not ready to burn it all down as a response. He is right to be angry about things like Michael Flynn; I am too. He is right to point out the hatred Trump's supports have been spewing and the horrible actions some of them have taken. Our government should seek out everyone that engaged in treason/insurrection, and those that attack private citizens or public officials to the same ends. Violence should not be used in the political process. He is right to point out the hypocrisy and double-standards of the police and the systemic racism in our country. The government needs to root out those that oppress others based on race/creed/color/gender/etc. We the people need to vote into office politicians that will pursue these corrections. I believe the only way to make that happen is to get the majority of voters to vote that way. And how do we do that? Where I disagree with kleinbl00 is here. It sounds as though he is ready to condemn all conservatives. It sounds like he has determined that there is no redeeming them and that they should be disenfranchised and treated with complete contempt. I believe that if we treat them as any enemy, we will just reinforce their view that we are their enemy and that we should be fought with violence. In the end, we both want to fix our nation, and for racism and bigotry to be eliminated. We differ on the how.
If you backed Trump, at any point, you are not a conservative. if you backed Trump, at any point, you are not a humanitarian. If you backed Trump, at any point, you're likely going through some things. You earned 'em. You earned every last bit of rebuke you're getting. Every last bit of scorn. Every last bit of shame, every last bit of doubt, every last bit of chagrin. No one - NO ONE - with any experience with the man has been surprised by his unfitness to lead. No one who has met Trump or worked with Trump has been astonished by his self-serving narcissism. No one who has met or worked with any part of the Trump organization has been surprised by their vindictive nature, their opportunism, their hypocrisy or their pure, banal evil. This has been known and publicized back to Bob Dylan. There was a steady stream of conservatives who drew the line in the sand the minute Trump became the nominee. There has been a steady leak of Republicans who have abandoned the party over Trump's excesses. They have been called RINOs and worse. They have experienced derision and career suicide. Right now? People who have seen the light at this late date are experiencing death threats for not setting course for the center of the sun. Right now? Right now you can save money on a MyPillow with the discount code 'QANON'. So it comes down to this: did you disavow shit before fascists beat the head of a cop in with a flagpole? Or after? No you know what it doesn't come down to that it comes down to whether you have any culpability in backing a man who has been telegraphing his disregard for the rule of law since 1989. If that makes you uncomfortable it means you're growing. They'll fight us with violence anyway. They always have. They need no excuse. As half of Twitter has quipped, the NRA went bankrupt before even going a full year without a school shooting. There comes a time when you need to acknowledge that some Americans are enemies of the people. Enemies can be reformed. They have to want it. And if they face no consequences they never will.