100%. The Democrats did a horrible job of messaging. They failed to remind voters Trump's mismanagement of the pandemic had us locked in our houses watching the economy tank. They let the media focus on the price of eggs instead of low unemployment, easing inflation, & rising wages.
As Team Trump cuts off all of the infrastructure investments, slashes federal programs, & imposes tariffs I'd expect the economy to go into recession & people will start to feel the error of their vote.
When the recession hits next year induced by government mismanagement, poorly conceived tariffs, and the shock of massive government spending cuts people may wake up. We exist in a space where people don't care about good government they only care about their own economic woes. When 401K balances drop, social security checks don't show up, VA benefits vanish, and unemployment rises maybe then people will see the error of their choice. Hopefully we still have voting rights in 2026.
That just perpetuates the "US vs THEM" divisions that got us to where we are today.
I don't think you're wrong but the Trump voters I speak too fall into a couple of categories:
1 Seniors that are money in their pocket voters. At their age they don't care anymore.
2 Forgotten white men: They don't even know what an authoritarian is & don't care. Government doesn't work for them & they want to blow it up.
3 Life long Republicans that would vote for Monkey in a red tie. They see Trump as just another politician that will serve his time & be replaced.
I don't think most know the potential harm of their vote for Trump. I speak to many Trump voters that have no idea how the government works & simply voted for him based on the promise of lower taxes & higher 401K returns.
The real problem isn't that power was handed to Trump, it's that government doesn't work for so many. They don't care if it blows up. hey don't want an authoritarian they want government that focuses on them or they just want their 401ks to last until they die.
I don't get these ... "It's all broken" ... laments. 68M people obviously feel that Trump & what he represents was the wrong direction. If we are profoundly unserious no one would have supported a message of hope, progress, and democracy. A vast number of us still see a better path despite broken journalism & algorithms that feed the darker side of the human psyche.
When Trump fails to deliver relief to the working class & causes a recession with tariffs opinions will shift.
Perhaps we need to stop thinking of America as a "her". It's clearly a "him" that is driven by hate, resentment, and zero investment in democracy for more than 50% of us.
Just an angry white guy who doesn't want to make the world better for anyone. He just wants to make it worse for those that are not him.
