A quick question for any Trump voters out there: Are you really OK with this?
Are you OK with working families losing benefits while their expenses soar just to fund a tax cut for billionaires? Are you OK with the violent rioters of Jan. 6 being back on the streets? Are you OK with Trump’s threats of military action around the world? How about using the presidency to enrich himself?
Are you OK with the blatant corruption of an unelected drug abuser shredding the public agencies that regulate his businesses? Are you OK having our law-enforcement and military leadership replaced with unqualified loyalists? Are you OK with our president taking Putin’s side in the Ukrainian war? Are you OK with having all of our nation’s private data accessed by a billionaire with close ties to China with zero accountability or oversight? Are you OK with veterans losing their jobs and benefits, retirees losing their pensions and starving children losing access to food that sits spoiling in warehouses? Are you OK with thousands of pregnant woman and unborn children dying without USAID funding? (I thought you guys were pro-life ...)
Are you OK with Trump threatening to defy court rulings and thereby put himself above the law? Because that’s just a dictator. Do you still care about democracy? Equality before the law? Due process? Privacy? Financial security? Anything? Or is your obedience to Trump all you have left?
If not, then what if anything could he do to lose your support? What would you speak out against? Even now can you declare you wouldn’t vote for him again? Because he’s threatening an unconstitutional third term. Are you OK with that too?
Why do Republicans revel in other people’s suffering? And before you say “you do it too!,” no. We don’t wish for your suffering. We demonic liberals and radical leftists want your kids to have a good education. We want you and your family to have affordable health care and safe food. We want a clean, beautiful planet for all. We want scientific progress and a free press. We want everyone to be free to be who they are and live their best lives as they see fit. And you despise us for it. Why?
Are you OK with the laws he’s breaking, including the Constitution itself? Will you be OK with armed agents storming schools and dragging children away? How about if he crashes the economy? What if he declares himself ruler for life and disbands Congress? Gives nuclear secrets to our enemies?
When people start getting black-bagged for speaking against Trump, will you be OK with that? Even if they’re executed? What if he shuts down independent media and free speech? Throws out the Constitution and writes his own? Rigs the vote? Abolishes it?
Don’t say “he’d never do that.” We’re all about a thousand “things he’d never do” deep at this point. Seriously, is there a line he could cross that you wouldn’t excuse, rationalize, or deny? Do you believe anything so deeply that you’d oppose him for it? Because from all I’ve seen, you always cave. You always conform. You always obey and fall in line. Have you no self-respect? He may well attempt to do any of those things, because he knows there’s no amount of abuse you won’t tolerate. He believes he owns you, heart and soul. Does he?
Desperation can drive good people to do awful things. But you’re not desperate. You have food. Water. Medicine. Shelter. Clothing. Freedom. Jobs. Technology. And more. No, what you are is pampered and bored, like little kids setting fires just to watch things burn. Now that your own house is going up in flames, are you satisfied? Was destroying your country worth it to “own the libs”? Why are you doing this to us? To yourselves?
Unless, of course ... you’re not OK with this?
In which case, it’s time to step up. The rest of us did everything we could to prevent this. We pleaded with you to see him for what he is. We warned you all of this would happen. You laughed and jeered and wrote us off. But here we are, and the ball’s in your court.
Are you ready to be the brave patriots you claim to be and stand up to tyranny? Or are you the simpering, obedient subjects of a king after all? Put up or shut up, Trump voters. Whatever happens now is on you.
Urie is a lifelong Idahoan and graduate of the University of Idaho. He lives in Moscow with his wife and two children. You can find his writing on Substack (hopeanyway.substack.com) or you can email him at ryanthomasurie@gmail.com.
