On Thanksgiving, Donald Trump served up a rambling, sarcastic, wildly incoherent social media word salad of grievance aimed at immigrants, foreigners, Democrats, and pretty much the idea of America as it has existed for two hundred and fifty years. (You know, the bright beacon of refuge for the world, welcoming the poor, tired, freedom-starved masses?)
In his latest vicious holiday diatribe (which would have been unthinkable and unacceptable for any previous sitting President), Trump squeezes in ever-present Joe Biden hatred, anti-Muslim rhetoric toward Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar, and the R-word slur against Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.
As I stared at the wish-it-was-AI-but-know-it’s-actually-him verbal assault against diverse humanity and proper grammar, I couldn’t help but think about his supporters, a group that, while shrinking, still makes up a considerable and disheartening portion of this nation.
I found myself once again asking a question that has hovered like a drone for the last ten years, but particularly the past few months: Are Trump supporters capable of loving anyone?
The query isn’t offered facetiously and doesn’t come with the slightest hyperbole, either. Why have those who comprise his decade-old sycophantic death cult seemingly chosen him over everyone else?
Do they know Latino human beings? Are they friends with anyone from Mexico? Do they have in-laws who weren’t born here? Do they work alongside any Muslims? And if so, why do they allow the person in the highest levels of leadership to call foreigners poison, to weaponize masked vigilantes to break into their cars and homes and businesses, to slander an entire faith tradition as terrorists?
Do they have daughters, nieces, or granddaughters who they see as having real worth and beauty? If they do, why do they not waver watching a nearly 80-year-old man (whoever that man is) called a grown woman “piggy” in the workplace, not to mention a court-adjudicated rapist whose name they have plastered on their bumpers and yards and social media profiles?Do they not have veterans or active-duty Military in their families whose sacrifices they truly respect and whose valor they honor? If so, how can they stand by as he cuts funding for their care, uses them for political props, and places them in harm’s way in illegal deployments in American streets?
Do they care for and respect any Democrats? Do they have any Liberal friends or families members whose humanity they have experienced? If they do, why do they never defend the dangerous and unfiltered verbal diarrhea their chosen President continually hurls at them?
Do they actually have people with special needs in their lives whose stories they have shared, and if they do, why do they stay emotionally tethered to someone who is taking away their care, perpetuating baseless Autism conspiracies, and using the kind of ignorant slurs that wouldn’t be allowed in a middle school playground?
Do their families and social circles not contain any queer people, those they’ve grown up with, lived with, shared holiday tables with? Do their friends not have gay children or Transgender teenagers? And if so, why do they say nothing as this Administration incessantly hounds them, accuses them of perversion, ostracizes them in schools, and comes after their rights to marry and adopt?
Just who in the hell do they care about enough to break ranks with him, even for a moment?
Honestly, it seems as though Trump supporters have so affixed their identity to him that they have lost the ability to truly love anyone. They are incapable of a single thought, response, or action that doesn’t express blind cultic adoration to him, and so every dehumanizing word is acceptable, no policy is too punitive, no unhinged social media rant a bridge too far to alter their full allegiance.Again and again, day after day, they choose him:over the gay couple next door who’ve been the best neighbors,over their immigrant house cleaner, who works tirelessly to support their families,over their disabled nephew who’d never have made it this far without his Special Education teacher,over their college-aged daughter who no longer has autonomy over her own body,over the poor and hungry suffering outside their megachurches, whom their president has labeled lazy.
MAGAs never tire of saying they love God and love Country, but those are hollow declarations that exist only in theory and their Facebook bios. In practice, in the actual rubber-meet-road space of their lives, they have almost no actual empathy for the diverse humanity God has created, the kind that has shaped this nation since its birth.
They refuse to obey Jesus’ call to love their neighbors if those neighbors happen to be gay or Muslim or foreign or disabled when their messiah of cruelty uses them as fodder for insult.They cast aside the liberties and freedoms afforded by the Constitution for every human being, when such things are extended to those their beloved Prophet of Disdain tells them do not deserve them.
Their adoration toward him is staggering in its consistency:
No one seems to merit their defense when insulted. No reduction of care is ever opposed.Every sickening slur is defended with calls for context.Each act of illegality is steadfastly excused.No word or act is deemed inhumane.In order to stay aligned with a reprehensible human being, they’ve had to slowly but surely abandon their very souls.
In the tangible and visible space of their lives, when it comes to standing up and actually embodying their values, Trump supporters have lost the ability to love anyone but him and themselves.
And that’s about as sad a truth as there is.
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