The Meaning of This

 
The polls lately have been disastrous for Trump.  Not only plummeting to an overall low after only nine months, but lows on signature issues and deep lows with important parts of his base.
 
His overall approval has hit a devastating 37%.  Among Hispanics, whose support helped him win in 2024, has crashed even far-lower, to just 25%.  Support on his handling of immigration, arguably his signature issue, is hovering at a stunning 41%.  Just yesterday, a poll on him demolishing the East Wing of the White House to build a ballroom is only 25% approve – 61% disapprove.  And on and on and on…
 
Across the board, even Independents and moderate Republicans who voted for Trump are feeling buyer’s remorse – after only nine months.  Poll after poll show Trump under 50% (often in the low-40s) on a massive list of issues. 

“I didn’t vote for this”, a growing number of his onetime supporters are saying.
 
Tax cuts for billionaires
Closing rural hospitals
Higher inflation
Rising prices
Throwing 14 million Americans off of healthcare
Drastically raising healthcare costs for 40-50 million Americans
Deporting mothers, school kids, gardeners, rather than “the Worst of the Worst”
The military in cities
Hiding the Epstein files
Tariffs on everything – and then raising the tariffs more.
The U.S. government buying shares of companies, an action which is literally the core of socialism

“I didn’t vote for this.”  We keep hearing it on the news.  But even more, we also see it in the poll numbers. When you get 49% in an election, but your support is anywhere below that overall or on specific issues – let alone far below that, down to 37% overall – it shows that people are seeing action and thinking, “I didn’t vote for this.”​

​That's yesterday, from the new poll from The Economist/YouGov.  And the full report is even worse than the graphic.

​“I didn’t vote for this.”  I didn’t vote for the cruelty we’re seeing.  I didn’t vote for literally tearing down the entire East Wing of the White House.  I didn't vote for freezing research funding to colleges.  I didn’t vote for bombing unknown people in boats without due process just because you suspect them of carrying drugs.  I didn't vote for making Canada a state or buying Greenland.  I didn’t for the president to release an AI video of himself wearing a crown and piloting a jet while dumping sh*t on Americans.  ​
 
“I didn’t vote for this.”  And we see that in the results of every Special Election since Trump took office, with Democrats gaining an average of 16 points. I didn’t vote for indicting your political opponents just because they went against you.  The FBI Director who wouldn’t what you wanted.  The Democratic U.S. Senator who prosecuted you in your first impeachment trial.  The Democratic New York Attorney General who convicted you for business fraud.  The Democratic Congresswoman who protested ICE arrests.  “I didn’t vote for this.

I didn't vote for this.  I didn't vote for nominating a self-proclaimed Nazi to be White House Counsel.  I didn't vote for commuting the seven-year sentence, after only three months, of an admitted felon who was expelled from Congress.  I didn't vote for Trump suing his own Justice Department to pay himself a quarter of a billion dollars -- that he himself will decide on.  I didn't vote for cancelling trade with Canada -- our oldest ally and top trading partner.
 
Over and over.  “I didn’t vote for this.”
 
The thing is, though --

You did.  This is exactly what you voted for.
 
You saw Trump in his first term.  You heard him call Mexicans “rapists” and “murderers.”  You saw him get impeached -- twice.  You heard him say that the U.S. Constitution was just a piece of paper, and he’d like to tear it up.  You saw him dismissively toss rolls of paper towels at devastated hurricane victims.  You heard him call Third World countries “sh*t holes.”  You saw him pass the biggest tax cut for billionaires in U.S. history.  You saw him ignore doctors and science and trash the COVID vaccine and facemasks and suggest drinking bleach.  You heard him say after a neo-Nazi rally that there were “very fine people” on both sides.  You saw how he called Insurrectionists to Washington, D.C. to overthrow democracy.  And you saw him repeatedly say he hated Obamacare, wanted to get rid of the program, and had a “Big Beautiful Healthcare Bill” that he would be revealing “in two weeks” -- and heard him say that for nine years without revealing it.
 
And you saw him during the four years after that – you heard him say endlessly (and to this day) how the election was rigged against him.  You saw him lose 61 election denial cases.  You saw him get convicted of 34 felonies, and adjudicated for the equivalence of rape, and found guilty of business fraud.  You saw him indicted for stealing top secret documents.  You heard him say he wanted to be a dictator “for a day”.  You heard him say he would pardon the Insurrectionists.  You saw him endorse a candidate who privately called himself a “Black Nazi.”  You heard him say that “I want to be your retribution.”  You heard him say he loves tariffs.  You saw him have a neo-Nazi for dinner at Mar-a-Lago.  You heard him tell white supremacists to “Stand back and stand by.”  You saw him forget words and make them up, which psychologists call “paraphasia,” which they say is a sign of dementia.  You hear him get stories completely wrong, yet stick by them even when contradicted by the actual participants in the events – which psychologists say is a sign of dementia. You heard him say windmills cause cancer, and solar batteries don’t work at night, and that we had airports in the Revolutionary War.  You saw him dance for 30-minutes on stage at a Town Hall, without saying a word.
 
You saw all this.  And so much more.  You saw who Trump was.  You heard Trump say who Trump was.  Over and over.  For the past nine years.
 
Who did you think you were voting for??!!
 
Because this is who you voted for.
 
I think it’s great that at least some people – many people, in fact – are now regretting their vote and finally acknowledging how horrific and literally fascist (by every book definition) Trump is.  And taking away their support.  Better late than never.
 
And I think it’s great if a person saying, “Oh, my god, was I wrong.  I deeply regret my vote for Trump.  Good for that, too.
 
But to hide behind, “This isn’t what I voted for”???  Sorry, that an overwhelming lack of self-awareness.  I certainly understand that that’s sometimes what it takes for people to self-protect themselves from admitting a horrifically bad decision and allowing them to at last disapprove of Trump and his issues.  So be it.
 
The problem with not acknowledging it though, with not admitting that this is who you voted for, is that it risks you voting for such a person again.  And risks you not recognizing that it wasn’t just Trump you voted for – but that you also voted for all the MAGOPs in Congress and your state and local elections who supported and enabled Trump in everything he did.  For which you said “This isn’t what I voted for.” 
 
But that you did vote for.  Over and over and over and over again.  Trump and every MAGOP who happily protected and still protect all these things you say you don’t support.
 
“I didn’t vote for this.”
 
You did.  Over and over.  And good for you to finally have had enough and stop supporting it.  Whatever reason you tell yourself.  Just “not supporting” Trump – and hopefully those too who defend things you say you didn’t mean to vote for – is the most critical starting point.  So…good!!
 
But -- it’s just a starting point.  Because you did vote for this.  And you did vote for those who have supported and enabled and protected this.  The thing is, though, we all screw up and make mistakes, every one of us, and sometimes, too, we vote for people we regret.  It happens.
 
And if you do regret it now -- wonderful.  Acknowledge that you did vote for this, so that you know what not to vote for next time.

And so you can help everyone clean up this mess.  That you voted for,.