Perhaps this is a taboo topic to talk about and not really something you’d expect to hear from someone who has a very public and particularly strong dislike of our current president, but I simply feel terrible for the people who supported and voted for Donald Trump.
I’ve been told many times that I shouldn’t feel bad for Trump supporters, both by fellow anti-Trump friends and the sea of op-ed pieces online.
After all, why should I? They voted for someone who won the support of the KKK, which for the record is not exactly something you should be proud of given their historically racist views and violent actions. They voted for someone who, for example, promised to do away with the Affordable Care Act only to find out that Trump doing so would take away their healthcare coverage.
In another highly publicized case, Helen Beristain, who voted for Trump, had her husband deported back to Mexico and expressed her regret voting for Trump in an interview with South Bend Tribune. Beristain said that her husband even warned her about Trump’s campaign promise to “get rid of Mexicans,” which she countered by saying that he’d only remove “bad hombres.”
Their dance with the devil turned into something more sinister than they bargained for and now they want out. They themselves voted against their best interests. So why should anyone feel anything for them?
I feel bad for them in the same way that you’d feel bad for a bird that flies straight into a closed window believing it to be open. The bird didn’t consider the possible consequences of flying into the window and unfortunately, hurt itself as a result.
Upon witnessing this, you might ask, “What were you hoping to accomplish?” Then you feel bad for the bird and may even check to make sure that it’s okay.
In the same way, I feel terrible for the Trump supporters who, like the bird, fell for Trump’s tantalizing campaign promises without expecting the negative consequences to come back to hit them hard.
They might’ve liked that he “tells it like it is” (which is honestly just a nice way of saying that his words are ignorant and unhinged at best) during the election season. However, now that Trump’s actions are coming back to hurt them one by one, some of them have taken to social media to lament their voting decisions.
I’m serious. Go on Twitter. @Trump_Regrets retweets plenty of these regrets and while I used to find these tweets amusing, I now realize that these were seriously misguided people who made a “yuuuuge” mistake.
A mistake that unfortunately cost them, among other things, their healthcare coverage, loved ones and I dare say whatever dignity they had before laying it all down to vote for Trump.
Their decisions came back to hurt not just them, but everyone else in the process. I used to feel anger toward them. Now, I just feel bad for them.
It’s sad and maddening to know that they used to defend their candidate’s abrasive words and actions and I know some of them still do. I know this because these are people I know and still somehow have managed to love and care about without feeling utter contempt for them.
But it’s also a bit of a relief that some of them are beginning to see why plenty of us opposed Trump from the start.
At the same time, my sympathy for Trump supporters doesn't excuse them from the fact that they once voted for a truly terrible person. They and they alone are responsible for their decisions and must own up to them.
It’s been a learning process for everyone at both sides of the political spectrum. The past two years have been nothing short of a whirlwind of emotions, political partisanship and strained relationships. Here’s to hoping that these now-regretting Trump supporters learn something from this and don't make the same mistakes again in 2018 and 2020.
